Hello there!!! Hopefully you guys can help me with this issue… Basically I have very very poor 4K performance with my 250 GB Samsung 840 SSD… As well as a slower performance in general… I’m running Win 8.1 Pro (x64) Installed in UEFI Mode (I think) I used a GPT FAT 32 formatted USB 3.0 memory stick (ADATA S102 Pro 8 GB) Win 8.1 setup created 3 Partitions: 1: Recovery = 300 MB 2: EFI = 100 MB 3: MSR = 128 MB +4: C:\OS = 99.4 GB +5 D:\DATA = 109 GB +10% Over Provisioning = 23.29 GB I’ve checked in MsInfo32 as well as Partition Master, Aida64 and Samsung Magician and I have a Starting Offset of 1 MB… Here is a screenshot of a benchmark using AS SSD:
And I have noticed that Aida64 shows these highlighted areas of interest (48-Bit LBA, 512 byte sectors, 63 sectors/track, UDMA 5 which changes to UDMA 6 after sleep state wake up)
From what I understand those settings are for HDD’s… correct??? I can’t seem to figure out this problem… Also strangly if I set the “Power Mode” to “Power Saving” I get double 4K 64Thd rates… Up to 650 MB/s Read Speeds… But overall I’m not getting the speeds I’m supposed to be getting… The Wear Level increases tooooo FAST!!! I have 6 months with this SSD and I’m at 27% Wear!!! All I have done is use Secure Erase from Samsung Magician ONCE about 3 Months ago when I decided to leave Win 7 behind and give Win 8.1 a try… Hope you guys can help me out a bit with this!!! THX in advance!!!
Thx for clearing that part up for me!!! I don’t understand what else is causing my problem… I’ve checked everything I can think of!!! Eset Smart Security On and Off doesn’t make a difference… When I clean installed Win8.1 I ran tests and I have always gotten the same results with 4K… I read somewhere that Intel®s Speed Step Technology can cause this kind of issue… But only for SSD’s on PC’s that have Intel® Management Engine Interface allowing you to disable certain CPU “Power Management Features” My laptop UEFI/BIOS is very very limited and I have NO CPU options other than Anti-Theft options… I don’t even have any ACPI Options… I have gone thru all available BIOS Updates with no changes… Let me show you a screenshot of Aida64 after I wake up from S3:
I jump to UDMA 6… AND Event Viewer sometimes shows events for iaStorA - Device\RAIDPORT - was reset… But I have a single SSD NO RAID… I have tried disabling System Restore and Hibernation also… Disabling Search and indexing… WinSAT removed SuperFetch and PreFetcher from Registry BUT SF still runs though… Any Ideas??? Anyone???
@ JSebastian: As far as I remember you had once installed the Intel AHCI driver a wrong way by choosing the "Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" (= on board of Desktop systems) instead of the correct "Intel(R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" (= on board of Mobiles like your laptop). Maybe this "wrong" driver installation and the related registry settings have caused your current issues. In this case a fresh OS installation would solve the problem.
I thought about that before… But When I installed Win8.1 I used the Intel® RST v13 BETA drivers manually during Win8.1 Setup Screen by "Load Drivers" method… I Selected the iaAHCIC.inf… And Device Manager has always shown "Intel(R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" Except ONCE when I manually selected to install the "Desktop" version to see if it mattered… And I reverted back to the "Mobile" default drivers… Never choosing to delete the driver software too… In Windows Registry and in Aida64 I do see something strange though… I see a iaStorA entry… BUT ALSO I see iaStorAV and iaStorV entries… HWinfo states that iaStorAV v12.0.1.1018 is the "In-Box" driver… I also made sure that "pciide" & "intelide" are disabled… BTW, What registry values should I check? Here’s a few screenshots:
I have no idea. If I were you I would do a fresh install of the OS and not try to change any registry settings. By the way: The Intel RST(e) drivers v13 are Beta ones and not WHQL certified. You should better load the Intel RST(e) drivers v12.8.10.1005 WHQL or v12.9.0.1001 WHQL, if you don’t want to start with the Win8.1 in-box Intel RST(e) driver v12.0.1.1018.
I have no idea. If I were you I would do a fresh install of the OS and not try to change any registry settings. By the way: The Intel RST(e) drivers v13 are Beta ones and not WHQL certified. You should better load the Intel RST(e) drivers v12.8.10.1005 WHQL or v12.9.0.1001 WHQL, if you don’t want to start with the Win8.1 in-box Intel RST(e) driver v12.0.1.1018.
Hey!
I know… I messed up by clean installing Win8.1 with the BETA drivers!!! But now I’m using the Intel® RST v12.9.0.1001 WHQL drivers… I’ll try the other one to see if it helps, but I doubt it… DO you know why Win8.1 uses iaStorAV "In-Box" drivers??? I mean my laptop doesn’t even support RAID!!! I did find something in the registry that intrigued me… Maybe you have an idea as to why it shows this:
It shows an OEMReservedVolume as - ASUS_RAID0… No such Volume or Partition exists on my SSD… Maybe its looking for that Volume and missing it is causing the poor performance maybe??? I doubt it but I have no ideas anymore!!! Also… I had this same issue when I had installed Win7 on my SSD too…
Why do you think, that the iaStorAV.sys is just a RAID driver? It is an AHCI driver as well. Intel AHCI and RAID Controllers are using exactly the same driver, but his function is different because of the different .INF files.
No, I have no idea. Within my registry there is not even an Intel subfolder named IRST (because I never install the RST software, when I am running the SSD(s) in AHCI mode). Maybe you should secure erase your SSD by using another tool like Parted Magic, before you do a fresh install of the OS.
Why do you think, that the iaStorAV.sys is just a RAID driver? It is an AHCI driver as well. Intel AHCI and RAID Controllers are using exactly the same driver, but his function is different because of the different .INF files.
No, I have no idea. Within my registry there is not even an Intel subfolder named IRST (because I never install the RST software, when I am running the SSD(s) in AHCI mode). Maybe you should secure erase your SSD by using another tool like Parted Magic, before you do a fresh install of the OS.
Yeah I know that RST provide functionality for AHCI… But am I wrong thinking that iaAHCIC.inf and just iaStorA.sys are the ones that provide the AHCI functions??? Like the iaStorAC.inf with BOTH iaStorA & iaStorF are for RAID functionality??? Besides where did the iaStorAV.inf come from??? Registry says its a SATA RAID Controller not SATA AHCI like the RST drivers… The registry entry for iaStorAV has a "StartOverride" sub-folder with a DWORD value of "3" Could it be possible that actually USING the RST drivers with iaStorA and iaAHCIC.inf are causing the problems??? Maybe I shouldn’t be using RST drivers and I should be running the "In-Box" iaStorAV drivers for my laptop and SSD??? Since I also have iaStorV drivers and registry entries BUT again that’s a RAID driver for Win7… I have found A LOT of RAID related references all over the registry and Win8.1 driver file folders… Is that normal??? Does it have something to do with Device Manager listing under "Storage Controllers" a MS Storage Spaces Controller??? I have checked and I do have that function in Win8.1… To add an external HDD/SDD to be used I assume like a RAID0 setup… Do you think if I uninstall or disable all RST drivers and enable the iaStorAV and iaStorV drivers, that might work??? Sorry I’m just really frustrated that after going thru the trouble of upgrading to a decent SSD I’m getting really poor performance and a fast and heavy Wear Level increase in just a few months I’m already at 28% Wear… and I have noticed that my SSD is running hotter than before… And I’m using a Cooler Master cooling pad… Before it would be stable around 23ºC - 25ºC with a bunch of apps running… Idle it dropped to 19ºC… NOW its always running around 32ºC - 36ºC and it jumps to that right after powering up my laptop with nothing open and even when idling… After sleeping awhile it drops to 28ºC for a minute or so and jumps back up again… I mean the OEM 750 GB 5400 RPM SATA-II HDD with Win8 runs at max 31ºC - 32ºC during heavy load and not letting it idle down…
There is no difference between the iaAHCIC.inf and the iaStorAC.inf regarding the SCSI filter driver named iaStorF.sys. If you are running Windows 7 and you have installed any of the Intel RST(e) drivers from v11.5 up, both Intel AHCI/RAID drivers named iaStorA.sys and iaStorF.sys will be installed and used, no matter to which non-IDE SATA mode (AHCI or RAID) your Intel SATA Controller has been set within the BIOS. Windows 8 doesn’t install or use the Intel RST(e) SCSI filter driver iaStorF.sys at all.
This information file v12.0.1.xxxx belongs to the native Windows 8/8.1 installation and is situated within the Windows\Inf folder. It will only be used, if you are doing a fresh install of the OS onto an actual Intel RAID system without loading any special and more actual Intel RST(e) driver while starting the OS installation.
EDIT: Win8/8.1 has 2 in-box Intel information files, which are able to manage the proper installation of the OS onto an Intel RAID system by using the related in-box Intel RAID drivers iaStorV.sys (MSM v8.6.x.xxxx) resp. iaStorAV.sys (RST v12.0.x.xxxx): a) iaStorV.inf (wll be used with older Intel RAID systems) and b) iaStorAV.inf (will be used with actual Intel RAID systems. If the Intel RAID Controller has been set to AHCI, the Win8/8.1 Setup routine is not able to use any of the in-box Intel AHCI drivers iaStorV.sys resp. iaStorAV.sys, because an appropriate Intel AHCI inf file like iaAHCI.inf resp. iaAHCIC.inf is missing within the Windows\Inf folder! That is the reason why the generic MS AHCI driver named storahci.sys will be installed and the Intel SATA AHCI Controller will be renamed to "Standard SATA AHCI Controller", if the user doesn’t load any specific Intel AHCI driver while starting the OS installation.
Ok I guess performing a clean install is my last option… Hoping I could avoid it, but I see I can’t! Just for arguments sake… What happens if even after the clean install I still have the same issue??? Also one thing, if I run the Performance Benchmark in Magician I usually do get the expected results but with AS SSD, CrystalDiskMark or even ATTO I get that bottleneck on all 4K tests? Is it just possible that those benchmarks bottleneck and that my SSD is actually ok??? Since Magician rarely gives me poor results like the others…
There is no guarantee, that a fresh OS installation will solve your problem, but I don’t see any alternative to exclude, that the SSD itself is faulty.
Yeah I agree… One last thing, concerning my SSD temperature… When I first bought it and installed Win7, it would run between 21ºC → 27ºC… And when sleeping from 17ºC → 19ºC… But now I have noticed that it’s always running around 32ºC → 37ºC and usually climbs up to the 37ºC when and if I let my laptop idle for a while… Shouldn’t the temp actually drop lower when idling??? I mean even after sleep it’s around 31ºC… I tried the OEM HDD and it runs cooler!!! Between 30ºC → 35ºC under heavy work load… Any ideas??? What temp does your Samsung SSD normally run at???
I haven’t yet measured the temperatures of my 2 Samsung 840 PRO SSDs, but they don’t feel very warm, when I touch them. Maybe it is really your SSD, which has to be replaced.
I haven’t yet measured the temperatures of my 2 Samsung 840 PRO SSDs, but they don’t feel very warm, when I touch them. Maybe it is really your SSD, which has to be replaced.
Yeah… maybe you’re right… If you get a chance check your SSD’s temp with Aida64 under Sensors section and let me know please… I have been looking into getting a Samsung 840 EVO… Or I might just build me a rig so I can set up RAID and avoid the limitations associated with notebooks… Better CPU, GPU, 2 SSD’s… etc…
Here are the actual temperatures I got with the CrystalDiskInfo tool: 1. Samsung 840 PRO SSD (with OS drive C: and D:): 25° C 2. Seagate HDD (with data drives E: and F:): 29° C Look here:
Yeah, that’s what mine used to run at all the time… But now… It’s 10ºC hotter… Here’s a screenshot and as you can also see my Seagate Expansion 500 GB USB 3.0 HDD is at 34ºC which is normal for HDD’s and the SSD is hotter…
And like I said I have a cooling pad that I assume is decent and the ambient temperature is cool…
