The Vent and Rant Thread

[Toxaris]

For what its worth, I am currently using EhStorClass.sys from Microsoft (2006). At the moment my disk performance is very bad, so perhaps I will also try a different driver...

[Katsunami]

I don't know if you can just install a different driver on any system.

StorAHCI.sys is the "Windows 10 Inbox driver", as Microsoft calls it. I always wonder how software can just crap out like that if it hasn't been changed since 2006. Or, it has been changed, but the date hasn't been updated or something.

I've reinstalled the Intel chipset drivers, but they didn't replace the storage driver.

I did remember though, that on a past computer, I always installed 'something' that installed a driver called "iaStor<something>.sys", made by Intel, so I went looking for it. It turned out to be Intel Rapid Storage Technology. I forgot about that, because my previous (desktop *AND* laptop) computers have worked flawlessly: I installed them with Windows Vista in the beginning of 2008, then did an in-place upgrade to Windows 7 in 2011, and then did an in-place upgrade to Windows 10 in 2015. Those two computers are still running. They have *never* been re-installed. Before that, I ran a Windows NT4 computer from 1996 until febuari 2000, a Windows 2000 computer from 2000 to the end of 2004, and a Windows XP computer from 2004 until the end of 2007, also without re-installation. Software and drivers were updated, obviously, but as those are old systems, most driver updates ceased some years back.

This new laptop has been re-installed twice already, since januari 2016. I skipped Windows 8.x, but Windows 10 is the first Windows-installation that has given me problems in *twenty years*. (I never used Windows 9x/ME, and I always used good hardware with good drivers; also never installed crap or unknown software.)

The fact that Windows 10 is giving me problems now, where NT4, 2000, XP, Vista and 7 didn't, indicates to me that Microsoft is botching stuff up with their rolling release update system. It has the same problems as the cutting edge rolling release Linux systems: shit breaks. It's not for nothing that systems like Debian have a 'stable' version, and other distributions now have LTS versions.

===

I left the laptop running overnight and during my work day. In the past few weeks, it would hang the D-drive (hard disk) as soon as I touched it again. Today, it seems to work. It *could* be that installing IRST is a solution to this problem, but as this is just a 'leave the computer on for a day'-test, it's not yet conclusive.

As the system has other problems such as installing/removing software, I think I'm going to back up my user profile, and do a re-install. A-fracking-gain.

[Toxaris]

The process 'System and Compressed Memory' is killing my system by continuously setting my disk to max. All the remedies found online did not work at all.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

The process 'System and Compressed Memory' is killing my system by continuously setting my disk to max. All the remedies found online did not work at all.

It seems you are possibly affected with this problem. What mainboard do you have, with what chipset? If it's an Intel chipset, then see if you can possibly install the Intel Rapid Storage driver.

Download page

See the Readme.txt for supported chipsets. This is the latest version, that supports:

- Intel(R) 100 Series/C230 Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
- Intel(R) 9 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
- Intel(R) 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
- Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
- Intel(R) C600 Series Chipset SATA AHCI Controller

Maybe it still supports the older 6 and 5 chipsets as well, but I don't know that for sure.

Skylake: Series 100
Haswell/Broadwell: Seris 8/9
Ivy Bridge: Series 7
Sandy Bridge: Series 6
Nehalem: Series 5

The Series 100 is a 2015 chipset, Series 5 is from 2008.

This is the newest driver to still officially support Series 5 and 6.... that driver doesn't officially support Windows 10 of course, as that OS wasn't yet released.

So, if you have a series 5 or 6 chipset and run Windows 10 and have this disk hang problem, then you're between a rock and a hard place. You can't officially install the 5/6-series driver as it doesn't support Windows 10, but you also can't install the newest driver because it doesn't officially support the 5/6-series chipsets. You'll thus have to take a risk, installing either a driver that's too old for the OS, or too new for the chipset, and hope that it'll work.

[Katsunami]

Another rant. Penryn (2007), Nehalem, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake (2015)... I can remember those names like it's yesterday. Then I remember that Penryn was introduced in 2007. My old laptop from 2008 and desktop both run a Penryn CPU and chipset. I remember all the fanfare when Intel switched from the Core2Duo and Core2Quad to the current i-series CPU's with Nehalem in the middle of 2008.

That was 8 years ago! I wasn't even out of my twenties back then.

Where are my 8 years? Damn. Now I feel like I'm close to being dead already. Next time I shouldn't skip 5 generations of CPU's (and graphics cards), obviously.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Another rant. Penryn (2007), Nehalem, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake (2015)... I can remember those names like it's yesterday. Then I remember that Penryn was introduced in 2007. My old laptop from 2008 and desktop both run a Penryn CPU and chipset. I remember all the fanfare when Intel switched from the Core2Duo and Core2Quad to the current i-series CPU's with Nehalem in the middle of 2008.

And now we've got Intel's newly announced Kaby Lake processor line, with an MS announcement that Win10 is the only version of Windows supported on that architecture.

Of course, the paranoids decided that meant that earlier versions of Windows would somehow be prevented from running on Kaby Lake machines, and I think a couple thought Linux wouldn't run on them either.

The distinction between "supported on" and "runs on" got lost somewhere...
______
Dennis

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The distinction between "supported on" and "runs on" got lost somewhere...

Well, Microsoft is not above deliberately sabotaging Windows. For example, the well known compatibility issue between D.R. DOS and Windows 3.1:

The Register article from 1999

Method employed to make Windows 3.1 incompatible with D.R. DOS

I *can* actually see them changing something in Windows 7, pushing a 'security update', which makes the OS very unstable on Skylake after 2017 (who have to be upgraded to Windows 10 somewhere in 2017), and Kaby Lake from the start.

"Sorry people; it's not supported on those CPU's. If it's unstable, tough luck."

The bad thing is that Windows 10 itself is unstable at this point in time.

(By the way: if you use Windows 8.1, spare yourself a lot of grief by NOT installing the Intel Rapid Storage drivers above. The list of known issues under Windows 8.1 is *HUGE* and almost unending. On Windows 10, IRST only has three or four known and unresolved issues at this time.)

[Freeshadow]

Just try to use a dr-dos formatted floppy on ms-dos. Dead.
No need for win incompatibilities.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Well, Microsoft is not above deliberately sabotaging Windows. For example, the well known compatibility issue between D.R. DOS and Windows 3.1:

The Register article from 1999

Method employed to make Windows 3.1 incompatible with D.R. DOS

I go back to those days and recall the fun. But Win 3.1 was essentially a multi-tasking shell sitting on top of DOS, and ISTR there were work arounds developed.

(DR DOS was originally developed in response to OEM customers requests for a ROMmable version of DOS. MSDOS lack the code vs data separation needed to be able to put it in ROM. When it got to a decent point of development, DR decided there might be a retail market for it and released it as a consumer product. There was enough of one to give MS pause and get it to try to protect MSDOS.)

I *can* actually see them changing something in Windows 7, pushing a 'security update', which makes the OS very unstable on Skylake after 2017 (who have to be upgraded to Windows 10 somewhere in 2017), and Kaby Lake from the start.

Possible, but if you get Kaby Lake hardware, it wi9ll almost certainly come with Win10 pre-installed. If you happen to have bought-and-paid for Win7 with installation media, you might be able to replace Win10 with it, or partition and install it in a multi-boot configuration, but that will be a version sans said patch.

And I really don't see the vast majority of people getting Kaby Lake boxes doing that. If they're going to multi-boot, Linux will be the other OS.

And even if you do successfully install and run Win7 on Kaby Lake, what about applications? They get updated to take advantage of new OS capabilities, and you may find you can't run the latest version of stuff you use because it requires Win10. Then what do you do?

"Sorry people; it's not supported on those CPU's. If it's unstable, tough luck."

The bad thing is that Windows 10 itself is unstable at this point.

Whether it's unstable depends on who you are and what you run it on. As mentioned, it's been stable on four out of five machines here.

Given the hundreds of millions of Windows installation out there, I don't believe any version of Windows ever worked out of the box on all machines it was run on. Sometimes, you draw the short straw, but that doesn't make you representative of overall experience.

(By the way: if you use Windows 8.1, spare yourself a lot of grief by NOT installing the Intel Rapid Storage drivers above. The list of known issues under Windows 8.1 is *HUGE* and almost unending. On Windows 10, IRST only has three or four known and unresolved issues at this time.)

I don't run 8.1, and don't need the Intel Rapid Storage Drivers.
______
Dennis

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

It seems you are possibly affected with this problem. What mainboard do you have, with what chipset? If it's an Intel chipset, then see if you can possibly install the Intel Rapid Storage driver.

Download page

See the Readme.txt for supported chipsets. This is the latest version, that supports:

- Intel(R) 100 Series/C230 Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
- Intel(R) 9 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
- Intel(R) 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
- Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI/RAID Controller
- Intel(R) C600 Series Chipset SATA AHCI Controller

Maybe it still supports the older 6 and 5 chipsets as well, but I don't know that for sure.

Skylake: Series 100
Haswell/Broadwell: Seris 8/9
Ivy Bridge: Series 7
Sandy Bridge: Series 6
Nehalem: Series 5

The Series 100 is a 2015 chipset, Series 5 is from 2008.

I have the Series 7 but that is not supported with the latest version (I know that the readme says it does...). I had to go back quite a few versions for a supported version. Alas, it did not work at all.

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Well, Microsoft is not above deliberately sabotaging Windows.

I *can* actually see them changing something in Windows 7, pushing a 'security update', which makes the OS very unstable on Skylake after 2017 (who have to be upgraded to Windows 10 somewhere in 2017), and Kaby Lake from the start.

"Sorry people; it's not supported on those CPU's. If it's unstable, tough luck."

It is not only Microsoft. Apple is also know for this, especially in the IOS field. Releasing an update that deliberately slows older devices and also disabling functionalities when you do not update. This only to force people to upgrade their devices.

I am sure that more manufacturers do the same.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

I have the Series 7 but that is not supported with the latest version (I know that the readme says it does...). I had to go back quite a few versions for a supported version. Alas, it did not work at all.

You mean that the driver didn't solve the problem, or that it didn't even install because it wouldn't work on Windows 10?

I always think it's a bad idea to remove older product support from newer drivers. For example, there is a reasonable chance that a computer running a sereis 5 or 6 series chipset will be upgraded to Windows 10. Then you're caught between a rock and a hard place.

Then you get into the situation that the newest driver supporting the chipset doesn't work in the new operating system, and the driver that works in the operating system doesn't support the chipset, which will get you stranded at the operating system that still can use the latest driver that supports the chipset.

In the case of hard disk drivers it's often not a problem, because the MS generic AHCI-driver works just fine. Even their generic chipset drivers often work fine; maybe they're a bit slower, or miss some special functionality, but they do work.

It's nasty if such important drivers get problems after an update of either the driver or the operating system. This hard disk problem is not some sort of isolated incident; the MS community, Reddit, and other prominent Windows forums are flooded with complaints.

[Toxaris]

It won't even install. The older version installs, but Windows refuses to use it.

[Hemmi]

Can I mention how much I HATE being in charge of scheduling for work?

If I had to listen one more time to the "do I have to stay until 8pm tonight" whine I was going to lose it today. Do I need to remind you that you VOLUNTEERED to work a long shift today? Butted into the conversation I was having with another employee about working tonight and said, no problem, I'll stay the extra 2 hours and work. Now the day comes and you don't want to??? I didn't even ask you to in the first place, you offered!

I don't even care if you heard me bitching under my breath about it either. Don't offer if you don't want to do it.

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by Hemmi

Can I mention how much I HATE being in charge of scheduling for work?

If I had to listen one more time to the "do I have to stay until 8pm tonight" whine I was going to lose it today. Do I need to remind you that you VOLUNTEERED to work a long shift today? Butted into the conversation I was having with another employee about working tonight and said, no problem, I'll stay the extra 2 hours and work. Now the day comes and you don't want to??? I didn't even ask you to in the first place, you offered!

I don't even care if you heard me bitching under my breath about it either. Don't offer if you don't want to do it.

Ugh. I have regretted volunteering for stuff at work but I know better than to complain about it.

In a similar vein, is it really too much to expect people over 18 to act like adults, not toddlers throwing tantrums? Ugh. A fight almost broke out in the computer lab because one girl was loud and cursing on her cell phone. A guy asked her nicely to quiet down and she threatened him. He came up and told me this (I am well away from the lab, so didn't hear this, myself) and I had to call security. *sigh*