Wont boot anything, iaStorA.sys

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S

sanzebs

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Apr 3, 2017
23
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510
Hi.

After trying to get the computer to boot from the USB stick, trying to clean install win10, i pressed the x-button in the setup window. The install stopped and the computer restarted.

After that whatever I do; Boot from HDD or USB, or try to enter repair, or anything that needs the Win10 loading screen, It gives me blue screen.
It says "Stop Code: Page fault in non paged area, What Failed: iastorav.sys" when I boot from HDD or "Stop Code: DRIVER IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL, What Failed: iaStorA.sys" when I boot from USB.

I do have 1TB HDD that has 80GB SSD cache, with Intel rapid storage.

My computer is 2013 Alienware 18 with 2x GTX880m and i7-4910MQ.
4x 4GB RAM.

1TB HDD, 80GB cache and 250GB SSD.

What on earth should I do???

I want to install Windows 10.

Here is a video of the endless boot sycle: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zff0xqru00b2jxv/VID_20170403_235342.mp4?dl=0

EDIT:
Later on the anwer was to remove acceleration in the first option screen using ctrl+I.

But we faced more complicated problem. Samsung EVO 850 SSD did not boot at all. Whatever we tried.
We agreed that the problem had to be Samsung SSD, or Alienware 18. (The SSD is now my storage drive, it works without problem in that use case)
 
Solution
Colif
80gb seems awfully big for a cache drive... here is your manual

is there anything on C drive you want to rescue? try making this on another PC: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/ - linux won't have these driver errors at boot

iastorav.sys's description is "Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver
iastora.sys = Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver

I am seeing a pattern.

I wonder why irst is running on the USB boot... it shouldn't be as its not part of windows. Did you press F12 at start up and Select "USB Storage Device" from boot menu, as otherwise it will stick to the hdd. might need to disable Secure boot in bios (might show it on page 110 on in...
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ideally you only want ssd in when you install as otherwise windows shares itself around, like it did with that MSR partiton. One way to avoid it on the cache would be to format drive as 1 big partition so there is no free unallocated space on it to install to.
 
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My boot settings are as said above.
Used Diskpart to clean the SSD before clicking next on the "Where do you want to install Windows" screen.
Clicked next and installed Windows. It is now GPT format, it says so in diskpart.

I cannot see it in F12 boot menu. I can only see UEFI Onboard LAN 1Pv4 and UEFI Onboard LAN IPv6.
 
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Does windows Boot Manager appear in the boot menu if you go in via F2 and go to boot tab? or is it same menu as F12? I think F12 might just be to let you boot off USB or lan, I could be wrong though.

it would seem strange that it appears in the manual but not in your bios. Normally the manual gets outdated as they add new features, and as its still used, they wouldn't remove it.

wonder if resetting bios to defaults would fix anything. should be an option on 1st screen i think. might clear any settings the raid had running you didn't change. then just go in and see what it sees as boot order.
 
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In F2 UEFI Boot list is empty. Nothing there.

I dont know how to reset.
If I press F9 it asks do I want to Load Optimal Defaults.

Also if I change the "Secure boot mode" to custom, "Restore Factory Defaults" option comes.
 
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Also if I change the "Secure boot mode" to custom, "Restore Factory Defaults" option comes. << that resets the keys used for secure boot. I would leave them as is.

I am at a loss. Keep thinking need new BIOS but then it let you install onto ssd, why isn't it seeing it now? wonder if it put any of windows onto the msata though that doesn't explain why it isn't seeing it or not showing anything in the boot menu

I have asked for help as I might be missing something or fresh eyes might see my mistake. Ask on Dell, they made this thing, they should know right bios settings, its not obvious on their support site
 
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long shot... shouldn't have to do this on fresh install but it might fix boot on SSD

change boot order so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
We need to use the Bootrec.exe tool. Click on command prompt and type in the following commands, one after the other:
bootrec /RebuildBcd
bootrec /fixMbr
bootrec /fixboot
Exit
Now go ahead and reboot your system. In some cases you may need to run some additional commands.
bootsect /nt60 SYS or bootsect /nt60 ALL

this might add the windows boot manager to bios

I wonder if install has put the EFI (boot partition) on the msata and system cannot boot off it as far as I can tell looking in manual.
 
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This is reeeeeally interesting...

What I did:
- Same UEFI settings as before. SATA is AHCI.
- I can't see my SSD in UEFI boot list so I just moved the USB to the top and the LAN options to the bottom.
- Power on, it booted to USB.
- Went in 'Repair this pc', 'Troubleshoot', 'Command Prompt'.

- In cmd tried the 'bootrec /RebuildRcd', it did nothing.
- 'bootrec /fixMbr' said "A device attached to the system is not functioning"
- Went in 'Diskpart', 'list vol'. I see the SSD is D: and the USB is C:.
- Changed the source to D:. Tried 'bootrec /RebuildRcd' again, "Succesfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 0, The operation completed succesfully."
(Whaaaat)
- Disconnected the USB. Tried 'bootrec /RebuildRcd' again, "Succesfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 1".
(Alrighty then~)
- Cmd asked: "Add installation to boot list? Yes/No/All". I pressed yes: "The operation completed succesfully".
- Tried 'bootrec /fixMbr' again and it said again "A device attached to the system is not functioning."
- Then 'bootrec /fixboot', it said "The operation completed succesfully."

- Closed cmd and rebooted

It says "No boot device found". In F12 I cannot see the SSD, only LAN options.
In F2, BIOS boot settings I cannot see SSD in boot list.

SSD is the only drive installed at the moment. Cache and HDD are not connected.


 
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I see the SSD is D: and the USB is C:. << think this is part of problem but I don't know how the USB is C, the ssd shouldn't give that letter up to any disk. I know why it worked the 2nd time, after you removed USB. As it suddenly made SSD the C drive and commands worked.

can you boot from usb again and follow same steps as above to get to command prompt
change disk to the SSD (so D drive)
type diskpart. Next use the following command:
list volume

this will show all the partitions on drive. can you give me a summary?
I don't know what it will prove but the fixmbr command failing is not a good thing as PC cannot boot without the files it fixes

Fixmbr fixes the files in the EFI that boots windows 10. It should be fixefi but most people don't even know what either does :)

I have to crash but will look at responses again toimorrow
 
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Okay.
List disk:
Disk 2, online, Size 232GB, Free 0B, GPT *

List vol:
Vol 0, E, -, -, DVD-ROM, 0B, No media, -
Vol 2, D, -, NTFS, Partition, 231GB, Healthy, -
Vol 3, -, Recovery, NTFS, Partition, 450MB, Healthy, Hidden
Vol 4, -, -, FAT32, Partition, 299MB, Healthy, Hidden

List partition:
Part 1, recovery, 450MB, Offset 1024KB
Part 2, System, 299MB, Offset 451MB
Part 3, Reserved, 16MB, Offset 750MB
Part 4, Primary, 231GB, Offset 766MB

I also did the 'bootsect' commands:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wtiuh9vusmykwlq/IMG_20170405_201316.jpg?dl=0

 
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Update.

So, the original problem is now solved. I removed acceleration from Intel Rapid Storage options (ctrl+I before BIOS loading screen).
I changed the boot mode to Legacy and SATA to RAID. Now the HDD boots to my old Windows 10.

Now I have 2 drives installed. HDD and SSD.

I am running Windows 10 from HDD.

I can see the SSDs files in explorers "This computer" window.

Can we do something more advanced now that I am in Windows?

I still want to run Windows 10 from the SSD.

Here is a picture of diskpart list vol from Windows cmd: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8hx4brxs73kbshw/IMG_20170405_215445.jpg?dl=0

1 and 2 are from HDD, 3 4 and 5 are from SSD.
 
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Update.
I was bored so I unblugged the SSD and blugged in the cacheSSD, the M.2 one.

In the Intel Rapid Storage options I removed the RAID configuration and set it to non-RAID.

I went in Legacy boot and tried installing Windows from USB to the M.2 drive. Worked. Installed. AND BOOTED.

Just like I imagined the SSD would have done.

So why does the M.2 work in Legacy in port 0, why the HDD work in Legacy in port 1, but the Samsung SSD does not work on in Legacy in port 1.

This is so stupid 😀
 
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SSD woin't boot as for some reason C drive is seen as D

List vol:
Vol 0, E, -, -, DVD-ROM, 0B, No media, -
Vol 2, D, -, NTFS, Partition, 231GB, Healthy, -
Vol 3, -, Recovery, NTFS, Partition, 450MB, Healthy, Hidden
Vol 4, -, -, FAT32, Partition, 299MB, Healthy, Hidden
Click to expand...

vol 2 should be C, if it boots off USB it should given drive X to USB, not C drive. Vol 4 is the EFI partition. You have all the right number of partitions on SSD though. Trying to work out why it would give USB drive C - I just found your other 2 questions I suggested. I think Dell may have best answers.

glad you can boot into windows, shame its on a msata and not ssd but its kind of progress... it should feel faster. You should use hdd as storage only. We stopped the error messages that started all this lol.

can you check in your BIOS what version you have? The latest is A12 and I thinking the SSD might be newer than your bios and updating bios might fix it - it shows how to do it on last page of manual

I found other people having problems installing win 10 on ssd on Alienware laptops
 
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Yeah 😛

But, I wanted to install Windows 10, and solving the original problem didn't solve that...

Bios is up to date, A12.

I tried using DVD to see what letter it gives to the drive.

Now it says:
Vol 0, D, UDF, DVD-ROM 3904MB
Vol 1, C, NTFS, Partition, 231GB

And then thete is the same Vol 2 and 3

So now the disk is C:
What now?
 
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wonder what happens if you try bootrec /fixMbr off the dvd. (we in experimentation territory at this point) - changing to C to run it of course.

Having C be right on ssd is nice (i still want to know why USB steals that letter) but without windows boot menage there isn't really much point.

Does SSd show up if you boot off msata? Might have to sigh and run ssd as storage instead of boot. The Msata should be just as fast and we write it off as a oddity of Alienware as I read others with Alienware say the bios is cut down and might be missing things. would still expect a 2015 bios to recognise an SSD from the same year.
 
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Other option is you said it boots off ssd in legacy? set it up as that. I suspect PC can support GPT as storage devices but not boot off it. So since you have 2 ssd (as msata is similar) in PC, its your choice which you want to boot off.

I assume msata boots fine if ssd is 2nd? could remove hdd but 1tb is handy, don't feel as cramped as just a few 100 gb
 
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You do realize that enabling the m.2 ssd kills 2x of the Sata ports? If you have the SSD and/or hdd plugged into either of those 2x ports it'll create issues when trying to boot as you'll be trying to share multiple connections.
Some older m.2 drives did have firmware issues, crucial and Samsung notably, where during original installation the drive would not show when booting first from USB. The fix for that actually was to install raid drivers onto the USB which would then load the m.2 under the boot manager
 
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Hey, so I found something.

I used cmd to 'list vol'.

I booted from DVD in Legacy boot. It does not give any letter to the SSD. Pic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1m5ixz5skuxt68k/IMG_20170406_143728.jpg?dl=0

Also in UEFI boot it gives the SSD no letter. Pic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1m5ixz5skuxt68k/IMG_20170406_143728.jpg?dl=0

There is no letter for SSD before the installation. It says the 'Fs' is RAW, whatever that means.
I installed Windows in UEFI and checked the list vol again, SSD was C. Pic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1m5ixz5skuxt68k/IMG_20170406_143728.jpg?dl=0

In Legacy boot DVD install i cannot install the Windows. This error comes (but the pic is old): https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3ktgsn7ljjjeb0/IMG_20170404_221421.jpg?dl=0
When I try to click next It says "Installer couldn't create new partition or did not find previously created partition."

How does this effect everything?
 
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Kara, he took all the drives except ssd out of PC and I think it still won't boot off the ssd - thanks for idea though :)

sanz - did you delete the partition and leave only unallocated space on ssd? that might work as it could still be formatted as GPT

legacy boot can't read gpt drives so not surprised it can't list the partitions

raw.. you might want to run some tests on ssd: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1926483/ssd-diagnostic-tools.html
 
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I tried this to make the SSD itself a installation disk with cmd commands. Everything else works except the command you, Colif, suggested earlier: "bootsect /nt60 c:" (when SSD is C: .)

It says "access denied"

Why is that?

Could this be the reason why Windows cannot partition the SSD, because the access is denied?
 
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bootsect /nt60 c: (whistles) I don't know tbh I found it on another page with all the commands and you first person to ask

/nt60 - Applies the master boot code that is compatible with BOOTMGR to SYS, ALL, or <DriveLetter>. The operating system installed on SYS, ALL, or <DriveLetter> must be Windows Vista. - its an old article but functions don't change.. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749177(v=ws.10).aspx

bootsect /nt60 sys
The bootsect command as used above will update the volume boot code on the partition used to boot Windows to BOOTMGR, the one that's compatible with Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and later Windows operating systems.

Note: The nt60 switch applies the [newer] boot code for BOOTMGR while the nt52 switch applies the [older] boot code for NTLDR.
Click to expand...

https://www.lifewire.com/use-bootsect-nt60-to-update-the-volume-boot-code-to-bootmgr-2617975

At a guess it adds the SSD to the boot manager which is what we want to do.

so both variants give same error? did fixmbr work this time?

My understanding of how windows boots at this very early stage is almost as good as yours. I don't work with this sort of thing and only know so much :)

the drive is partitioned, it just won't boot.

run ssd tests as it being raw might mean ssd is not working completely and could explain a lot of things.
 
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Well, we might have to give up.

Let's say that Samsung EVO 850 does not work with Alienware 18.

I think I will just put the OS in M.2 and use the SSD and HDD for programs and storage.

Thank you Colif!!! THANK YOU! We tried it all.

I learned so much more about how computers work and use the components during this troubleshooting.

Unfortunately I can't mark the answer to the original problem because I posted it...
 
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