Intel Rapid Storage Technology: overtaxes system

[Hogtowner]

I am hoping someone has solved this themselves, or knows how to research the problem further than I. My next recourse is to re-install the system without IRST.

The system works well, in general, but every once in a while, the RAID driver from IRST (IaStor.sys) becomes very resource hungry, taking at a minimum 25% of the CPU with peaks that go much higher. While this load would normally be tolerable, if it happens during streaming a video, or playing a game, it causes momentary freeze-ups where the mouse and keyboard are unresponsive, and video drops several seconds worth of frames.

IaStor runs normally in the background with fractional CPU load, so I am thinking the overload comes during some error checking. I have checked the process through Process Explorer, and there are level 0 and level 1 priority threads occurring.

I should also note that this problem has become worse with time.

Any suggestions for a next move that do not require a re-install?

 

[brady]

Intel management software is best left uninstalled.

 

[NoN]

Well you can uninstall all Intel Rapid Storage Technology vX.X.X.XXXX from the Program & Features", then delete the two registry key (see screenshot)...

Go in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\......then delete the driver iastor.sys left.

Reboot your machine and install after 10mn enter session the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (not need to be the latest). Reboot on demand.

Go in "services.msc", scroll till you find the IRST and set it to automatic, instead of automatic (delayed), this will make it start faster.

Hope this help!

 

[Hogtowner]

I may have solved the problem after reading quite a few reports from other IRST users. Seems IRST cannot tolerate RAID 1 arrays with disks that spin down to save power. A simple adjustment in the power options may have cured this, time will tell.

I should add that it was the installation of UPS monitoring software that changed the setting in the first place. That software was almost instantly uninstalled, thinking it was what degraded my performance.

Thanks for your input though NoN. I may well come back to it if the problem resurfaces.

 

[NoN]

I may have solved the problem after reading quite a few reports from other IRST users. Seems IRST cannot tolerate RAID 1 arrays with disks that spin down to save power. A simple adjustment in the power options may have cured this, time will tell.

I should add that it was the installation of UPS monitoring software that changed the setting in the first place. That software was almost instantly uninstalled, thinking it was what degraded my performance.

Thanks for your input though NoN. I may well come back to it if the problem resurfaces.

Interresting to know that a UPS monitoring Software can totally uninstall IRST..UPS brought his own different Power management.

 

[Hogtowner]

I am afraid you mistook me, NoN. What I meant to say was that the UPS software set the disks to sleep after 30 minutes of idling. This, in turn, made IRST unstable, apparently triggering errors or merely apparent errors.

I uninstalled the UPS software, because installing it was the last thing I did before the system degraded. I had not investigate the cause of the degradation, just reacted in a last-in/first-out manner.

The system continued to slow down erratically, so I investigated enough to discover that it was the IRST driver IaStor.exe that was hogging the system. Once I searched 5 or 6 different forums, I saw a comment about IRST and disk sleeping. I reset the power options so that the disks would never sleep and that solved the problem. IRST and its driver work flawlessly now, or at least as well as they ever did.

I hope that's clear. The UPS software did not uninstall IRST, just really screwed it up. More honestly, I screwed it up when I chose a greener power plan in the UPS software than I previously had set.

I would definitely consider this a bug in the IRST driver, and will in the fullness of time report it to Intel.

I may have solved the problem after reading quite a few reports from other IRST users. Seems IRST cannot tolerate RAID 1 arrays with disks that spin down to save power. A simple adjustment in the power options may have cured this, time will tell.

I should add that it was the installation of UPS monitoring software that changed the setting in the first place. That software was almost instantly uninstalled, thinking it was what degraded my performance.

Thanks for your input though NoN. I may well come back to it if the problem resurfaces.

Interresting to know that a UPS monitoring Software can totally uninstall IRST..UPS brought his own different Power management.

 

[NoN]

I am afraid you mistook me, NoN. What I meant to say was that the UPS software set the disks to sleep after 30 minutes of idling. This, in turn, made IRST unstable, apparently triggering errors or merely apparent errors.

I uninstalled the UPS software, because installing it was the last thing I did before the system degraded. I had not investigate the cause of the degradation, just reacted in a last-in/first-out manner.

The system continued to slow down erratically, so I investigated enough to discover that it was the IRST driver IaStor.exe that was hogging the system. Once I searched 5 or 6 different forums, I saw a comment about IRST and disk sleeping. I reset the power options so that the disks would never sleep and that solved the problem. IRST and its driver work flawlessly now, or at least as well as they ever did.

I hope that's clear. The UPS software did not uninstall IRST, just really screwed it up. More honestly, I screwed it up when I chose a greener power plan in the UPS software than I previously had set.

I would definitely consider this a bug in the IRST driver, and will in the fullness of time report it to Intel.

I may have solved the problem after reading quite a few reports from other IRST users. Seems IRST cannot tolerate RAID 1 arrays with disks that spin down to save power. A simple adjustment in the power options may have cured this, time will tell.

I should add that it was the installation of UPS monitoring software that changed the setting in the first place. That software was almost instantly uninstalled, thinking it was what degraded my performance.

Thanks for your input though NoN. I may well come back to it if the problem resurfaces.

Interresting to know that a UPS monitoring Software can totally uninstall IRST..UPS brought his own different Power management.

Thanks for the highlight! I appreciate to know it.

I was thinking about a week buying UPS for myself...so, i'm warned now!

 

[Tepid]

Intel management software is best left uninstalled.

Since the OP's issue appears to be resolved.

Care to elaborate on that statement?
I mean, saying something like that with no explanation at all means we can only speculate as to the motive.

 

[sygnus21]

Intel management software is best left uninstalled.

Since the OP's issue appears to be resolved.

Care to elaborate on that statement?
I mean, saying something like that with no explanation at all means we can only speculate as to the motive.

I was just about to post the same question till I saw yours. So yeah, add me to the mix of those needing clarification. Something other than "Intel management software is best left uninstalled" would be enlightening :shock:

@ hogtowner - What UPS software was it out of curiousity? APC PowerChute

Thanks.

 

[NoN]

@hogtowner,

By the way, my settings combined with IRST are by default in Control Panel=>Power Plan "turn off hard drive", at about 15mn, "Balanced" (recommended) wired powered.

When i reset Power Plan, it still says 15mn and my laptop came set like that.

In "services.msc" i've got a service call "Power", started & automatic settle on.

IRST drivers might react as native Microsoft one, but have the plus to warn on system failures and have a control Panel.

All this are combined together and have to be tuning i guess.

Might you enable "Hybrid Mode" & enable "Disk Cache", now you have a backup battery UPS to handle power surge.

PS: If i may use UPS for myself, it will be only to pull off battery when i'm a desk.

 

[Hogtowner]

@ sygnus21: it was APC Powerchute. Now that I know what the problem was (and it has not resurfaced since I took the RAID array off its power-down), I will probably reinstall it. I know that the greener setting is just an option, and I can keep the RAID active, even with the UPS software installed. I like the idea of checking the battery, and compiling failure stats.

@NoN: I never disabled the disk caching, because this system has always been on a UPS. The crazy thing about UPSs, you will have noticed, is that it is sometimes cheaper to replace the a unit with a new one, than it is to replace the battery of an older one. Lousy idea from an ecological standpoint, but that's capitalism as currently played. Anyway, this was a replacement system, and an upgrade to APC from a no-name system.

It is important also, I think, to note that the RAID 1 array was the one that generated the spurious? errors. My RAID 1 array slept without problems.

 

[sygnus21]

@ sygnus21: it was APC Powerchute. Now that I know what the problem was (and it has not resurfaced since I took the RAID array off its power-down), I will probably reinstall it. I know that the greener setting is just an option, and I can keep the RAID active, even with the UPS software installed. I like the idea of checking the battery, and compiling failure stats.

Thanks that's the software I use though I don't have a RAID array, but as you noted it was more a power management issue as opposed to the software itself.

Glad to hear you got the issue sorted.

Later.

 

[Tepid]

Lousy idea from an ecological standpoint, but that's capitalism as currently played.

Hope this doesn't come across as preachy or anything,, just informational....

I doubt it has anything to do with straight capitalism. It's batteries in general.
Batteries for cars are just as bad, it's just not economical to sell replacements at a cheaper price than what it costs to make them, you get a discount when buying new, because the company gets a discount when creating their products new, they don't typically get the replacements at the same price.

Figure the cost of anything (like Cell Phones, Video Camers etc) that use a rechargeable battery, the replacement batteries are not cheap, but the phone was with a contract. So, how often do people actually replace their battery in a cell phone before re-upping to a new phone? Not often.

 

[sygnus21]

The crazy thing about UPSs, you will have noticed, is that it is sometimes cheaper to replace the a unit with a new one, than it is to replace the battery of an older one. Lousy idea from an ecological standpoint, but that's capitalism as currently played.

I happen to agree with the lousy idea statement. Having to replace the whole unit as opposed to just the battery is lousy. It may be financially feasible to the company (capitalism) but that doesn't make it right for the consumers, or environment.

Electric cars would be cheaper (more feasible)..... If the oil companies (gas) weren't a factor

Anyways these debates can get contentious so I'll just move on.

Peace

 

[Tepid]

It's the cost of doing business in general.
No one, and I do mean no one is going to sell products for less than what it costs to make them.
Regardless of any other factors, period .

Not trying to ignite a debate. Just stating facts.

Electric cars would be cheaper (more feasible)..... If the oil companies (gas) weren't a factor

No they wouldn't. It's what I call initial market release pricing.
EVERYone does it and has to, to recoup the cost of development.
As well as initial marketing campaigns, and product promotion.
It's why Processors, GPU's and other hardware start off at around upwards of $1000 ......

It is what it is, regardless of who it is.

It is a guarantee that price regulation will absolutely stifle innovation.

Which is why you will get a tax break on purchasing a new electric car, cause otherwise, no one can afford them, it has nothing to do with the oil companies. New Product Pricing. And it will go on till the end of time, regardless of all other factors.

 

[brady]

Intel management software is best left uninstalled.

Care to elaborate on that statement?

The firmware based raid controller doesn't communicate well. If you have a raid configuration error during/post installation there is no way to determine what actually broke the array. Could be anything from driver to disk failure, yet they both appear identicle.

When compared to hardware or software based controllers, the Intel management software falls flat when things go wrong. With so many software based controllers available the lack of communication during failures isn't efficient for administrative or engineering depts.

 

[sygnus21]

Since I don't use RAID myself I can't debate what you say other than there are others including the OP that's using it without issue. Now you may say but the OP posted an issue on them.... yeah he did... and then came back and stated the issue was a power management issue, not IRST.

At any rate my question had more to do with your original generalized statement. Thanks for clarifying.

@ Tepid, we'll agree to disagree agreeably.

Peace

 

[Tepid]

one can disagree with opinion, but not fact.

Let me quote myself,,,

It's why Processors, GPU's and other hardware start off at around upwards of $1000 ......

and without trying to be sarcastic,,, would that be attributed to the oil companies (gas) also? or just the cost of doing business? or dare i say it,, greed.

As i think I have made my point, I will make this my last post to this thread.

 

[elbeasto]

Intel management software is best left uninstalled.

I agree, I just bought an 1155 board and forgot to install the IRST software initially but after I did, I have experienced a few lock ups.

I plan on uninstalling it as win 7 ran fine without it.

The only thing is that it's a software/drivers package so I'm not too sure weather I should uninstall the drivers as well.

I suppose it should be OK, there were no yellow exclamation points in device manager before installing them.

 

[Cr00zng]

Intel management software is best left uninstalled.

I agree, I just bought an 1155 board and forgot to install the IRST software initially but after I did, I have experienced a few lock ups.

I plan on uninstalling it as win 7 ran fine without it.

The only thing is that it's a software/drivers package so I'm not too sure weather I should uninstall the drivers as well.

I suppose it should be OK, there were no yellow exclamation points in device manager before installing them.

My newly built 1155 board experienced the same lock ups or freezes that had been traced to the Intel Rapid Storage Technology software, issue and resolution posted here. Uninstalling the software/drivers resolved the issue with no negative impact.