J
John E
I'm running Vista x64 with a RAID 0 hard drive array using ICH 7 64bit RAID
drivers.
Ever since installing, I have been seeing BSODs (multiple different codes)
but last week I got one which identified iastor.sys, which I recognised as a
RAID driver.
I decided to update the driver, and searched on the internet for the latest
version, and installed it. Fine. Intallation went well. (The latest version
was released in May)
I find that disk access is a bit faster, and memory access is a bit faster
(may be unrelated, but the windows performance measure for memory went up a
notch - from 5.5 to 5.6). The system seems more responsive, and in the last
three days, I've had no further BSODs.
24 hours after upgrading the driver I get a windows activation balloon,
telling me that I have two days left to activate. So I go through the phone
rigmarole - no big problem, but a PITA. It's activated again now.
My point (If you are still with me) is that "Windows update" should have
automatically taken care of this update if their 'problems and solution'
feature is worth anything. Why doesn't it? Could it be because their moronic
protection system can't cope with RAID driver upgrades without throwing a
wobbly?
My suggestion if you are experiencing BSODs and using Intel's matrix RAID
driver, is to upgrade manually to the latest version, but the warning is to
be prepared for the hassle of making that phone call to reactivate.
drivers.
Ever since installing, I have been seeing BSODs (multiple different codes)
but last week I got one which identified iastor.sys, which I recognised as a
RAID driver.
I decided to update the driver, and searched on the internet for the latest
version, and installed it. Fine. Intallation went well. (The latest version
was released in May)
I find that disk access is a bit faster, and memory access is a bit faster
(may be unrelated, but the windows performance measure for memory went up a
notch - from 5.5 to 5.6). The system seems more responsive, and in the last
three days, I've had no further BSODs.
24 hours after upgrading the driver I get a windows activation balloon,
telling me that I have two days left to activate. So I go through the phone
rigmarole - no big problem, but a PITA. It's activated again now.
My point (If you are still with me) is that "Windows update" should have
automatically taken care of this update if their 'problems and solution'
feature is worth anything. Why doesn't it? Could it be because their moronic
protection system can't cope with RAID driver upgrades without throwing a
wobbly?
My suggestion if you are experiencing BSODs and using Intel's matrix RAID
driver, is to upgrade manually to the latest version, but the warning is to
be prepared for the hassle of making that phone call to reactivate.