I never received a mainboard manual with the purchase of my desktop system and so besides missing mainboard info, when it comes to all the different controller drivers, it’s harder to tell what drivers are updating
I first installed the Intel RST Premium Controller back in 2018 after the initial Windows 10 OOBE. A couple years later, I switched from RAID On to AHCI mode in the BIOS. I never performed an uninstall of the Intel RST Premium Controller. The change to the SATA controller mode in the BIOS from RAID On to AHCI mode installed the Intel 300 Series Chipset SATA AHCI controller driver.
A few recent Intel updates this month that installed for the Intel SATA AHCI controller through WU led me to read a guide on this forum titled "X99: Sata Controllers and Drivers" (even though I don’t have the X99 mainboard.) What caught my interest in the guide was the mention about three different controller drivers which can even be "mixed" or used together at the same time where it was only referring to Intel controllers.
What I’m trying to discern are two Intel updates that installed this month for the Intel 300 series SATA AHCI controller :
a) The first update failed to install which was called in WU: Intel Corporation - Extension - 17.9.6.1019.
b) The second update did install which was called in WU: Intel Corporation - HDC - 17.9.6.1019. ( I’m assuming HDC stands for hard drive controller)
c) The versions were identical, they just had different Intel descriptions
Does it make any sense then that something is reporting on the M.2 bus that’s triggering an Intel RST driver update (even in AHCI mode) ?
Could that be the reason why the first Intel driver update failed ?
@Rathlin :
To be able to answer your questions, we need a few information about your "Desktop System" (mainboard manufacturer and model, Chipset, HardwareIDs of the in-use Intel SATA Controller).
By the way - Only the Intel "Ënterprise" chipsets X99 and X299 have more than 1 on-board Intel SATA Controller.
@Fernando
desktop specifications
Motherboard: Dell Model 0DF42J (U3E1)
Chipset : Southbridge model Z370
Hardware ID’s of Intel SATA Controller:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A282&SUBSYS_08591028&REV_00
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A282&SUBSYS_08591028
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A282&CC_010601
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A282&CC_0106
NVMe Storage Device: SK Hynix Model PC401
HDD Storage Device: Seagate Model ST2000DM001-1ER164
SATA type: SATA-III 6.0Gb/s
Maybe just ditching Intel’s AHCI controller and replacing it with the Standard MS AHCI driver for the SATA controller is the way to go.
Maybe changing to the driver to Windows built-in driver might be one way to avoid what’s installed. Win 10 Home offers basically no control over WU’s
@Rathlin : Thanks for the requested details.
Which NVMe driver manages your Hynix NVMe SSD? If it should be the Intel RST driver as well, you may run into problems while trying to replace the AHCI driver.
In any case I recommend to set a "Restore Point" before doing any storage driver update/replacement.
Thanks Fernando. Your question is a good one: “Which NVMe ‘driver’ manages your Hynix NVMe SSD?” I know it’s not an SK Hynix driver because that manufacturer does not provide NVMe drivers such as Samsung. The Standard NMV Express Controller is the name of the Storage controller under the expanded section of “Storage Controllers” in Device Manager. The NVMe driver that manages my SK Hynix SSD couldn’t be the Intel RST driver, yes? So I have to believe the NVMe driver is a Microsoft generic driver.
These Dells are funny animals. This relates to this post and the couple that followed. Had a very similar WU issue. On a freshly installed Windows 10 Pro on an old Dell XPS 8910 desktop with an Intel(R) 100 Series chipset, Windows Update updated the generic Win10 in-box MS AHCI driver to the Intel(R) 100 Series/C230 Chipset SATA AHCI Controller version 16.8.3.1004. I tried to reinstall the generic Win10 in-box MS AHCI driver, and it would not install. The install stalled/got hung up. So I’m forced to use the Intel AHCI driver.
On Dell’s driver support page, they offer the Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Driver_2WR4F_WIN64_16.8.3.1004_A06_03.EXE
I can’t update bios drivers on this one - they’re all cyan colored protected. But I did run the bios through UBU, and this is what UBU showed me:
Main Menu
[Current version in BIOS file]
1 - Disk Controller
EFI Intel RST RAID Driver - 14.7.0.2341
OROM Intel RST for SATA - 14.7.0.2341
EFI NVMe Driver present
Maybe Dell has locked it down with the OROM Intel RST for SATA? I don’t know, but it’s interesting that the Windows driver Dell offers is v16, and the bios drivers are v14.
Anyway, I’m stuck with the Intel AHCI driver (which is not the end of the world). And my NVMe driver is the MS Standard NVM Express Controller.
I seriously doubt, that it was a Windows Update, which automaticly has replaced the running generic MS AHCI driver by an Intel one.
This is the safest way to get any Intel AHCI driver replaced by the generic in-box MS AHCI driver:
- Start the Device Manager and expand the “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers” section.
- Right-click onto the listed Intel SATA AHCI Controller and choose the “Update driver” option.
- Choose the options “Browse my Computer” and then “Let me pick…”.
- Highlight the “Standard SATA AHCI Controller”, which will be shown as being compatible.
- Click onto the “Continue” button.
After the next reboot the on-board Intel AHCI Controller will be managed by the generic MS AHCI driver named storahci.sys.
Last night, I did exactly that a couple times. It just hung. The first time, it hung for probably 20-25 minutes, and I killed the process. The 2nd time, it killed itself, indicating that updating ran into a problem, and the Intel v16 driver remained persistent.
After reading your post, I tried it again this morning after an overnight computer off reboot, and it threw me the same error message - something to the effect of “Windows ran into a problem updating the driver”, but it did show the replacement Standard SATA AHCI Controller, the device is working properly and the expanded driver is the storahci.sys. Weird for sure.
Thanks Deiter!