Solved Random & frequent BSOD from IASTOR.SYS

[AnnaIrving]

I may be completely wrong, but I do have *just enough* space free on my HD (241GB free out of 445) to maybe create another partition and save my backup there before clean reinstall? maybe? I don't know if it's better or worse than shrinking the C drive.

 

[gregrocker]

If that's the case test it by creating a new partition there clearly labeled Data, move your data over.

What's important here Anna is that once you confirm your data is all there and readable, to do a booted Clean Install Windows 7 then during Steps 7 and 8 delete all but the Data partition (triple check!) to create and format a New partition at the front of the HD for Clean Reinstall.

Archie has recent experience with the changes necessary for SCSI to implement AHCI, so he needs to sign off on whether this will work for sure. Data should always be readable in another partition.

I'd also upload as much of your most important data that's not yet been backed up at home using Skydrive which offers 7gb free storage per Windows Live/Hotmail ID, or more for cheap as explained in Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums

 

[AnnaIrving]

Thank you gregrocker for your time and patience. I'll wait for Arc's confirmation that it'll work (plus, I'm still confused if I should set sata to ata first or not?) before going forward. In the meanwhile I'll try to create a partition. I'll make sure to back up most essential/recent files using skydrive and my usb stick. Anna

 

[Arc]

Hello Anna ... if you follow what Greg suggested in post #22 , it will work.

Your problem is this part ....

Disabling it does not work for you, coz toy have no other storage controllers present in your system which are native (pciide, pciidex, atapi, ataport). all those load is taken by the SCSI setup ....

As the other drivers are not present, and the setup is restricting them to be auto-configured at startup, you cannot boot at any other configuration than the present. But the present situation, as you are experiencing, is crash prone.

If you set the storage to IDE mode and make a clean reinstall as Greg suggested, it will be all OK.

 

[gregrocker]

Wouldn't she want to try AHCI mode first before IDE, Archie?

What exact changes does she need to make in BIOS besides choosing AHCI? Just disable IRST?

And yes these changes are always made before reinstall. I wanted confirmation from Archie that nothing about the change from ISRT to AHCI would interfere with data being read (I cannot imagine any such scenario) and also settings changes needed pertaining to SCSI drive which he told me he just experienced on a rig of his own so is fresh to him.

 

[AnnaIrving]

I just started going through the Partition or Volume-create new tutorial. Before I proceed, does the fact that I have a HDD/Solid State Drive hybrid(?) change any of the steps for new partition or clean reinstall? Anna

 

[gregrocker]

Hi again Anna -

Can you post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums ?

The hybrid HDD/SSD is normally configured using IRST to maintain a paging file on the SSD chip. Users who have turned off IRST and reinstalled report no performance difference.

Once you turn of IRST you may see the SSD chip show up on the drive selection screen during install. You would want to ignore it - although if its sizable enough we have had users format and install Win7 to it successfully.

If you try this while keeping the old install onboard you can assure it resolves the BSOD's while comparing performance to the old install. If you want to reinstall again using IRST with the chip then you can even try that.

In some cases bad boot code on a HD can cause issues only resolved by moving data off to wipe the HDD with Diskpart Clean Command. However that can be held in mind only as a last resort if the reinstall(s) don't solve the problem.

 

[Arc]

Wouldn't she want to try AHCI mode first before IDE, Archie?

What exact changes does she need to make in BIOS besides choosing AHCI? Just disable IRST?

And yes these changes are always made before reinstall. I wanted confirmation from Archie that nothing about the change from ISRT to AHCI would interfere with data being read (I cannot imagine any such scenario) and also settings changes needed pertaining to SCSI drive which he told me he just experienced on a rig of his own so is fresh to him.

Greg, I suggested IDE, as iastor.sys uses both the forms, SCSI and AHCI. I was a bit worried (due to her BIOS setup thing that she showed us) that if it is in AHCI mode it may get the iastor driver from either chipset installation or windows updates ..... IDE is safe from that tension. And, if it is upgraded to AHCI later,it will use msahci only, and will be totally safe from the threats of iastor.

I am not very sure about Inspiron's BIOS .... but not very sure other than one thing that it is to disable the Intel Smart Response Technology, caused by RST, which is actually RAID.

Description | Disk drive
Model | FFS
SCSI Target ID | 1
Size | 8.00 GB (8,587,192,320 bytes)
Partition | Disk #1, Partition #0
Partition Size | 8.00 GB (8,587,837,440 bytes)

If I am not wrong, it is lebeled as Disk 1: Intel RAID 0 Volume or something similar.

 

[Arc]

Sorry for the multiple post, it may not be very useful information for Anna, but here is the difference between two instances of RST driver, iAstor.sys.

In Anna's case ....

Name | Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller
Driver | c:\windows\system32\drivers\iastor.sys

In case of another OP ...

Name Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\iastor.sys

Same driver, same location, but used in different mode. The second one is comparatively easier to deal with, but for the first one, a clean reinstall is needed, as it is to change the storage controller mode in the BIOS, which makes the system inaccessible.

 

[gregrocker]

The RAID is for adding in the small SSD paging cache if it's similar to what we've seen in the past. It won't show up in Disk mgmt, but often does after unRAIDing by turning off IRST in BIOS and setting to AHCI.

Does the SCSI configuration that concerned you come into play here, Archie?

 

[Arc]

Does the SCSI configuration that concerned you come into play here, Archie?

Yes, Greg. It is the SCSI configuration that creates the RAID setup. Which in turn causes the rest of the issue.

 

[AnnaIrving]

Hi again Anna -

Can you post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums ?

The hybrid HDD/SSD is normally configured using IRST to maintain a paging file on the SSD chip. Users who have turned off IRST and reinstalled report no performance difference.

Once you turn of IRST you may see the SSD chip show up on the drive selection screen during install. You would want to ignore it - although if its sizable enough we have had users format and install Win7 to it successfully.

If you try this while keeping the old install onboard you can assure it resolves the BSOD's while comparing performance to the old install. If you want to reinstall again using IRST with the chip then you can even try that.

In some cases bad boot code on a HD can cause issues only resolved by moving data off to wipe the HDD with Diskpart Clean Command. However that can be held in mind only as a last resort if the reinstall(s) don't solve the problem.

Here's the Disk Management screenshot.

I spent yesterday prepping for the clean install. I noticed that my BIOS is version A06, but DELL has A13 available? I guess Windows Update doesn't cover BIOS. Tried to install in Safe Mode but I got an error message saying "unable to load driver" and decided to quit.

Anna

 

[Arc]

If BIOS is not really an issue (it is not in your case), better leave it. BIOS updating is a risky operation in most of th cases and if you dont have the experience about it, it will not be good. Moreover, any interruption in the process may make the motherboard totally inaccessible.

 

[gregrocker]

Before shrinking C I would uninstall any programs you don't use, clean up and organize your files into User folders which you can just drag to the new data partition. Confirm twice that all of your data is there.

Make your backup media if you haven't already as suggested in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Then run CCleaner Disk and Registry cleaners, followed by Puran Boot Time defrag with full Disk Check. Puran Defrag Download before shrinking C in Disk Mgmt: Partition or Volume - Shrink and creating a new which you label Data: Partition or Volume - Create New

If you have not yet tested if the OEM diagnostics partition will boot I'd do that next to know whether to save the OEM partition: Dell Diagnostics Utility - How to Run the

Reboot into BIOS setup, Set SATA controller to AHCI.

Then I would boot into installer using Dell F12 key at boot, during booted Custom install following the illustrated steps in Clean Install Windows 7 . During Steps 7 and 8 highlight to Delete the Recovery (which will not run after reinstall) and C partitions only. Keep telling yourself you will not touch the Data partition to avoid a mistake. Then highlight the Unallocated space you have made from Recovery and C . Create and Format a New partition there only, click Next to begin install.

Be sure to have your wireless driver on a CD, stick or stored on the data partition downloaded from the Dell Support Downloads webpage for your tag number so if its not provided during install you can install it to get online, enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3) then run all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates. After each requested reboot go back to Check for more Updates until there are no more. You can be setting up your desktop and browser while these are running, maybe installing some programs though I would spread those out to see if any affect performance.

If you prefer you can leave IRST enabled for this install to see if it is the cause of the BSOD's and retail the SSD chip paging cache. The reinstall may resolve the issue, but if not then you'll know to disable IRST to reinstall again.

 

[AnnaIrving]

Then run CCleaner Disk and Registry cleaners, followed by Puran Boot Time defrag with full Disk Check. Puran Defrag Download before shrinking C in Disk Mgmt: Partition or Volume - Shrink and creating a new which you label Data: Partition or Volume - Create New

The tutorial Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 #16 says not to defrag a SSD. I have a hybrid, so I am confused if I should run Puran?

Anna

 

[gregrocker]

Only the paging file is on a chip, but if you feel better then whatever Disk Mgmt can't shrink, Partition Wizard Boot Disk Resize can do for sure since no OS files are running when it shrinks.
Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.

 

[AnnaIrving]

I'm sorry to say I'm confused about my hard drives. I thought I had two physical hard drives, the first a normal 500GB HDD and the second a 32GB SSD. But apparently the SSD is only a chip and I have only one drive? So I can defrag my C: like a HDD? I may be just making this harder than it is but I'd rather not make mistakes. Anna

 

[gregrocker]

It is a bit confusing but generally that configuration is a HD with a chip on the mobo or HD used for paging file, although we've helped several (who insisted) actually install Win7 on the chip, which shows up to format once you unRAID it by turning off IRST in BIOS.

I think you bring up a good reservation about defragging SSD so see how much C shrinkage Disk Mgmt will give you without it, then if necessary run PW CD which will always be able to shrink as much as you're owed.

 

[AnnaIrving]

Disk Management calculates available shrink space is 80GB which isn't large enough for my User folder (150GB). I guess I need the PW CD, whatever it is? EDIT: nevermind, I think you're talking about Partition Wizard

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, it's our favorite tool here which has helped with countless thousands of complicated partitioning operations without a single failure. Here's a video to watch: Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.

Download the CD ISO, rightclick it to Burn with or Open with Windows Image Burner, burn to CD, boot and resize C.

Make sure you have the Win7 bootable installer or System Repair Disk on hand too in the rare case you need to Startup Repair the boot.