topic Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue in Solid State Drives (NAND)

Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

bdcintel — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 13:23:10 GMT

I have the Intel 750 400GB PCI-E NVMe drive in a Asus z170 board running Windows 10. In the past, I've upgraded from the 1.8 to the 3.0 NVMe driver (and all previous driver versions) without issue for the past 2 years.

Starting with the 3.1 driver, I have been having issues updating. If I install the driver from Device Manager, the system reboots and Windows will fail to load. Windows attempts a repair but fails. The only option is to reinstall the OS.

If I attempt to do a clean install and "load driver" and select the 3.1 driver, the OS will not install, I just receive a generic error that it cannot proceed when loading that driver. I have to use the 3.0 driver.

The 750 400GB PCI-E drives are listed as compatible with the 3.1 driver, what is going on?

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 21:42:26 GMT

Hello BDCIntel,

Thanks for letting us know about this situation, we would like to investigate on this as we have not received reports of the driver failure.We will be testing one of our drives as well, in the meantime, could you please provide the following:-Firmware version on the SSD?-Computer's specs (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows- Please use this utility) and attach the file here.We'll be waiting for your response while we work on this as well.Regards,Nestor C

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

bdcintel — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 03:02:13 GMT

Thank you for taking time to look at this issue.

Drive Firmware: 8EV101H0

I have also attached my system support tool export.

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 21:42:27 GMT

Hi BDCIntel,

Thanks for providing this information, we will continue with our research on this situation and we will keep you posted with any updates.Regards,Nestor C

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

mmeye3 — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 06:51:50 GMT

Hello,

I have the same problem with two x99 systems and a Dell Optiplex-3010. The SSD also has the latest firmware. The system runs with drivers up to v1.8. After installing the drivers v3.0 or later, the system will only start in recovery mode. This problem also occurs with firmware 8EV101F0.

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 21:24:52 GMT

Hello maddin243,

Thanks for reporting this situation as well. Our team is researching about this situation and as soon as we have updates we will notify everyone here.Regards,Nestor C

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 12:35:33 GMT

Hello BDCIntel & maddin243,

Our specialized team is looking into this situation you reported and the recommendation at the moment is to stay in the previous version of the driver.As soon as we have an update or resolution, we'll be posting it here.Regards,Nestor C

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

bdcintel — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 20:10:05 GMT

I will stay on 3.0 for now.

Has the team been able to reproduce the error?

Thank you for the update.

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 20:37:14 GMT

Hello BDCIntel,

At the moment we don't have updates about the reproduction of this error. We will provide the updates by next week.Regards,Nestor C

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 19:20:05 GMT

Hello BDCIntel & maddin243,

We have been testing this situation and we have some steps for you to try:1. Bios mode is set to UEFI.2. Prepare a USB bootable key with Windows® 10 Rs1 image for the installation process.3. Start Installing windows on SSD 750 drive (Here no need to select any driver just proceed with inbox driver).4. After installation completed boot to SSD 750 Windows* drive.5. From device manager (or with installer as well) update the driver to NSG driver 1.8.0.10116. OS boots successfully after a restart. Now update the driver from 1.8 to 3.0.0.10137. OS boots successfully after a restart. Now update the driver from 3.0 to 3.1.0.1009.8. No issues are seen while updating the driver to different versions and OS booted successfully every time.Please confirm if these steps are also working for you and if not, please share your results.Regards,Nestor C

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

mmeye3 — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 18:25:08 GMT

Hello Nestor,

I found the problem. Up to the driver v1.8 were entries for 32Bit and 64Bit in the file IaNVMe.inf."CatalogFile.NTAMD64 = nvme64.cat" for 64Bit and "CatalogFile.NTx86 = nvme86.cat" for 32Bit. For the drivers v3.x there is only the entry "CatalogFile = IaNvme.cat" for 32bit and 64bit. The catalog files have the same name for both 32Bit and 64Bit.This means that when installing the driver via the device manager with the "Include subfolders" function, a mixture of 32Bit and 64Bit drivers is installed. This can only be avoided by directly entering the directory, e.g. x64. Installation using the installer automatically selects the correct driver.For their customers, it would be an advantage if you put the corresponding entries back into the IaNVMe.inf file and name the files accordingly. This could prevent problems when installing drivers on Windows Core systems or when integrating the drivers into a Windows installation media.

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 21:02:00 GMT

Hello maddin243,

Thank you for providing us this fix and feedback, we will make sure to send this to the proper team.

BDCIntel could you please let us know if it worked for you?

Regards,

Nestor C

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

bdcintel — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 22:10:11 GMT

Hi,

In the past I have used the in-box driver, upgraded to 1.8, upgraded to 3.0, then tried upgrading to 3.1 (in that order) and have had it failed. I have tried this twice, with two separate OS installs.

What version of Windows 10 was it verified on? I am running 1607. Is the 3.1 driver compatible with 1607?

Is it possible that my motherboard UEFI firmware level may be impacting this, which could explain why Intel's test did not replicate the issue?

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

mmeye3 — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 06:12:40 GMT

Hi BDCIntel,

I've tested it under server 2016 "based on Windows 10 1607" and Windows 10 1703. It worked with UEFI mode and legacy mode of the BIOS. It was not necessary to install the older drivers. I could install the driver v3.1 directly. Did you install the driver via the installer?I will test it later with Windows 10 1607.

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

bdcintel — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 12:13:45 GMT

I did not use the installer. I just copied the x64 folder out of the .zip and pointed Device Manager to that folder. I also used a copy of the x64 folder to "load driver" while doing the clean install. This has worked for all previous versions of the driver.

In my situation, because the driver is detected and loads, I'm wondering if there is a firmware incompatibility between my motherboard and Intel card.

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

mmeye3 — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 17:57:11 GMT

I have tested it with Windows 10 1607. The v3.1 driver runs without problems.

Maybe the Asus Support can help you.

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

bdcintel — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 21:36:08 GMT

OK. I'd like to try the driver again after upgrading my motherboard firmware, but am afraid of being left with an non-bootable system again.

Is there a way to uninstall the drivers via cmd prompt and repair the system? I have looked and not had any luck. The pnputil works to remove the old driver but it does not fix the non-booting device by reinstalling the 3.0 driver.

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 12:28:12 GMT

Hi BDCIntel,

Please let us know if it worked for you as well. We have sent the feedback to our proper team, but we would like to know about your progress as well.

For uninstalling and reinstalling drivers from the command prompt, we have found a couple of links that may help you, in case you have not seen those:

- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/devtest/pnputil-command-syntax PnPUtil Command Syntax | Microsoft Docs

- http://www.caldigit.com/KB/index.asp?KBID=165&viewlocale=1 CalDigit FAQ

NOTE: Any links provided for third party tools or sites are offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel® of the content, products, or services offered there.

Regards,Nestor C

Re: Intel 750 400GB PCI-E w/3.1 NVMe Driver Issue

idata — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 18:28:27 GMT

Hello BDCIntel,

We would like to know if you were able to follow the previous instructions and if you require further assistance. We'll be waiting for your response.Regards,Nestor C