inaccessible boot device after Intel Rapid Storage Technology update

[RSeft]

I downloaded and ran the Intel Drive and Support Assistant on my Windows 10 PC a couple of days ago. The only update listed for my machine was IRST. I let the assistant install the update and a reboot was required. Upon reboot I got the BSOD with Inaccessible Boot Device.

My main boot drive consists of two 512GB SSDs in a RAID 1 configuration. I rebooted and entered the boot menu and found that the two SSDs were listed as separate drives. So I rebooted again and went into the BIOS, where I found that the SATA configuration had been changed to AHCI. I changed it back to RAID and rebooted. Now in the boot menu the drive is listed correctly as a single RAID device, but when I selected that as the boot device I end up with a black screen with a cursor blinking in the upper left corner and never get past that. If I hit ctrl-i during reboot I get into the IRST application and it correctly lists my main system drive as a bootable RAID 1 partition. But Windows in not able to boot from this partition.

I did follow the advanced options path from the BSOD and tried to boot Windows in safe mode (several times), but also failed. Obviously there is a problem with the new version of IRST on my machine. Is there any way for me to undo that update? If not, where do I go from here?

Thanks,

Robert

[David_G_Intel]

Hello RSeft

Thank you for posting on the Intel️® communities. Please share more information with us:

• Is this a laptop or a desktop system?
• What is the model of the motherboard?
• Can you boot to Safe mode?
• Do you remember the Windows build used?
• Do you know which RST version started the problem?

Regards, 

David G 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[RSeft]

Hi David -

• Is this a laptop or a desktop system? Answer: Desktop
• What is the model of the motherboard? Answer: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 rev 1.0
• Can you boot to Safe mode? Answer: No
• Do you remember the Windows build used? Answer: No
• Do you know which RST version started the problem? Answer: 14.5.0.2241

Thanks,

Robert

[RSeft · Accepted solution]

Status update:

I took my machine to a PC repair shop and they were able to fix the problem (s). The IRST driver update destroyed the boot sector on my RAID 1 boot drive. That's in addition to disabling RAID in the BIOS. The shop also found that the wrong version of the IRST driver had been installed for my 6th generation processor. They went to the Intel web site and downloaded and installed the correct driver version.

I find it pretty incredible that the Intel's own Driver & Support Assistant would do this to my PC. I will uninstall that dangerous piece of software immediately after I pick my machine up and pay $300 for the repair.

I will close this thread.

[David_G_Intel]

We are glad to know you found a solution, since the thread is solved we will close it now.  

Please keep in mind that this thread will no longer be monitored by Intel. Thank you for your understanding.  

Best regards,  

David G  

Intel Customer Support Technician