Requirements for VROC on Win10 and Sleep Mode?

[KWils14]

Greetings,

Could you confirm whether VROC RAID arrays are compatible with PC sleep mode? And if so, are there other relevant requirements for VROC that might assist in my efforts here that are not documented here: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000024550/memory-and-storage.html ?

I have now built 2 different X299-based workstations and both exhibit the same behavior when attempting to go into sleep mode: the machines will attempt to sleep, but then power off completely. They do not go into sleep mode, and upon booting they will both have generated dump files pointing to the iaVROC.sys driver. 

I have attempted a number of different configurations, BIOS settings, etc. and as noted, I'm seeing the same behavior on two similar but different workstations.

Without VROC storage in the systems, both will sleep fine, but when VROC is present and configured with RAID and all the drivers/software loaded, the machines will fail to go to sleep.

My determination is that Windows 10, VROC, and sleep mode do not play well together. I am at a standstill in my research (going back several months now). I've RMA'd motherboards, used different motherboards, ensured all drivers were current, used different memory, graphics cards, etc. The only thing that has shown to be consistent is the dump files pointing to iaVROC.sys. Not sure if I should try different SSDs, other BIOS configurations, or if this is simply a known issue that I have not come across yet. I have not had much luck with the OEMs and as VROC seems to be the commonality, I am hoping Intel can provide some insight -- anything you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!!

Platforms Affected:

Workstation 1:

⦁   MSI MEG X299 Creation motherboard w/ previous and current BIOS

⦁   Intel Core i9-9940X CPU

⦁   MSI M.2 XPANDER-AERO - PCIe card with 4 x M.2 slots, populated with:

⦁   4 x Intel Solid State Drive (SSD), 660P Series, 1 TB - SSDPEKNW010T8X1 (as RAID 5)

⦁   MSI TPM 2.0 Module Infineon chip SLB 9665 TT 2.0 F W 5.51

⦁   Intel VROCISSDMOD VROC key

⦁   128 GB total RAM via 8 x Crucial DDR4 2666 MT/s (PC4-21300) DR x8 DIMM 288-Pin Memory - CT16G4DFD8266

⦁   Intel Solid State Drive (SSD), 660P Series, 1 TB - SSDPEKNW010T8X1

⦁   MSI GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDRR6 192-bit HDMI/DP Ray Tracing Turing Architecture VR Ready Graphics Card (RTX 2060 VENTUS 6G OC) (as well as trying with other cards)

⦁   Seasonic FOCUS Plus 850 Gold SSR-850FX 850W power supply

⦁   Windows 10 Pro version 10.0.18363.535

Workstation 2:

⦁   Gigabyte X299X Designare 10G motherboard w/ previous and current BIOS

⦁   Intel Core i9-9940X CPU

⦁   Gigabyte AORUS Gen4 AIC Adaptor - PCIe card with 4 x M.2 slots, populated with:

⦁   4 x Intel Solid State Drive (SSD), 660P Series, 1 TB - SSDPEKNW010T8X1 (as RAID 5)

⦁   Gigabyte GC-TPM2.0_S TPM chip

⦁   Intel VROCISSDMOD VROC key

⦁   128 GB total RAM via 2 x Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3200 MHz DDR4 DRAM Desktop Gaming Memory Kit 64GB (16GBx4) CL16 - BLS4K16G4D32AESE

⦁   MSI GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDRR6 192-bit HDMI/DP Ray Tracing Turing Architecture VR Ready Graphics Card (RTX 2060 VENTUS 6G OC)

⦁   Seasonic FOCUS Plus 850 Gold SSR-850FX 850W power supply

⦁   Windows 10 Pro version 10.0.18363.535

Sample dump details from WhoCrashed v6.65:

Dump 1 sample:

crash dump file: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP

uptime: 00:04:13

This was probably caused by the following module: iavroc.sys (0xFFFFF8030D757529)

Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x0, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF8030D757529)

Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\iavroc.sys

product: Intel Virtual RAID on CPUdriver

company: Intel Corporation

description: Intel Virtual RAID on CPUdriver - x64

Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.

This bug check belongs to the crash dump test that you have performed with WhoCrashed or other software. It means that a crash dump file was properly written out.

A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: iavroc.sys (Intel Virtual RAID on CPUdriver - x64, Intel Corporation).

Dump 2 sample:

crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\010320-45671-01.dmp

uptime: 00:26:10

This was probably caused by the following module: iavroc.sys (0xFFFFF80377D87529)

Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x0, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF80377D87529)

Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\iavroc.sys

product: Intel Virtual RAID on CPUdriver

company: Intel Corporation

description: Intel Virtual RAID on CPUdriver - x64

Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode driver attempted to access pageable memory at a process IRQL that was too high.

This bug check belongs to the crash dump test that you have performed with WhoCrashed or other software. It means that a crash dump file was properly written out.

A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: iavroc.sys (Intel Virtual RAID on CPUdriver - x64, Intel Corporation).

Google query: iavroc.sys Intel Corporation DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, KWils14.

Good day,

Thank you for contacting the Intel Community Support.

I checked your ticket regarding Sleep and Intel VROC, I will be glad to assist you.

We currently do not have a report or known issue with systems shutting down completely instead of going to "sleep mode" while using VROC, I also tested here in a local system (ASUS TUF X299 Mark 2 using four Intel SSD Pro 7600p) and everything worked fine.

I noticed that in both of your configurations you are working with four Intel SSD 660p, and while you may be able to set up your RAID using them, these drives are not part of the compatible drives listed in the Intel® VROC Supported Configurations, which may or may not be related to the problem in question, but since they are not supported by us I'm not sure if the OEM has validated them or if you have the option to test other SSD drives that are part of the supported SSD list.

Have you tried to install the latest Intel Virtual RAID driver from the OEM Gigabyte or from our website Intel® VROC and Intel® RSTe Driver for Windows?

Let me know if you can provide the full system report from the Intel SSU and the "VROC/RSTe" window (Help > System Report > Save).

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[KWils14]

Thanks so much for that reply Bruce. Good info; I had not come across that list previously with supported SSDs. Since I read that only Intel SSDs were supported with the VROCISSDMOD key I incorrectly assumed that VROC support would include all current Intel NVMe SSDs, which it sounds like it does not. I will look into the 7600p SSDs, but first I am providing the system reports you requested -- really interested to understand all the details at play here before further action. To your other question, I have tried the VROC drivers from Intel primarily. The Gigabyte hosted version of this driver is: 6.1.0.1247, so slightly older than what I have in use.

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, KWils14.

Thank you for the information and the reports.

Right now the only possible problem I can see is related to the drives, but I will double-check with files just in case.

The driver from the motherboard manufacturer seems to be an older version as you mentioned, but it is recommended to use that one since it is tailored for your motherboard, while the drivers we provide are usually designed to work in different systems.

Regarding your operating system, is this a custom OS image, a backup image or are you performing a clean OS installation (direct ISO download from the Microsoft website)?

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[KWils14]

I downgraded to the OEM provided version for VROC, and can confirm the same behavior - instead of sleep it still shuts down completely and booting brings you to blue screen.

The image is a clean install from Win10 Pro media (MS ISO download), and then a load of all drivers and updates after.

Thanks Bruce.

Ken

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, KWils14.

I tested a couple of 660p (512GB) in the system I previously mentioned, unfortunately, I do not have four of them at hand right now:

• ASUS TUF X299 Mark 2
• ASUS HYPER M.2 X16 CARD V2
• Intel SSD 660p x2
• For the OS I used the “Create Windows 10 installation media” for USB directly from the Microsoft website.

Just in case and as mentioned before, this configuration is not supported nor validated by Intel, but I was able to set up a VROC volume (RAID 0) using the two 660p, installed Windows on it and tested the Windows sleep; it worked fine. I also recreated the RAID volume using the 660p and tested installing the OS in a separate SSD; the sleep worked fine as well.

Is it possible for you to test a configuration similar to the one I tried? for example: PCIe card with just two Intel SSD 660p, RAID 0 and install OS on it.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[KWils14]

Thanks for that Bruce. Sorry for my delay in responding. I've been able to test with 2 and 3 drives​ in RAID0 and both tests were successful. So I am going to try all 4 again in RAID 0, and then RAID 5 to see what the results are. I will follow up, thanks for your support so far in troubleshooting this one!

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, KWils14.

Perfect, thank you for letting me know.

I will keep the ticket open and wait for any updates in case I can be of assistance.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[KWils14 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for all your continued help Bruce. After setting up with RAID 0 and RAID 5 with 4 drives I was able to get to a state where sleep is working (!!). The only difference from my prior config is that I have Close RAID Write Hole set to distributed instead of using a journaling drive - which was on a separate VMD. I'm wondering if that config would be what was causing the issue...

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, KWils14.

Good day,

Thank you for letting me know.

I can't confirm if this is the reason why this happened since I don't have reports for the configuration you are using or a similar issue, but it looks like it could be since that is the only change you mentioned, I'm glad it's working fine now.

If you would like to close the ticket or if there is anything else, just let me know.

Regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[KWils14]

Thanks for all your help on this. If/when I can narrow it down further I will come back with a new topic. But as you got me to a working state, we can close this! Thanks again for all your time!