Intel Storage Driver Update Gone Bad -- Unable to Boot, BSOD

[quantumburnz]

Hi,
I was having issues with my external hard drive today and the event logs said something about the storage controller having a read error so I decided to try to update the storage drivers. I believe I had version 8.x and I downloaded the newest version from Intel's site, 12.x. I installed the software, and my system hung at "Starting Windows." I reverted to the last known good configuration, and I was back up and running. I decided to delete the existing drivers (8.x), restarted the computer, it automatically installed the 12.x drivers, and asked me to restart my computer, which I did. After this, my computer still hangs and I can't restore the last known good configuration.

Things I've tried:
- Trying to manually delete iaStore*.sys from system32\drivers
- Running Startup Repair
- Running System Restore (Apparently I don't have a restore point...)

I'm getting a BSOD when I try to boot into Windows now, but I can't see what it is.

I believe there may be a conflict of driver versions at this point. I'd like to manually remove all the Intel SATA drivers, if possible; however, I've been unsuccessful.

Any thoughts?

 

[GeneO]

Have you tried starting in windows safe mode and installing the 8.x drivers?

 

[quantumburnz]

I guess I failed to mention, I can't get in safe mode. I get a BSOD when trying to get into safe mode, but I can't even make out the details of the BSOD because the system reboots so fast. This is why I was hoping there's some way I can manually delete the files and make Windows think the drivers aren't installed.

 

[ItsCrakr]

Were you downloading Intel RST drivers? Try going to your bios and trying each SATA operation mode: IDE, AHCI, RAID.
What I suspect is, one of those drivers might've been installed, and your system loads, the new driver, but Bios has configured them to run in a different mode.

 

[quantumburnz]

Correct, I downloaded and was attempting to install the Intel RST drivers.

I only have two options in my BIOS: IDE and AHCI. I tried switching to IDE and I believe I got a BSOD when I tried that as well, but I'll try it again when I have a chance.

 

[carwiz]

Let me get this straight. You shot the tires on your car and now you can't figure out why they're flat?

Try a Repair Install. Right now you have a brick with a LED display until the correct drivers for your disk drive are installed. Do you have a DVD drive?

 

[quantumburnz]

Let me get this straight. You shot the tires on your car and now you can't figure out why they're flat?

Try a Repair Install. Right now you have a brick with a LED display until the correct drivers for your disk drive are installed. Do you have a DVD drive?

carwiz,
Close... I more ripped the tires to shreds. I know why my tires don't work -- I just can't figure out how to put them back together at this point.

My Acer restore CD doesn't give me the option to do a Repair Install, but I'll get a hold of a regular Win 7 CD and give that a shot, good suggestion, thank you.

 

[carwiz]

Go back into the BIOS and make sure your DVD/CD drive is selected as the first boot device. While you're there, see if the BIOS is even recognizing the C: drive. Don't change anything in the BIOS. (Other than boot sequence.)

 

[quantumburnz]

Go back into the BIOS and make sure your DVD/CD drive is selected as the first boot device. While you're there, see if the BIOS is even recognizing the C: drive. Don't change anything in the BIOS. (Other than boot sequence.)

Already done. I had my DVD drive set as the primary boot device because I was booting with Hiren's Boot CD to attempt manually delete the driver files. I'm able to see the file structure when I boot to Mini XP from Hiren's and the drive does show up in my BIOS.

 

[carwiz]

The image below shows the current drivers for a "Acer 5741" from the Acer Support Center. You should get your drivers from here and NOT Intel. As you can see, the 5741 has a number of optional/different hardware configurations so you have to know what OEM parts were used in your laptop or use the Acer discovery utility for drivers. Do this after you finish the Repair Install. An important part of any OEM PC is the "Chipset Drivers". This contains drivers and INF installers that are specific to your machine and allows Windows to interact with the hardware. Installing drivers that are not on this list increases the probability of a machine failure.

 

[ItsCrakr]

Intel RST?
Try Booting in RAID mode in SATA operation mode (You SHOULD have Raid in your SATA operations mode). Dont worry, you don't need to have a "RAID" setup while operating in "RAID" mode.

 

[carwiz]

Intel RST?
Try Booting in RAID mode in SATA operation mode (You SHOULD have Raid in your SATA operations mode). Dont worry, you don't need to have a "RAID" setup while operating in "RAID" mode.

Not so. The BIOS and chipset doesn't support RAID. Probably why the new driver bricked the PC.