Installing RST causing BSOD at startup (Intel 520 Series 120GB)

[CCaff]

Ok, a bit of back story.

I was (still am) getting blue screens at start up. What would happen is; I'd start up the computer and after about 2-3 minutes (sometimes more, sometimes less) Windows would freeze and after a few seconds I'd get a bluescreen and the computer would restart.

Once the computer had restarted (sometimes this involves a startup repair), the PC would be fine, I could put full load on the CPU, GPU and RAM without any issues, the PC seemed to run fine.

After a heap of troubleshooting, I discovered it was one of the drivers on the motherboard CD causing the issue. I finally narrowed it down to the Rapid Storage Technology driver.

Before I install the RST driver, the system starts up fine and runs fine. When I install the RST driver (I've tried the latest v11.1.0.1006), I start to get the blue screen issue.

I've run memtest multiple times and it hasn't found any memory errors. Intel v3.0.3 Toolbox tells me I've got the latest firmware.

I've updated my BIOS and set the SATA to AHCI.

I've done a bit of Googling and this doesn't seem to be a rare problem (with 520 Series drives), so I'm seriously considering going with a different drive.here

Is there something I should try before I ask for a refund on this drive?

Is this a sign that the drive may just be faulty?

My Specs:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit SP1

Intel 3570K

ASRock Z77 Fatal1ty Professional

16GB (4*4) G.Skill DDR3 @1600MHz 9-9-9-24

ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II

Corsair AX750

Intel 520 Series 120GB SSD

[CCaff]

I don't have any other SSDs, but I installed Win7 onto a HDD (old WD 80GB 60MBps drive), installed RST and was able to boot up (multiple times) without getting any blue screens.

Not sure if this is any help, as I was using a HDD and not an SSD.

[idata]

I've used several versions of IRST with 520 SSDs, and have never had a problem with BSODs, etc. Did you run the System Tuner in the Toolbox? I would also suggest setting the Windows power profile to High Performance when using SSDs.

The latest version of IRST for Z77 boards is 11.2.0.1006. If your board manufacture has not provided that in their downloads, you can get it directly from Intel.

[CCaff]

Ok thank you, I'll try those tips.

This the correct drivers?

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=21407 Download Center

[CCaff]

I installed this version of RST and have been able to reboot 6+ times without a BSOD. I reinstalled the OS and loaded that driver thing while I was doing so.

Thank you very much for the help, I probably wouldn't have found out about that newer driver if I wasn't told about it (I wasn't using the download center correctly, but now know where I went wrong).

I won't call it just yet, but before I was lucky to get one boot without a BSOD, I've now gotten at least 6, so this is looking good.

I'll post back in a couple of days, unless something happens before then.