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excessive hdd load cycles / clicking

X

xorbe

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
6,034
When I upgraded from P67+Win7 to Z97+Win8.1, all my HDDs started unloading / loading (or parking / unparking) sometimes several times a minute. Apparently I shouldn't have installed that Intel RST driver from the Asus website for my Maximus VII Hero. Persisted even with the latest 13.6 from Intel. I found 2 ways to "cure" this:

(1) CrystalDiskInfo -> Function -> Advanced Features -> AAM/APM Control -> click through each drive and click disable on both if available. I think there is some way to make this run at start-up (per other forum comments) but it's not obvious to me. http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html <- get Standard Portable w/o Ads. I see how to make it start with Windows, but not how to apply changes.

(2) Someone whipped up this utility in the Intel forum after being strung along forever with no response finally - https://code.google.com/p/noapm/ - it's just a small wrapper around SmartMonTools. Run as Admin, or ==> choose "Exit after disabling APM" but don't choose "Start with Windows" -- won't work, needs admin. Instead, go to Task Scheduler and add this program to run at start-up with 15 second delay. It works!

If the PC doesn't boot to desktop, then #1 won't run until logging in. I think #2 runs when PC boots.

(3) Google "how to uninstall intel rst" -- might need to use CDI to disable AAM/APM one last time after that? http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...chnology/e3c4b6d6-56ba-4ac5-be50-89843c9d9b22
 
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Same thing happened on my laptop when I installed 8.1. I had to install an application that runs and shuts off the APM. Happened on my desktop (p67) as well.

On that board though you have to run an older version of the Intel drivers. The latest version causes that problem. I'm currently on 12.9 on my p67 and do not have the chirping any longer. Anything newer will chirp.

Never solved it on my laptop except to use the application.

There's a big thread on Intel's forum about this as well. Intel has known about the issue for a long time and has asked "is it fixed yet" on multiple driver releases even though the change notes do not mention it. I out right asked them what the issue reference number is and they didn't answer. They haven't even confirmed they found the problem.

https://communities.intel.com/thread/53305?start=0&tstart=0
 
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Yup that's the thread, which also has that wonderful utility in #2! Apparently Z97 cannot use 12.9 so I didn't even try. I would prefer to use the Intel driver, so this is the way, I guess.
 
I uninstalled Intel RST and nearly lost my system. System Restore at boot-up didn't work, but from safe mode it did work. The MS page said to delete the sata driver ... well it worked out in the end, lol. If the Intel RST driver is actually faster, it's not worth it for a single user box imho.
 
I just want to update this thread for those having the problem. Apparently, Intel is still releasing the RSTe driver; it's just hard to find.

Rather than installing the 14.5 RST branch on my z170 board I switched to RSTe 4.3 and no longer get chirps or excessive head parking. No longer are APM utilities required.

I'm not sure if the RSTe driver will work for those with 6/7/8/9 series though.

RSTe 4.3 Download
 
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