IASTOR installed, using lots of CPU, but none of its drivers in use

f14tomcat · 04 Feb 2020

Pejole2165 said:

If you haven't already, I would download Autoruns from Sysinternals and use it to un check all the unwanted RST services, make an image first though. Then restart and remove the software through control panel. The only one you shouldn't remove/ uncheck is iaStorAC if it is listed as being used by your SATA/AHCI controller in device manager.
It is possible to remove RST completely but it involves using safe mode to allow Windows to install it's default AHCI driver.

Note: See pic in my post here

IASTOR installed, using lots of CPU, but none of its drivers in use

pbug56 · 10 Feb 2020

How about IASTORAVC? IASTORV?

Those are the only IASTOR items I can actually find in Autoruns.

Thanks,

Ron

EdKiefer · 10 Feb 2020

I don't have anything to add except when I moved from Win7 to Win10 I had RST installed and I noticed after the upgrade I no longer had the files/folder in program files\Intel\RST etc. I do still have the same driver for my old Z77 SATA controller IaStorA (ver 12.9.0.1001).

pbug56 · 30 Apr 2020

I finally nuked this nonsense from my laptop. Created a fresh system image, a Win repair disc, also created a 'system protection' point to revert to if needed, confirmed that no SATA iastor drivers were being used, and then uninstalled it. Rebooted afterwards as required. System came up, and now has much better response. CPU usage levels noticeably lower, laptop running a bit cooler. Thanks for all your help!

eLPuSHeR · 01 May 2020

I have discarded all IaStor drivers for my Intel chipset systems in favour of standard msahci driver. No real difference in speed and they are more reliable.

pbug56 · 01 May 2020

IASTOR wasn't actually doing anything for me, just chewing up lots of RAM and CPU. It was bad enough that, for instance, opening an email in GMAIL took several seconds. Once eliminated from the system, no more GMAIL delays. That's scary. Also, the laptop is running a bit cooler (HP laptop with that horrible excuse for a cooling system common to the DV7's).

EdKiefer · 02 May 2020

pbug56 said:

IASTOR wasn't actually doing anything for me, just chewing up lots of RAM and CPU. It was bad enough that, for instance, opening an email in GMAIL took several seconds. Once eliminated from the system, no more GMAIL delays. That's scary. Also, the laptop is running a bit cooler (HP laptop with that horrible excuse for a cooling system common to the DV7's).

how are you linking a driver with cpu and memory usage, what process is showing up connected?
I have used Intels driver 8yrs now and never seen any Intel process even run connected to that driver.

Edit: I am using iaStorA.sys driver, not iaStor.sys Intel AHCI controller.

pbug56 · 02 May 2020

As I've tried to say, no IASTOR drivers were actually in use on my laptop. Elsewhere in this thread I recall seeing how you switch from IASTOR drivers to the normal drivers. I do STRONGLY suggest not just saving a restore point under System Protection but also having an up to date System Image. Yes, I did both. And I was lucky that IASTOR was not actually being used for anything so it turned out to be very easy for me, though it took many months before I was sure about that.