Cannot format Intel 520 180GB SSD

[idata]

Hey all,

Asus CM6870 series desktop

Windows 8, 64-bit

16 GB

Intel i7-3770 A 3.4Ghz quad core

7200RPM 2G HDD

Intel 520 180 GB SSD, connected to an SATA 6GB/s interface with an SATA 6GB/s cable

I was hyped to get my new SSD ... I plugged it in and it was recognized in the BIOS just fine. However, when I try to format it using the Disk Management tools it comes back with an error saying "Could not complete the operation" and when I check the events I see

Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued.

The IO operation at logical block address 40800 for Disk 1 was retried.

The IO operation at logical block address 14f5bfff for Disk 1 was retried.

The IO operation at logical block address 40800 for Disk 1 was retried.

The IO operation at logical block address 14f5bfff for Disk 1 was retried.

The IO operation at logical block address 40800 for Disk 1 was retried.

The IO operation at logical block address 14f5bfff for Disk 1 was retried.

When this first happened I started looing around for diagnostic tools and came across the Intel SSD Toolbox. When I first start the computer and check the drive with the toolbox I see that the SMART indicators are all green and the drive looks otherwise normal. When I try to format it then I see the aforementioned problems.

I've tried different wire combinations (switching the wires from the HDD to the SDD but all to no avail)

I'm just wondering if there isn't something basic I should try, or is it time to activate the warranty and send it back to Intel? Let me know If I left out any vital information.

Thanks in advance

[idata]

You may not be using the IRST driver now. The entry for the IRST UI not being found in Control Panel tends to indicate that. The iaStorA and iaStorV entries in the registry do not necessarily mean that driver is installed and used by the SATA controller. Windows has basic IRST drivers included in it, as well as for AMD chipsets. They are included in the registry whether or not they are used.

You must check Device Manager, under Storage controllers, or IDE/ATA ATAPI..., and check the Driver tab details to confirm which driver is currently in use.

[idata]

It is not the IRST driver in device manager. Why would the W530 not come with it from lenovo? Should it be installed now?

I also noticed the factory build did not include the full Intel WiDi driver control set and wireless chipset driver .controls.

[idata]

Did you find storahci? If so, that is the new Windows 8 AHCI driver. Nothing wrong with it.

Who knows why Lenovo did not use the IRST driver. Could be that Intel only fairly recently released IRST drivers for Windows 8, the IRST 11.6 and 11.7 versions, and another for their new 8 series chipsets. Your Lenovo may be from production before those drivers were released. Or Lenovo was being conservative and did not want to "risk" using the new drivers.

Laptop manufactures tend to be very conservative with their products, stability before all else. They won't use the SATA III ports in some cases, apparently afraid they will cause problems.

You could try the IRST driver, and always rollback if you need to. For Windows 8, you should use IRST 11.6 or 11.7 versions.

[idata]

update:

I decided to run the Lenovo driver update utility again before I went and did direct Intel driver updates. MAJOR round of updates from Lenovo for the hardware, including two BIOS updates and IRST AHCI drivers, among other hardware driver updates for other Intel hardware in this laptop. the magnitude of these updates might imply that my 12/2012 ship date of this w530 contained buggy BIOS and drivers integrated by Lenovo.

Applied and so far, no bugchks in 3 cold starts. Will monitor, I'll try repartitioning and reformatting the 525 mSATA using Windows when I get a chance.