-Tj-, should we start dedicated thread for those RST registry 'HIPM/DIPM' tweaks say in Intel`s subforum?
I have the HDD clicking / excessive load-unload cycles problem too. I'm running 2x Samsung F3 1TB (HD103SJ) in RAID-0 using Z97 chipset Sata 3 ports. My MB is a ASRock Z97 Extreme6, HDDs firmware is 1AJ10001. MB Bios is P1.33. I had 13.1.0.1058 RST driver and installed 12.9.2.1000 but the issue persisted. I have Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit running on a Samsung 830 Series 256GB SSD, I also have two more HDDs, one Seagate 3TB and one Toshiba 160GB... No issues with these drives. On my previous setup I was using these HDDs on a X58 chipset Sata 2 ports, also in RAID-0 mode, Intel RST 11 and got no issues. I think the drives are going idle too fast, because when I need to open or seek for something on the drive, the click starts. I don't know if this is a BIOS problem or a Intel RST problem, I don't know for sure, but when the computer starts, during post I can hear the click (only once, if I go to UEFI there is no click there and the drive is detected by BIOS). I tried some troubleshoots, configured (advanced power management, automatic acoustic management, sata aggressive link power management, windows power management) but nothing worked : ( I'm kinda desperate because I have one "click" each 10 seconds (approximately), it means 3600 load-unload cycles in 10 hours! For now I made the disks off-line through Windows disk management, until I figure out some solution/workaround. I appreciate any help you can give!
No sir, Haven't tried this, I made a quick search on the SSD/HDD sub forum and didn't found. Edit: Already found... So I just need to do some registry job to show this feature?
In that case keep 12.9, turn off your system, disconnect psu and switch those Samsung HDD's around to different intel sata ports, then it will stop clicking. Idk if you used port0 & port1, now try port2 & port3 But if you go back to 13 it will do it again and if you want 12.9 you will have to switch, again.. ie back to port0 & port1. Btw 12.9.4, newest, is ok too. Those variations in my test were from C-states, RST didnt switch it off properly in that time (was still at C3 & C7).
I tried @mbk1969 hint but the issue persisted : / Hm... I'll try it now. By disconnect psu you mean disconnect the ATX 24-pin and EPS/CPU 8-pin cables? If so... thanks god I bought a modular psu... I wonder if Intel is aware of this problem with RST 13.
Thank you so much... This solved my issue! Installed Intel RST 12.9.4. Powered Off. Disconnected PSU cable. The drives were using Sata 2 & 3. Installed them on Sata 4 & 5. Connected power and booted up... No more clicks (just the usual click when the system is doing POST). The bad part is that I have these drives since March 2011, they're running as new, 0 bad sectors, they had aprox. 1800 load/unload cycles... Due this problem they have 2900 cycles now :O I hope Intel fix this asap, because according to them, RST 13 added support for Intel 9 Series Chipsets (H97 & Z97)... by the other hand I'm using 12.9.4 without issues on my Z97 board... If I find some problem I'll let you guys now.
Great to hear that! Yeah Im secretly hopping for this too, been testing every 13.x.xxxx, but now I gave up. I see there are 1-2 new 13.x releases, but nah they can keep it for now or until I use this Sammy xD
I noticed the increased amount of clicks too, as soon I updated the drivers to 13.1 I have a click every few minutes, not seconds, and the load/unload cycle count increases on every click. It didn't worked this way when using 12.9, I get more clicks with 13.1, definitely...how often clicks (head parkings) are supposed to happen with a disk like mine, hitachi 7k3000? What do you suggest? I don't want to open my case to swap cables, and this unacceptable from intel And 13.1 driver is listed on intel site as latest official driver :thumbdown
WOW!!! Thank you so much -Tj- and RHBH! Two days ago, I've spent around 3.5 hours troubleshooting this mess when I had to reinstall Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit. Thinking that "the latest and greatest" drivers would be best sure did backfire on me this time, but your solution was right on the money and I'm glad I found it (via this thread)! I'll try to elaborate a bit more (and add some extra words) for Google to scan as much of this as possible. My Hardware: Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-OC, Bios F7 (2014/01/29) SATA Devices:Intel SSD 520 180GB SSDC2CW180A - Primary, OS / System Samsung F3 500GB HD502HJ (1 x 500GB Platters) - Latest 1AJ100E5 Firmware - Storage Samsung F3 1TB HD103HJ (2 x 500GB Platters) - Latest 1AJ100E5 Firmware - Storage Samsung F3 1TB HD103HJ (2 x 500GB Platters) - Latest 1AJ100E5 Firmware - Storage Intel SSD 330 180GB SSDSC2CT180A3 - Swap / Temp Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S What went wrong, problem, issue: 1. When I first installed Windows 8.1 Pro, I loaded the latest Intel RST 64-bit drivers right before I selected to which hard-drive I wish to install the OS to (the old F6 / Floppy / USB method). The drivers were Intel RST v13.1.0.1058 WHQL, dated 5/27/2014, here. 2. Right after the Windows installer finished its first round of copying files and rebooted the machine, the horrible mess of hearing my Samsung hard drives park, unpark, do their business and then park right back again merely 5-8 seconds after there's no activity needed for them - has begun. The issue persisted even after Windows installation has finished. Whenever the Windows was querying the hard drives for something, anything, they would unpark, do their business and then park again after 5-8 seconds. Lots of click, clicking noises. Fix / Fixed / Solve / Solved / Solution steps: Once I read up on -Tj-'s and RHBH's ordeal, I tried this first: 1. Downloaded Intel RST v12.9.2.1000 (32/64-bit package) from Station Drivers website, here. 2. Installed the driver. 3. Turned off the machine. 4. Disconnected all Samsung F3 hard drives from the motherboard. 5. Connected just 1 Samsung F3 hard drive to a SATA port which it was NOT connected to ever before (at least for the life of the last Windows installation). 6. Turned PC back on and let windows load. 7. It was right at that moment, that the issue was indeed resolved. 8. Just to be sure, I repeated the procedure (steps #3-6) for the rest of the two Samsung F3 hard drives (I actually connected each of them, one-by-one, in turn, to the very same SATA port described in step #5). 9. Once I verified that they no longer exhibit the issue, I reinstalled Windows one last time and used the "F6" method again to load Intel's RST drivers, but this time with the using the Intel RST v12.9.2.1000 set. So again, thank you very much! And now I'm off to Intel's Communities forums to let them know about it. It would be a shame if Samsung F3 hard drive owners' only choice for something new will continue to be a driver that's already starting to age. Regards, Some more, for Google: Hard Disk / Hard Disks / Hard Drives / Fail / Sound / Wierd
Well, the 13.2's have gone WHQL. Intel drop support for old hardware pretty quickly, the 7 series (Z77 etc) have already been dropped. Seeing as there is much less change between the various Intel AHCI controllers as there is between different graphics architectures, think of that the next time an old graphics architecture goes legacy .
Hello. I can't find them on the official Intel Download Center site: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProdId=2101
Even with 13.2.0.1016? The device ID isn't listed in the .INF file, so you can't let Windows install it normally. Running in RAID mode is different to running in AHCI mode. The support isn't removed from the actual drive, they've just removed the device ID from the INF. You can still force install it as the 8 Series on the 7 series controllers. This makes sense seeing as the RAID controller driver hasn't changed over the last couple of series of controllers, and the AHCI driver is loaded with the RAID controller.
It's AHCI installation capability they removed, RAID remains. The actual driver works fine with Z77, but I want to stop short of recommending force installing it!
After some research I found out that the clicking is caused by aggressive APM (advanced power management). I have Samsung Spinpoint F3 (HD103SJ) hdd. It used to go in idle mode or low power mode after few second without reads or writes. Following a guide, I've set APM to 254 via HDDScan. The clicking is gone completely once OS is booted and this hdd stays responsive. You can use HDDScan to make a batch file and set it to run at startup because everytime you reboot it will go back to default setting. CrystalDiskInfo seems to have AAM/APM control as well.
