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Inspiron 7720 stopped recognizing 32GB mSATA SSD after a Windows 10 update
Hi,
After a recent major Windows 10 update, my Intel Rapid Storage Technology decided to stop working and as a result my laptop has been much slower to boot and wake up.
My 3 year old Inspiron 7720 came with mSATA 32GB SSD that accelerates the 1TB hard drive. I used to be able to choose to accelerate the drive when I open Intel Rapid Storage Technology Manager, but now I can't even see the mSATA SSD in the manager. Also, when I go to the BIOS settings, it says something like "mSATA: No", so the BIOS doesn't see it either. I tried re-seating the SSD but that didn't help. I repaired the iRST manager installation, no go. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it, no go. I tried seeing the drive using diskpart, it wasn't there as well. I looked for updates using intel driver updates but didn't find any.
My Intel Rapid Start Manager stopped opening too, and when I reinstalled it, it started giving a "This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software." message.
Any tips for troubleshooting this?
Thanks,
B
ejn63
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September 17th, 2016 05:00
If the system setup does not see the drive, chances are it has failed. Unplug the system, remove or disconnect the battery and hold the power button for 30 sec. Remove and reinstall the cache drive -- if it's then still not seen, it has failed and will need to be replaced.
ejn63
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September 17th, 2016 10:00
Any standard mSATA drive will work, but don't set up IRST on a drive that size - you'll get much better performance by using it as a Windows drive (i.e., install Windows to the SSD and just use the hard drive for storage).
Bilalm
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September 17th, 2016 10:00
Hmmm, still not detected. I thought these things are supposed to last longer. Thanks for the tip.
I need help picking a replacement. I looked for best SSDs and it seems Samsung evo is the best. Comparing 120GB and 250GB, there's only 20$ of a difference, so I 250GB makes sense.
However, I'm trying to compare Samsung 850 EVO Series 250GB mSATA SSD (MZ-M5E250BW) with 2.5" one (same model/capacity) (MZ-75E250B/AM). The SSD is bigger but it doesn't matter much to me. Price is same. I have slots for both (I think). Any other advantages I'm missing?
Also, will I benefit from having 250GB vs 32GB performance wise?
Bilalm
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September 17th, 2016 11:00
Ok. But SSD vs mSATA SSD? I'm kinda sick of iRST, it's given me some trouble in the past. I might go with a 2.5" SSD for that reason.
Bilalm
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September 23rd, 2016 08:00
Hi,
I just found out that I can detect the mSATA drive in the BIOS if I remove the hard drive. I still cannot see it when I put the hard drive back in however. So this may not be a hardware problem.
Another the thing that changed after I tried this is that now I can see two empty ports in the iRST manager instead of one ("Internal Empty Port 1/2").
Any suggestions?
Bilalm
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October 24th, 2016 13:00
Yeah, that's what I think because I could detect the mSATA SSD in the BIOS if i remove the other hard drive. I'm sure there are issues between Windows 10 and the Intel Rapid Start Technology software, because ever since I installed windows 10 I've been getting a lot of
" irstrtsv
Error: Unable to read LBA sector directly. : The parameter is incorrect."
messages in the Event viewer.
I'm gonna try a fresh Windows install on my new Samsung SSD and see what I can find. I have another very annoying issue with power where my laptop fails to properly switch from AC power to battery power and freezes. Can't seem to find a working solution for that either. I'm hoping the fresh install will fix it because a Windows 10 update caused this too.
I'm just trying to get my Masters degree first before I start messing with my laptop! Maybe in a month or so.
DrJDavid
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October 24th, 2016 13:00
This isn't an answer, but the same thing happened to my laptop (Dell Vostro 3460) after a Windows 10 update. I'm wondering if it has nothing to with the health of the SSD, and everything to do with Windows 10 incompatibility with the device, driver, or software.
Bilalm
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February 6th, 2017 08:00
Yeah this is weird. I installed Windows 10 on my new SSD and used the HDD for storage. If I put the mSATA SSD in, the laptop won't boot. If I take it out, it will. I think it has something to do with weird SATA settings in the BIOS and I don't think it's possible to have both SSD and a cached drive on this laptop..