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Bluescreen issue continues, culminating into being unable to reinstall Windows 7
Around two weeks ago my computer began to bluescreen. Frequently. It's fairly new (six months old), so I was beyond confused. I did a bit of googling, and using my mediocre google skills I discovered the culprit: iastora.sys was the offending driver. It's part of the Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers.
I tried reinstalling the driver. Nothing. Trying an older version? Nothing. Calling Dell's customer support? Nobody knew what to do.
So far I have done multiple system restores, replaced the drivers multiple times, updated every driver possible, performed a factory reset using AlienRespawn, and FINALLY Dell support decided that my copy of Windows 7 had a corrupted section of the registry or something along those lines, and that I'd need to do a clean installation of my OS to fix it.
I received a USB stick containing Windows 7 yesterday.
I called Dell support again to walk me through installation, just to make sure I didn't mess anything up. I was prompted with "Required CD/DVD drive driver is not found." The support person I was talking about was baffled. That's when I did the Alien Respawn to factory settings, and got off the phone.
Another bluescreen, another call to tech support, and they have me put the Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers onto a personal USB drive and plug that in. The message doesn't pop up (and now no longer does even without the USB drive in when I try to install Windows 7), but now the installation process does not recognize any hard drives. It prompts me to pull up drivers from one of three areas (never including the personal USB stick with the drivers Dell support directed me to). It's either from my recovery USB, CD drive (empty), or a boot drive, which I'm not quite sure what it is.
So, basically, I've been having consistent BSoDs for the past two weeks, and Dell support hasn't been able to do a thing about it, and I honestly am not sure if anyone knows what they're talking about anymore.
Is there any simple way to get the Windows 7 installation to recognize my hard drives?
System specs:
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
System model: M14xR2
BIOS: InsydeH2O version 03.72.24A 10
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM CPU @ 2.30GHz (8CPUs), ~2.3GHz
MEMORY: 12GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz
Video card: 2 GB DDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus™, also Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
Wireless card: Killer Wireless-N 1202 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
Not sure if there are other specs I need to provide, those are mostly it I think.
Any help would be appreciated; I'm a college student, and being unable to use my laptop for extended periods of time is incredibly inconvenient. I've been dealing with this for over two weeks, and I've gotten no fixes. I've even been told that, if support can't fix my computer, Dell most likely would still refuse to replace my computer despite it being under warranty. I'm incredibly dissatisfied with customer support as of now.
speedstep
9 Legend
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47K Posts
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February 5th, 2013 10:00
What does the blue screen say? Which stop error? There is no amount of re installs that will fix bad ram or bad hard drive. There is no such warranty that says replace your machine without doing basic diagnostics.
BJFox
763 Posts
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February 5th, 2013 11:00
Are you using the same HDD or SSD setup that your system shipped with, or has that been upgraded?
If your BIOS has UEFI Safe Boot and Fast Boot options, try disabling Secure Boot and Fast Boot and use the legacy boot option instead. If the BIOS is set to AHCI, change it to RAID. (This applies even if you are not using a RAID membership and have only one drive installed.)
This article was written with Windows 8 in mind, but the same problem may be causing issues for you with Windows 7 if the settings are incorrect.
Alienware Systems - Windows 8 not Booting up on Systems Out of the Box
Is your system a RAID0 setup? If so, you may also need to download Intel RST F6 drivers and place them on the USB installation media or on another USB stick. During Windows 7 setup you will reach a point to add drivers, and you point Windows setup to the location where you have extracted the F6 drivers. You can download the latest version of Intel RST and F6 drivers (separate downloads) directly from Intel. Intel Download Center.
If you need help setting up a RAID0 volume, here is a link to the instructions provided by Intel:
Install an operating system onto a RAID volume (F6 install method)
The opening post of this thread may provide additional assistance (if you need it):
HOW TO: SATA III-SSD-RAID0-Windows Installation: Questions, Troubleshooting Thread
Kyrael
23 Posts
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February 5th, 2013 11:00
The stop error is IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. The bluescreen is caused by iastora.sys, which is from the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver. I've been told that it's most likely my copy of Windows 7 being corrupted, which is why I was mailed a new installation USB.
There have been plenty of diagnostics run; I've been communicating with Dell for over two weeks. They just cannot find any sort of fix to my problem. They've run every test they have, which is why I'm so frustrated.
Now, when I try to reinstall Windows 7, I can find the USB drive and it finds the drivers, but it still won't recognize my hard drives, so I can't wipe it for a clean installation. Then, a few seconds after, it bluescreens again. Again, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, iastora.sys. These bluescreens don't attempt to create a crash dump file, though, and I have to manually shut down my computer to get away from them.
Here's one of the Windows Debug results from a .dmp file of one of the regular (non-trying-to-reinstall) bluescreens:
BugCheck D1, {38, 2, 0, fffff8800147dca8}
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for iaStorA.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for iaStorA.sys
Probably caused by : iaStorA.sys ( iaStorA+5bca8 )
EDIT: Here is a screenshot of the results on BlueScreenView from a bluescreen that just happened. http://i.imgur.com/RTDQG94.png
The low number of bluescreens on there are because of the Alien Respawn, so I've lost my previous .dmp files. I've been getting 10+ bluescreens per day usually, with all of them having the same driver cause it, all having the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error, and all reading the same in WinDbg.
Kyrael
23 Posts
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February 5th, 2013 13:00
My computer is by default set to legacy boot.
I'm using the same system setup that my computer was shipped with; I changed nothing, including drivers, anywhere near the time that the bluescreens started.
I'm not quite sure if I have a RAID0 setup.... I have a 750GB regular HDD and a 32GB SSD.
I'll try placing those drivers onto my USB and see if that makes the hard drive show up. So far, I can find the Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers that I had previously put on, but even then it will not detect my hard drives.
Kyrael
23 Posts
0
February 5th, 2013 14:00
Using the drivers suggested by BJFox, I was able to get windows to reinstall, as per installation instructions given by a representative on the phone. However, my problem till persists, but with iastor.sys instead of iastora.sys.
I put my necessary drivers onto my usb before reinstalling, but I am unable to install them (including wireless driver), getting an error saying that it is unable to install to temporary location. I tried moving the files off of the usb, same result. My bluescreens are even more frequent now.
(Any responses by me will probably be slower now, as I have to get my roommate's computer or find a public one to post now)
Mickavellian
30 Posts
0
January 26th, 2014 03:00
If this is a still an Issue which I hope it is not ... what "Alienware support" have you been calling if you want ANYTHING done right with Alienware
call 1-866-287-6727 These guys are in Costa Rica they are geeks and will be with you for days if you have the time. I read a LOTTA BS , re: booting mode... These advises are someone pulling BS outta their ass COMPLETLY. You are still under warranty . Hammer them with your problem and DO NOT offer that you found what the guilty driver was . The Window corrupted your register . GOD what <ADMIN NOTE: Substitute character removed as per TOU> . Also , The Alienware system history is extremely helpful and someone shouldve login remotely and taken a look at it. you have daily reports specially if somethng went south. Agaon I hope this was solved.