Help with sorting out a few drivers/storage/bios related issues

Important Drivers General: Storage Drivers (AHCI/RAID, NVMe and USB)
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Hello all!

I would like some help regarding drivers for my SSD and consequently BIOS settings based on the driver.

So I have been experiencing random freezing and crashing for a while. Think it has to do with the SSD/Mobo/Driver combination.
My mobo has 4 sata ports, all Intel. I was told to install this driver, from the ASUS page:

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Intel AHCI/RAID Driver Path for Windows Win8.1 32bit & Win8.1 64bit.
Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver software V12.8.0.1016 for Windows Win8.1 64bit---(WHQL).
Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver software V12.8.0.1016 for Windows Win8.1 32bit---(WHQL)
 


Now the freezing is very random and even though so far nothing happened (3 days only), I would like to double-check if I have everything setup alright.

1- Is that driver version correct? Should I always use the driver from the mobo's page or can I update it?
2- Should I enable the Intel Rapid Storage option in the BIOS, since I have the driver with the same name?
3- Can I disable Link State Power Management in the intel's driver options? Heard it might cause some problems.
4- In Device Manager, how to I check correctly if it is intel rapid storage driver the one being used and not other random/generic one?


Thanks in advance and sorry for the noob questions. This is hard.
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@ dream3:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

The driver, which is available for your mainboard at the ASUS Support page, works with your system, but is not the best. >Here< you can find the Intel RST/RST(e) drivers, which I recommend for Intel 7-Series Chipset systems.

This option is only valid for Intel RAID systems (after having set the SATA mode of the Intel SATA Controller to "RAID").

Yes, I recommend to disable it, if you want a better performance. AFAIK this option may cause problems for some systems, if it has been enabled.

Search for the listed Intel SATA AHCI or RAID Controller (is either within the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" or "Storage Controllers" section), right click onto it > "Properties" > "Driver" > "Driver Details".
If the driver named iaStorA.sys is listed, you can be sure, that your on-board SATA Controller is managed by an Intel RST driver.

Regards
Dieter (alias Fernandoi)

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Thanks a lot Mr. Fernando!

You were very clear with your reply.

Taking advantage of the thread, let me ask you. Should I take the same approach regarding other system drivers, like chipset, lan and sound driver, regarding installing always the most up to date ones?

Also, as it’s probably related, can I keep all the CPU Power Management options set to “enabled” in the BIOS?
Aaaaaaaaand under windows 8.1 power settings, should I disable that link state thingy too, or the one in intel’s drivers already overrides the windows one?

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There is no need to install or update the so-named Intel Chipset "drivers" (they are no drivers), unless the Device Manager shows a yellow mark. For details look into the start post of >this< thread.
Regarding the other mentioned drivers (LAN, Audio etc.) I recommend to install the latest available WHQL certified ones.

I personally use the DEFAULT BIOS settings regarding the CPU.

Yes, it is the latter.

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Fernando, you’ve been extremely helpful! People like you are definitely in need nowadays!

I do have one last concern:

I’m planning on upgrading to windows 10 to pair it up with my soon-to-be samsung 850 evo ssd. So I went back to ASUS’ windows 10 download section only to find out a couple of “inconsistencies”.

It says the chipset driver is in beta version and is not WHQL. I did read your words about chipsets but even though, would installing that turn out to be a problem?

Secondly, there are no LAN or SATA drivers available for download. Does that mean windows 10 will download functional drivers for my mobo by itself?
And regarding the IRST driver, are your recommended drivers compatible with windows 10/my mobo, in case windows doesnt automatically install an intel one?

Finally, how can I be sure my mobo is compatible in general with windows 10?

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@ dream3:

Don’t worry about the Win10 installation. With your Intel 7-Series Chipset system you probably will not need to install any driver.
Regarding the Intel RST drivers I can tell you, that you can easily replace the Win10 in-box MS AHCI driver named STORAHCI.SYS by any compatible Intel AHCI driver. My recommendation: Take the Intel RST(e) driver v13.1.0.1058 WHQL.

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Okay, good to know that!

When you say the IRST V12.8.0.1016 works, but isn’t the best when compared to v13.1.0.1058, do you mean stability, performance, new features or what? Anything I’ll feel the difference in practice?

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You should test it yourself.
The Intel RST(e) driver v12.8.0.1016 was the first version of the v12.8 development branch (with a lot of bugs). The last one was v12.8.13.1000.