Intel SSD 520 Series unresponsive in Windows 10

[CLin77]

I recently upgraded my Lenovo ThinkPad T61p (Type 6457-BF5) with an Intel SSD 520 Series (180 GB), and installed Windows 10 Professional 64-bit (Build 16299) on it. The SSD provided great performance improvement, but I also noticed something strange - the system would freeze every a few minutes, with no or light access to the SSD. During the incident, the laptop's HDD indicator was constantly on for up to a minute, and the mouse cursor could sometimes be moved, but clicking on objects was unresponsive.

I searched online and found a relevant article entitled "Task Manager might show 100% disk utilization on Windows 10 devices with Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) mode enabled" on Microsoft Windows 10 Support (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3083595/task-manager-might-show-100-disk-utilization-on-win... https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3083595/task-manager-might-show-100-disk-utilization-on-win...). The described symptoms seemed exactly the same as mine, so I followed the instructions to disable the MSI mode in the registry, and rebooted my laptop.

However, the problem persisted. I installed the Intel SSD Toolbox and my SSD is in perfect condition, with the firmware version of LE1i. I guess it might need a more suitable driver than the default one provided by Windows 10, but I did not find it on Intel's website. There might also be some other settings needing tweaking. Could you please advise how to resolve this problem? Many thanks in advance.

[idata]

Hi elarry,

Thanks for the reply.It seems that the error you got is not related to compatibility, most likely it is related to an installation issue. We recommend you to contact the /community/tech/rapid-storage-technology Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology in order to get assistance with the installation issue. Regards, Junior M.

[CLin77]

Hi intel_corp,

Thanks very much for your timely advice. Before I post on the Rapid Storage Technology board, could you please confirm the following:

1. Intel's driver for the "standard SATA AHCI controller" is preferred over Windows 10's default driver by Microsoft, and I should install it via the Rapid Storage Technology package.
2. The changes I made to Windows 10 settings (disabling the scheduled disk optimization, Superfetch and Prefetch) according to some recommendations I found on the Internet are correct and necessary for using SSD in Windows 10. Is there any other settings I need to change in order to improve the performance of my SSD?

By the way, I looked into the System section of the Windows Log in the Event Viewer. I found the following two warnings occurring every a few minutes (messages are my translation from Chinese, so may be different from their original English version):

• Warning (Event 129 from storahci): Requested reset to device \Device\RaidPort0.
• Warning (Event 153 from Disk): IO operation has been re-attempted at logical block address 0x2b5dc92 on Disk 0 (PDO name: \Device\00000029).

Many thanks again.

[idata]

Hi elarry,

You can use the inbox SATA driver or the Intel (R) RST driver. This is not a SATA driver. We don't have recommendations for this, Windows(R) 10 will detect that this is an SSD and it will make the changes it needs. It is normal to find this kind of errors. The reason you don't see a pop-up message on regards of them is that your system already addressed them. We recommend you to check the following https://www.howtogeek.com/256859/dont-waste-time-optimizing-your-ssd-windows-knows-what-its-doing/ article because it has really accurate information.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. We do not offer support for any third party tool mentioned here.Regards, Junior M.

[CLin77]

Hi intel_corp,

Thanks very much for your answers to all my questions - they are really helpful.

I came across the article you mentioned (as well as some opposite opinions) before. I understand that you or Intel will not "endorse" the content, but am very glad to learn what is considered accurate.

I am going to the Intel RST board to ask about the Intel RST driver installation issue. Once again, thank you very much for all your guidance.

Best wishes.

[idata]

Hi elarry,

Thanks for the reply. We are glad to hear that the article was really helpful.Please let us know if there is something else we can assist you with. Regards, Junior M.