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Thread: IASTOR.SYS BSOD w/ Dell computers

  1. #21
    Senior Member Blunted One's Avatar
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    My hat is off to you nihil. By unplugging and manually selecting the other drive in the raid 1 array that is still good I was able to boot into windows with no problem. I have updated the iastor.sys drivers and program which I hope will stop the issue from happening again. I have made some copies of important files and whatnot just in case this BSOD comes back. The other drive is basically useless and dell will be sending me out a replacement soon.

    I can't believe dell told me to format or reinstall windows and start over...what a bunch of crap.

    I do get a message now while I type this response that the second hard drive in the raid 1 array is gone and I was wondering what I should do about that. Can I make this drive in a non-raid drive? Or should I just wait for Dell to send me a replacement hard drive and then recreate the array by using that as the new no. 2 drive? Just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions after this near total loss of data. My raid array shows its status as degraded, which I am sure is because it is missing the other drive in this mirror setup.

    I have called up and informed both Dell and Intel about this issue and demanded that they get the word out on this problem hopefully others won't have to go through the same crap I did.

    Thanks again.
    It's not a war on drugs it's a war against personal freedoms!

  2. #22
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Blunted One

    PLEASE DO NOT MESS WITH IT

    Haven't you had enough aggravation already?

    What you are seeing now is how RAID1 should work. Drives are in pairs and there is 100% redundancy. According to RAID theory at least, the "degradation" message should simply mean that one or more of the mirrored pairs is compromised, which you know about anyways.

    This is what it should have told you in the first place, but due to some sort of error it was still trying to communicate with the dead drive......................hence your symptoms.

    Now, when you get the new drive you should be able to just install it and boot up, and your RAID1 system should prompt you to let it rebuild the array. It should be that simple, but I wonder if it will be?

    Under no circumstances should you mess with your system as it stands now

    Do NOT load new drivers unless you get them from Dell and are specifically told to do so.

    At the moment you have them under the terms of their warranty and your consumer rights. As soon as you start messing about you will invalidate BOTH

    Why is it I have this strange feeling that I shall be hearing from you again?

  3. #23
    Senior Member Blunted One's Avatar
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    Thanks again for all the help Nihil. I just requested yesterday to get a new HD from dell and it was here when I got in this morning. Guess their fast delivery is the best part of Dell...haha.

    So I have the new HD now and I am hoping by removing the old drive and using this new one that everything should be fine and the array should rebuild. The only thing I have updated since I got my computer back up and running was the new Intel Matrix Storage driver as there is an urgent update on both Intel's and Dell's website for the new driver/program to be installed.

    You were right that you would be hearing from me again, but hopefully it is all good from now on at least with this situation. This has to be the worst raid controller and computer I have ever used. My custom machine at home which is raid 0 striped (since I didn't have enough drives for a raid 5) has never had any issues (I am still going to make sure it backs up each day for safety sake). It runs like a gem and very rarely do I get any problematic messages or errors of any sort. Then again it doesn't use a single Intel or Dell part.

    By the way I always wanted to comment on your name since the name of the company I work for is called Nihilitic. Thanks again my friend and have yourself a good one.
    It's not a war on drugs it's a war against personal freedoms!

  4. #24
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hi Blunted One

    Glad to hear that it worked, but the theory said it had to...............so Dell/Intel must have tested their RAID management by just removing a HDD rather than killing one in mid-flight?

    I suppose we can be humorous now that we have a solution?

    "No hard drives were harmed during the production of this RAID software"........... a bit like the movies?

    Your RAID0 at home is not a true RAID which I would insist requires fault tolerance. If you lose one drive you stand to lose the lot. OK I can do a partial recovery, but it is mostly down to luck as to what can be recovered?

    RAID5 only takes 3 HDDs...................granted, there is hellish redundancy with a system that minimalistic

    As you seem to have a speed/security requirement, might I suggest you look at RAID6?

    Perhaps you could start another thread in "General Computer Questions"................. ?

    Cheers,

    Johnno

    BTW "nihil" means "nothing" in Latin

  5. #25
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    Thank you for all of the information in this thread.
    Unfortunately out of the blue I now have the same issue. But I can't boot into Windows at all, nor do I have a floppy drive to load the drivers through F6 (tried using a USB thumb drive but it's not compatible with Windows setup).
    I also cannot:
    Boot into safe mode
    Run the Windows Recovery Console
    Boot into Windows (as stated above)

    When I try to boot into Windows, if it doesn't give me a BSOD, it runs a CHKDSK which states that "The volume is dirty" and freezes completely at 73%.

    Can anyone recommend anything? This PC has been a dream until this happened.

    Thank you for any help that you may provide.

  6. #26
    Senior Member Blunted One's Avatar
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    Do you have a backup...if not you may be slightly screwed. You are having the same issues I had and it all comes down to faulty crap that Intel and Dell put in your computer. I haven't had this issue since I updated the iastor drivers from intel's site.

    I was lucky enough to have a mirror raid running and it saved me, but you may not and I am sorry for the hell you must be going through. Sorry I can't be of more help. If you have any other questions just ask. Best of luck.
    It's not a war on drugs it's a war against personal freedoms!

  7. #27
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    Originally posted here by Blunted One
    Do you have a backup...if not you may be slightly screwed. You are having the same issues I had and it all comes down to faulty crap that Intel and Dell put in your computer. I haven't had this issue since I updated the iastor drivers from intel's site.

    I was lucky enough to have a mirror raid running and it saved me, but you may not and I am sorry for the hell you must be going through. Sorry I can't be of more help. If you have any other questions just ask. Best of luck.
    Unfortunately not.
    I'm trying to load the drivers in somehow but in order to do that I need a specific external drive or I'll look around for an old floppy drive somewhere.
    Otherwise is there a manual way to do this? How could everyone else be able to access windows with the same issue?

  8. #28
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    I will repeat...if you dont have a backup...and you have all your photos, documents, email,data etc on the drive....before you go mucking with the drive..

    BACK IT UP!!!!@!!

    Slave the hardrive into another machine...and pull your data off....BEFORE you do anything...

    then....do what ever you want..call dell..down load stuff...

    True story...many moons ago....I was listening to a persons dell support call...and after 2 hours the "tech" told him to put in the recovery CD....I warned the user that this could wipe out his year plus worth of business data.....and when he asked the "tech" if that would happen...the "Tech" replied....yes...but your computer should work again

    Be VERY carefull...OSes and programs can be reinstalled...data has to be recreated

    backup backup and backup again

    MLF
    How people treat you is their karma- how you react is yours-Wayne Dyer

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