Anybody having problems with Intel's Rapid Storage Technology enterprise drivers on X79 ?

I had the first BSOD in years, the last time I had a BSOD was with Windows XP if I'm not mistaken, I couldn't take a photograph of it, but I still managed to read "iastor.sys", which is from Intel's drivers.

I wasn't doing anything special at all, I was actually watching a youtube video from a news article posted here on OCN.


I was using driver version 3.0.0.3011, which I believed were the most recent ones, except they aren't. Intel has a newer version, which is 3.1.0.1068, that doesn't come in .exe format, instead it comes in a .zip file, and it looks more like something a developer would get instead of an end user. There isn't even a setup file in the main folder, you have to go to the GUI folder to launch the setup.


I still haven't had any BSOD with this one, but then again I didn't have any with the other for days, but there is something intriguing me: before I installed any of Intel's Rapid Storage drivers, I installed the Intel SSD Toolbox, and found out the latest version has two nice graphs à la SSD Life to show you how healthy the SSD is. Turns out that after installing the RSTe drivers it now shows this, and updating to the latest RSTe drivers didn't solve the problem:



Did Intel create drivers that are incompatible with their own SSD toolbox ?

I also had some initial difficulty finding the drivers (Yes, the driver CD that comes with the motherboard has an earlier version and names them Rapid Storage Technology enterprise, but Intel would do good to add "X79" to the enterprise C600 chipset that is already listed in the compatibility listing.).

Even in the Device Manager this can be confusing, and, together with the two problems I mentioned above, raise the question of whether these drivers are optimised at all for the X79 chipset:




Anyway, I'm not using the RAID feature, should I still use these drivers or completely uninstall them ? And will I have any problems doing so ? When I uninstalled the first RSTe drivers, the only thing that was effectively uninstalled for good was the GUI, the drivers themselves were probably reinstalled upon reboot by Windows, since the Device Manager still reported the same version as being installed.
Edited by tpi2007 - 5/10/12 at 3:30pm

Seems nobody on OCN is having problems. I guess nobody installed the RSTe drivers that came with their motherboard.

If anybody is interested, I found this thread over at Intel, describing this very same problem. Seems like these drivers are rubbish. If you really want Intel drivers installed you have to manually install the non enterprise drivers. You have to do it manually because the automated process will say you don't have a supported platform. Of course, by doing a manual install you don't get to have a control panel, only the drivers. And from what I read from a user there, there still seems to be some slowdowns with the non enterprise drivers.

What a way to treat enthusiasts, Intel. The X79 platform has been launched almost six months ago now, and there still aren't drivers listed that say "X79 compatible" on your website. No wonder it only says C600, they don't work properly on the X79 platform. Until the problems are solved, it would be best for Intel to not alow the C600 drivers to be installed on the X79 platform from the automated installation, just like they don't allow the non enterprise drivers to be installed, that way users would know they could find problems if they did it manually.
Edited by tpi2007 - 5/11/12 at 10:54am

And here is another thread over at Intel forums I found today:

http://communities.intel.com/thread/27974

Also, I uninstalled the Intel drivers completely. Uninstalling using the uninistall program only really uninstalls the GUI, so, after a reboot I had to uninstall the drivers by going to the device manager. Then it takes two reboots for Windows to fully install the generic drivers for the storage devices. Intel's SSD Toolbox and other programs like HDTune can now report S.M.A.R.T values and I can run the SSD optimizer in the Intel Toolbox, which was something that was also disabled when using Intel's RSTe drivers.

I also used CrystalDiskMark before and after, and the performance difference is negligible, yes it is a little slower, but you probably won't notice it. If anybody is interested I can post screenshots.
Edited by tpi2007 - 5/12/12 at 2:25pm

A quick follow-up:

I think I will install Intel's latest 11 series RST drivers manually. Microsoft's AHCI drivers work, but I just tried a game (GTA: EFLC) that has to fetch a lot of data from the HDD and it stutters every thirty seconds or so. I remembered this behaviour from when I put together a legacy Pentium 3 system a few years ago and I observed the same behaviour until I installed Intel's drivers, which solved the problem.
Edited by tpi2007 - 5/15/12 at 7:59pm

I had another BSOD, this time with the newer RSTe drivers.

Here is the BlueScreenView screenshot showing the two BSODs I have had, the first time using RSTe 3.0.0.3011, the second using RSTe 3.1.0.1068:

(Edit: they were both with the same RSTe 3.0.0.3011, I mistakenly installed them again instead of RSTe 3.1.0.1068; see my next post)



Both BSODs occured a few minutes or hours after having played a game, and both during mostly idling (was watching a Youtube video the first time, and wasn't even at the computer the second time, the browser was just idling).

What is going on with Intel's drivers ?

I'm using Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
The motherboard is an Asus Sabertooth X79 with BIOS 1104 from the 10th of April 2012
CPU: Core i7-3820


Note: I am NOT running the system in RAID mode, no matter what RSTe says.

I have set the BIOS to AHCI mode since the beginning and S.M.A.R.T. is enabled.

I have an Intel 320 Series 120 GB SSD and two WD Caviar Black HDDs, one 1TB Sata 3, and one 500 GB Sata 2, all of which had been running flawlessly with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit for more than a year on a Gigabyte EP45-UD3LR motherboard with a Core 2 Quad Q9550 in the exact same configuration (SSD as boot drive), and using Intels RST drivers.

I'm using only the SATA ports the X79 chipset provides. The 320 Series SSD is connected to SATA 3 port 1 and the WD Caviar Black 1 TB SATA 3 is connected to SATA 3 port 2, while the WD Caviar Black 500 GB is connected to SATA 2 port 1. I also have the additional SATA controller provided by the motherboard disabled in the Bios given that I don't need more SATA ports.

And no matter what, I still can't use Intel's SSD Toolbox properly. I can't run the SSD Optimizer and S.M.A.R.T. data is unavailable, to the extent HD Tune also can't access it.



Do I really have to manually force the installation of Intel's RST (non enterprise) drivers to get rid of all these problems ?

What is Intel planning to do ? This is the enthusiast platform and it is more than 6 months old and bugs like this still exist ?

TRIM is not yet available in RAID mode on the X79 platform, but I'm not using my system in RAID mode, and yet the RSTe GUI says the system is in RAID mode.


What gives ?
Edited by tpi2007 - 6/20/12 at 3:18pm

I'm so sorry, a day after having posted the post above I realized I mistakenly re-installed the same RSTe (the latest drivers available from Asus on their site for my motherboard as of today) instead of RSTe 3.1.0.1068, so this second BSOD happened using the same drivers as the first time. I posted this on the Intel Community forums too and updated it there immediately, however I kept on postponing updating this thread until today, my apologies to the community.

In the meantime I have been using the system extensively with the latest RSTe available from Intel's website RSTe 3.1.0.1068 (this is the version number that is actually installed; the version number you have to search for on Intel's site is RSTe 3.1.0.1085) and have had no more BSODs. I have done everything I had done before, run the same games and applications, and put the computer in and out of sleep mode for several days (also performed some traditional shutdowns too), and have to say that the problem definitely appears to be Intel's RSTe 3.0.0.3011.

I will send an e-mail to Asus telling them about my experience.


Everything else I said in the post above still stands - stuck in RAID mode; Intel SSD optmizer not available, S.M.A.R.T. values neither. However, Christian Franke over at the thread I created over at Intel forums pointed me towards HWiNFO's Known Issues thread that says the following:

RSTe 3.2 is not yet released, but if this information turns out to be correct, it shouldn't take too long now.
Edited by tpi2007 - 6/20/12 at 3:13pm