I’ve been having an issue where my computer is freezing up for 30-60 seconds at a time, seemingly at random. Event Viewer shows lots of the same error happening, Event ID #9 "The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period."
Reading online, everyone suggests disabling LPM, which I’ve done. I added Port0-5 entries into the registry to disable it, and then I also enabled the HIDPM/DIPM options in Power Options (disabling them by setting them to “Active”). I’ve also been running on “High Performance”.
My main drive is a Samsung 840 Pro SSD, and then I have five separate storage hard drives (1TB, 1TB, 1.5TB, 3TB). I have an x58 ICH10 motherboard, using 11.2.0.1006 driver (with matching BIOS OROM).
Any idea what this issue might be? I’ve considered uninstalling/wiping Intel/iaStor drivers and then reinstalling them, wondering if there’s some driver/registry configuration that’s been damaged. I’ve also considered upgrading to a higher driver version than 11.2.0.1006, wondering if that would fix the problem.
I really hope it’s not my motherboard’s SATA controller going bad 
@ Coldblackice:
Are your HDDs going to sleep after a certain time of un-usage? If yes, I recommend to disable it within the Power Options (set it to “Never”).
If this shouldn’t help, I recommend to unplug one HDD after the other for a test period. This way you may find out, if any of the HDDs or its related SATA port has a problem.
Third tip: Check the PSU-
Another thing to check : if you happen to have Marvell LAN onboard, do the freeze also occur if you disable onboard LAN in BIOS ?
I’ve had them set to "Never" for a long time now. Additionally, since there also seems to be a firmware-level sleep that manufacturers implement, I use "Hard Disk Sentinel" to prevent them from sleeping/spinning down. It does this by writing a small file to each drive at a regular interval.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll give them a try. Is there a precise way to test a SATA controller? Or a way to troubleshoot a driver for problems (other than just using it and seeing how the system performs)?
My motherboard (eVGA e758 x58 SLI) has two Realtek PCIe onboard lan ports. Should I still try this test, or are you asking only specific to Marvell?
My suggestion had the intension to find out, if all HDDs and all SATA ports are fine and not the reason for your problem.
My suggestion had the intension to find out, if all HDDs and all SATA ports are fine and not the reason for your problem.
Shoot – the problem is still there, even after trying each drive
I’m guessing that means it’s not a problem with the individual drives?Is there something else I can measure or diagnose? Perhaps some way to know whether it’s Windows’ fault, the driver’s fault, or the hardware controller’s fault?
Probably yes.
It is very difficult to find out the precise reason of the problem like yours, because too many harware and software pieces are working together and may interfere each other.
Have you already looked into the Windows Event Manager? What does it say regarding your issue?
Probably yes.
It is very difficult to find out the precise reason of the problem like yours, because too many harware and software pieces are working together and may interfere each other.
Have you already looked into the Windows Event Manager? What does it say regarding your issue?
I’m getting the same frequent event in Event Manager:
Event 9, iaStor
"The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period."
This event occurs repeatedly every 20 seconds, for about 45 minutes, and then stops for a while. It then starts up randomly later – I can’t tell what’s triggering it.
Any ideas? Would it be any use for me to uninstall and wipe the SATA controller driver, then try to reinstall it? Could there be some type of driver/software/OS interaction that’s causing problems?
Is it possible, that you have 2 optical drives connected to Intel SATA ports?
If yes, unplug one of them.
Nope, no optical drives. I have 6 drives connected to my Intel ICH10R controller (AHCI mode, all solo drives, no RAID):
1 SSD:
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB
4 HDD:
WD Black 1TB
WD Black 1TB
WD Red 3TB (GPT)
Hitach Deskstar 1.5TB
1 External:
WD Caviar Green 1.5TB (external USB)
And 1 HDD connected by external eSATA enclosure to the JMicron JMB362/363 controller:
Toshiba 120GB
Would uninstalling/reinstalling the Intel SATA controller + RST driver work? What about upgrading to a higher driver (over 11.2.0.1006)? What about installing the Intel RST software to see if it could perform diagnostics on the controller?
Anything you can suggest, I’ll try. I’m desperate 
(Thanks for your help, btw)
Is it possible, that you have 2 optical drives connected to Intel SATA ports?
If yes, unplug one of them.
Anything else I could try? I’m fearing my controller may be dying
There’s no way I can afford a new motherboard right now. What are your thoughts on PCI-E SATA controller cards?
You can try all these options, but there is a much easier method to exclude the Intel driver iaStor.sys as the causer of your problems: Replace it by the generic MS AHCI driver!
Precondition: Your Intel SATA Controller is running in AHCI mode.
You can try all these options, but there is a much easier method to exclude the Intel driver iaStor.sys as the causer of your problems: Replace it by the generic MS AHCI driver!
Precondition: Your Intel SATA Controller is running in AHCI mode.
I guess that’s next!
Are there particular tips or instructions for doing that, or is it just a matter of updating the device in Device Manager and then picking the "Standard" driver?I’m just wondering if there are any other particulars I should be cleaning/disabling/reverting, like needing to be done when reverting between Intel version "jumps".
This is what I recommend to do:
1. Uninstall the Intel RST software from within the Control Panel > "Programs".
2. Reboot.
3. Open the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section of the Device Manager and right click onto the listed "Intel(R) ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller".
4. Choose the options "Update Driver Software" > "Browse my computer…" > "Let me pick from a list…"
5. Check "Show compatible hardware".
6. Choose the listed "Standard SATA AHCI Controller" > "Next" > "OK".
7. Reboot.
Did you find a solution to your SSD freezing problem? I’m having the same issue with my Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R-SLI (also ich10) motherboard and EVO 850. I was running a 1TB + 120 OCZ SSD cache without a problem a many years then decided to switch to a 500 SSD drive. I cloned the system to the new drive and immediately started having 30 second pauses. I’m also using the Intel driver. I switched back to my HDD+SSD setup and the pauses went away. I also see this log item in the event viewer: "The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period."
I think there is an incompatibility between Samsung SSDs and the x58 ich10 chipset or driver. I have another ssd controller on my motherboard and I will try switching to it tomorrow.
@ omnisync:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum and thanks for your contribution!
That would be fine. Please report about your results and don’t forget to mention the OS and the Intel RST driver version you are running.
Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)
I also noticed many problems with the intel AHCI v13 drivers : http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=649864errors.png (in this topic : [W8.1] Optical Drive noise when external drive is connected / iTunes is launched)
Event ID disk 153 (The IO operation at logical block address 1e413b6 for Disk 1 was retried) and iaStorA 129 (Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued). This last error makes my laptop freeze and unusable (http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/a…was-issued.aspx)
Yesterday, I also noticed these errors on an other laptop (Acer v3-771G) with the intel AHCI driver v13.6. The source was also disk but I can’t remember the event ID and the message.
On my first laptop, I deinstalled the AHCI driver, and since then, I’ve got no more problems ! I really think that there are incompatibility issues with the v13 AHCI driver and some motherboards…
So I thought I will share what happened to me 2 weeks ago. I was watching a video (on the hard drive) and it suddenly froze. I tried to close VLC and restart the video but it took too much time.
I then tried to shut down my pc but it stayed in the shutdown process for more than 1 hour. When I tried to start up again, it was really slow.
I checked the event viewer and I saw my Hard drive was “corrupted”. The events were full of ID 153 and 129 + NTFS problems…
(I tried to perform a chkdsk but it was a really bad idea as there still was a problem with the AHCI Controller.
So what I did to solve my problem is that I first removed the hard drive (as my OS runs on the SSD), I tested it as external drive (chkdsk, etc. => no problems found) and installed the last v13.6.3.1001 AHCI driver. Then I restart the PC, it was all good, no more disk, iaStor, NTFS events. The only “problem” is that from time to time I hear the optical drive noise ([W8.1] Optical Drive noise when external drive is connected / iTunes is launched)…
Well at least I can work with my PC again.
@ Hannay:
Thanks for your report.
Ok, if you ever should be able to solve this "problem" forever, please let us know it.
Fernando, could it ever be helpful to uninstall and reinstall the controller driver?
At least with software, I’ve found that often a software issue can be resolved by uninstalling and then reinstalling the software, especially if the software has been installed for a long period of time. I accredit this to the underlying system + hardware + other software “evolving” over time, so a refresh helps to “reset” it into a healthy, high-functioning state. This is most noticeable with security software, like antivirus and Malwarebytes.
Could the same work with the ICH10R controller driver? I’m still currently on 11.2.0.1006, and it’s been that for a couple years now. I’m just wondering whether I’m getting full efficiency/benefit/performance out of it, as sometimes I’m seeing high “Response Time (ms)” in Resource Monitor. I’m wondering if maybe it’s the controller, as it happens across drives.