Windows 10: Multiple BSOD on a New Dell Inspiron Laptop - Cause: Intel RST Driver

Hello, I have lurked on the 7 and 10 forums over the years, and benefited greatly from the tips and information that I have found here, so I thought that it was now time to give something back!

This is my first post: a tale of woe along with my solution, in case it helps someone else.

I bought a brand new Dell laptop (Inspiron 15 3567) at the end of January and I have had the worst out of box experience of any machine that I have ever owned - multiple BSOD on a daily basis for more than a month!

For those in a hurry, the solution was to set SATA Link Power Management to DISABLED, under the "Performance" tab of the Intel Rapid Storage Technology application.




The longer version:
I started out with the image of Windows 10 provided by Dell, I ran through set-up then checked for and installed all Windows & driver updates that were offered. Then the BSOD started:
KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE (139) - lots of these
DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER (f7)
SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (3b)
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (d1)
SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (7e)

I ran memtest86+ for 12 passes - no errors found.

I booted Linux Mint from a USB drive and ran it live with internet access for 24 hours - faultless, no problems or crashes whilst browsing with Firefox.

From these two tests I was fairly confident that there were no underlying hardware problems, so I downloaded and installed WinDbg and started my education on debugging memory dumps. I googled error codes and tracked down various driver updates, I ran sfc /scannow and DISM multiple times along the way (no problems found); still the BSOD occurred. I removed windows updates in case they were the cause of the problems - no difference.

As a last resort I used the Microsoft MediaCreationTool to downloaded a fresh version of Windows10 v1909 and used this to completely wipe the hard disk (all partitions) and perform a fresh install. I updated all the drivers and set windows updates to "paused for 30 days" - to remove one set of variables from the system.

Then the BSOD started!!

DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER (f7)
Caused by PROCESS: soffice.bin = open office V2 system tray prog

MULTIPLE_IRP_COMPLETE_REQUESTS (44)
Caused by driver: HIDCLASS.SYS = I2C HID Miniport Driver

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (d1)
Caused by driver: Wdf01000.sys = Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime

PFN_LIST_CORRUPT (4e)
Caused by driver: win32k

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0a)
Caused by driver: win32k

SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (3b)
Caused by driver: Firefox.exe

SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (3b)
Caused by Driver: win32kfull.sys

KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE (139)
Caused by Driver: nwifi = MS NativeWiFi Miniport Driver

DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)

This is the view of system health over the first 10 days:




During this time I tried to catch the problem using Driver Verifier but it never caught / tagged anything in the dump files.

Whilst searching for clues to the cause of the crashes I stumbled across a guide to high performance windows settings, at Tweaktown.com, where they offered the following advice: "disable Link Power Management in the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) control panel. Link power management increases I/O latency, resulting in lower performance, which is why we want to disable this feature."

I changed this setting and the BSOD have disappeared; six days on all windows updates have been applied and I have not had a single crash!! Currently Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18363.720].




It looks to me like the crashes have been caused by the SATA link being put into a low power state, from which it did not wake up in time to service a disk access. This would explain why there was never a consistent driver listed as the cause of the crashes in the dump files.

I have listed the non Microsoft drivers currently in use by my system, in the screenshot below, in case they are of use to someone else.




The Intel RST driver (v16.8.3.1003) that is currently in use is available on the Dell website as: "Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Driver-and-Management_SV16A_WIN_16.8.3.1003_A05".

I tried the latest version RST drivers from the Intel website (v17.8.0.1065), but this resulted in WHEA logger and other warnings in the event log, so I reverted back to the Dell version for the time being as I was sick and tired of chasing bugs!

:)

 

Intel RST service is not running

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

The Intel RST service is for the Intel Rapid Storage Driver. The Intel Rapid Storage Driver provides speed for data transfer and improves the performance for SATA drives or PCIe drives.

• What is the make and model of the computer and motherboard?
  

You can follow the methods mentioned below and check if that helps:

Method 1: Changing the startup type for Service

You can try changing the startup type for the Intel RST service and check if that makes a difference. Please refer the steps mentioned below:

1. Press and hold Windows key + R, to open
   Run dialog box.
   
2. Type serivces.msc and click on
   OK.
   
3. Now, scroll down, look for Intel RST service, right click on it and click on
   Properties.
   
4. Now, under startup type select Automatic from the drop down menu.
   
5. Click on Apply and OK.
   

Method 2: Updating the drivers manually

You can try downloading the latest version of Intel Rapid Storage Driver from the

Intel Website and check if that helps. However, I would suggest checking with the motherboard manufacturer website as well.

If you are using RAID configuration, I suggest you to post your query in

TechNet forums, where we have support professionals who are well equipped with the knowledge on RAID configuration.

Nikhar Khare

Microsoft Community - Moderator

 

intel rst driver

i dont have win 10 installed so cannot try... does intel rst works? i have found that it is much faster then MS default drivers with 97 boards with win 8.1. Not so much in benchmarks, but in practice win 8.1 boots much faster with iastora.sys then benchmarks
difference suggests.

 

Intel RST Service & Windows10

This solution worked perfectly for a Dell Latitude E6420

thanks