Looks like Windows 11 can’t be installed on a device while IaStorE.sys (RSTe) is present.
@Squall_Leonhart
Thanks for the info and greetings to Down Under!
What should affected users do, who want to use the “RSTe AHCI RAID Controller Miniport”?
I’m not sure tbh, I’ve hit some roadblocks getting the machine to complete the OOBE phase of the install, simply using the StorAHCI got it into the First Boot phase though.
The iaStorE and A files from RSTe 5/6 and 4 respectively are definitely not compatible with First Boot though, there’s users across 4th gen up to 7th gen to testify to the BSOD occurring.
I’m not very surprised, even the AC Nvme drivers have bsods under 11 till recently.
There is no way to use RSTe’s iastorA or iastorE without encoutering the Bsod, even after having succeeded in the installation,
I just had to do a transplant of PCI reg keys to the AHCI Ven_Dev ID in the registry because Windows 11 also doesn’t seem to create a recovery controlset when changing drivers too o.O
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Hi @Fernando …how are you?!
Today after a long time I formatted my PC and I wanted to update the drivers for “Intel (R) 6 Series / C200 Series Chipset Family” (MB: MSI P67A-GD65 (B3))
NOTE: I installed and updated Windows 10 Pro x64 22H2 (build: 19045.2788 - Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4190.0) and Windows automatically installed the drivers v10.0.19041.1889
Years ago you helped me suggesting the best drivers for my motherboard with “Intel (R) 6 Series / C200 Series Chipset Family” and I installed the drivers: “64bit Intel RST (s) AHCI / RAID Drivers v12.9.4. 1000 WHQL”. Consulted your guides, this version still seems to be the only one suggested for Intel(R) 6 Series (which I installed). Or are there more updated drivers that I haven’t seen?
NOTE: to update the drivers go to: Device Manager > IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
Speaking instead of Intel Chipset INF files for 6-Series the program “MSI Live Update 6” notified me the drivers are available: Intel_INF_Update_9.4.0.1026 (Windows automatically install version: 9.2.0 Build 1035). I tried to install the new 9.4.0.1026 but in Device Manager > IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I always see the version 9.2.0 Build 1035. Maybe I’m checking in the wrong place [?]
PC configuration:
CPU: Intel i7-2600K
MB: MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)
STORAGE: OCZ Vertex 3 SATAIII @ + 120gb WD Caviar Black 2TB
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-X-F3-12800CL9Q 16GBXL
GPU: ATI FirePro W5100
Attached 3 tests on the current speed of my SSD “OCZ Vertex 3 SATAIII @ + 120gb”
Thanks regardless for your time.
Greetings
Alex from Rome
The v12 for Sandy Bridge but you can try to benchmark also the v13 and decide yourself.
And you wont get get much more from that OCZ model ssd…
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- Usually the generic Win10/11 in-box MS AHCI driver is a very good choice for all Intel chipset systems.
- The Intel chipset devices are listed within the “System devices” section of the Device Manager. Don’t try to install them into the “IDE ATA/Atapi Controllers” section.
- The Intel chipset decice INF file(s) should only be installed, if the Device Manager shows a device with a “missing driver”.
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Thank you very much!
I installed the Windows 11 drivers (which I think are the same as Windows 10).
Rather … I have another problem that I thought to solve by formatting the PC but which I think is OT here. I don’t know if I can describe it, even if it concerns video files with HEVC codec (H.265) which uses the CPU to decode, if I’m not mistaken.
Greetings
Kyashan
Hi !
Since i’m running out of options in my head, i’d like to ask,
ok, first, i have sound glitches, pops and clicks, running Youtube in Brave browser.
I have re-installed win10 few days ago, installed everything back like it was, but this appears now.
I remember it was years ago the same, but don’t know how did I solved this.
I did try other suggestions mentioned at Brave forum or on net, but,
before i try some experimenting, does Chipset SATA AHCI Controller version has anything to do with this ?
I have version 12.9.4.1000, for Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family.
All drivers are up to day, just like before,
Latencymon doesn’t show any problems.
Firefox works fine, but I don’t use this browser, was just for testing.
Maybe any tip or suggestion, since system is still clean and empty, i can experiment little 
Best,
Matej
Not pointing AHCI driver issues on this situation
YT api uses graphics acceleration whenever possible…
@schmety
There was no reason to start a new thread. Please read the start post of this thread.
As long as you are running your SATA connected SSD(s)/HDD(s) in AHCI mode, I recommend to to use the generic Win10/11 in-box MS AHCI driver named storahci.sys.
Sory, it wasn’t on purpose.
Thanks for your recommendation, will try now.
Do you recommend the same for my second machine where I have Z170 chipset with Win 11 ?
Thanks.
Yes!
Interesting, thanks for sharing. Do you mind sharing where in the registry those keys would be located (in general)?
Interested for curiosity’s sake, for future troubleshooting awareness. TIA
Which sort of keys do you mean?
Hello Fernando. I hope you can help me, so i’ve been trying different sata drivers and for the moment, i decided to stick with v12.9.4.1000, they seem to work well on my SSD’s on an MSI H81M-E33 based system. The standard ones are not bad either, but these seem a bit better, boot time is slightly quicker. But i have an issue here, sometimes when changing these type of drivers to different version, sometimes i would get glitches related to the I/O, can’t understand why.
For example, when i decided to rollback to Windows standard sata driver from v12.9.4.1000 and tried a couple of games, the load times were insanely long and the SSD would spike to a 100% constantly in the game, only due to me rolling back from a non-standard sata driver. The problem went away once i upgraded to a newer sata driver, then rolled back and deleted all newer driver remains and files. But i am not even sure if that’s enough as with some games i still get unusually high I/O load in some games for seemingly no reason, for example, in RE2: Remake, it can spikes up to 60% when switching areas, on an SSD, just why?
Is it possible Windows standard sata driver or other non-standard drivers can get damaged/corrupt if you switch them a lot to test them? And if so, how can i troubleshoot or fix this and delete old remains or fix the driver without fully reinstalling Windows?
Thanks!
I have never encountered such problem during my extended tests.
It is not a good idea to delete any storage driver file, which has been used by the OS.
By the way - which OS are you running?
Anyway here is my tip: Once you have found the “best” AHCI driver, you should stick with it and use it until the next clean Windows installation.
I am running Windows 10 20H2. I have done benchmarks and overall, seems to be fine, just that for some reason the storage usage in some cases goes way too high, even between different sata drivers, so i would just assume is that some games or programs are not that well optimized, who knows.
I don’t really understand, I am confused:
Am I supposed to “Mix and match” the driver package components?
According to the picture above, I go to the thread:
And then I download the “Pure mod+signed driver” v13.2.8.1002 but then for the RAID function I download the v15.5.3.1054?
Or do I just pick one and only install either ACHI or RAID?
After I pick one and install one, I install the “Suitable original Software Installer Set”?
I will not make any changes to my system until I am completely sure what to do. For now it appears to be working fine. Perhaps there is no point in trying this.
I have a AsRock z77 Extreme 4 and I had to go to the AsRock page and look under Windows 8.1 64bit to find an old RST driver that appears to be working fine. But if there is any benefit to attempting this upgrade I can try it out. I just dont want to break my system.
@BobbyBadBoy
I am sorry, that you became confused after having read the first post of this thread.
Here is my comment:
- Nobody with an Intel chipset system running Win7 or later needs to install any Intel AHCI or RAID driver, because the original OS supports all on-board Intel SATA Controllers out of the box.
This thread has been started by me for users, who either have troubles with the in-use Intel AHCI/RAID driver or want to optimize the performance of the SATA connected HDDs/SSDs. - Depending on the related BIOS settings The on-board Intel SATA Controller of your mainboard can run either in AHCI or in RAID mode, but never in both modes simultaneously. So if you want to install the “best” Intel AHCI or RAID driver for your specific system, you should concentrate your view onto the matching column (AHCI or RAID) of the table, which is at the bottom of the start post.
- The installation of a complete Intel AHCI/RAID Drivers & Software Set only makes sense for users, who have created or want to create an Intel RAID Array.
- Since the Intel SATA AHCI and RAID Controllers are using the exactly same real driver (named iaStor.sys or iaStorAC.sys), but need to get the related driverpack installed in a completely different way (layed down within the related *.inf files), you should never try to install a driver mixture, whose components belong to different version numbers. That would not work.
Hoping, that your confusion has disappeared now…
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