Drivers for SSD

[ChrisCrossCrash]

Hello. My question is regarding the drivers for my SSD. Some info:

• HP Pavilion Laptop 15-cs0059nr (from bottom of device)
• Product Number: 4EY55UA#ABA
• Windows 10 Pro 64-bit Version: 18362.418
• Bitlocker full-disk encryption activated
• recently updated BIOS firmware (F.19)
• recently updated chipset driver (Intel(R) 6th Generation Core Processor Family Platform I/O SATA AHCI Controller. 17.2.8.1029)
• Possibly relevant info from Device Manager
  • Device Manager / Disk drives / SK hynix BC501 ...(long string of letters and numbers)
  • Device Manager / Storage Controllers / Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller
  • Device Manager / Storage Controllers / Standard NVM Express Controller
  • Device Manager / IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers /
    • Intel(R) 6th Generation Core Processor Family Platform I/O SATA AHCI Controller

Recently, an update for Intel Rapid Storage Technology appeared in my HP Support Assistant. I downloaded it and installed it. Nothing strange happened during the install, but afterwords Intel RST was nowhere to be found on my PC (now that I mention it, I don't think it was installed before the download either). I thought it might have something to do with outdated firmware or chipset drivers on my PC so I updated both of those. Then, I tried installing Intel RST from the HP drivers site for my laptop. I was able to install it, but the only interface it connected with was an empty SATA port (I think my laptop's SSD is NVMe). The HP drivers page had a few different versions of the Intel RST drivers. I tried all of them with Kaby Lake in the title but got the same outcome.

I just want to make sure I'm not missing out on faster speeds from my SSD because something failed to install. I appreciate any help you can give. Thanks!

[Huffer]

Based on official specs your laptop does have an NVME M.2 SSD installed. Unless you have an Optane module, which you do not, the IRST does not provide any support for an NVME SSD. IRST is more involved with the SATA bus. You might install CrystalDiskMark app and run a benchmark on your SSD just to check its speed. The Hynix NVME M.2 ought to clock somewhere around 2000 mbps read speed. If it does that or better you are in fine shape. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @ChrisCrossCrash 

Is this the driver that you installed?

Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver - Intel NVME SSD - Kaby Lake (Windows 10 v1803)

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp88001-88500/sp88009.exe

This package contains the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver for the supported notebook models and operating systems. The Intel Rapid Storage Technology is designed to provide functionality for the Intel NVME Controllers.

 I looked into the above driver file and the iaAHCIC setup information file does not show any driver support for the NVME controller.

; Client devices
iaStorAC.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_9D03&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) 6th Generation Core Processor Family Platform I/O SATA AHCI Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A102&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) 100 Series/C230 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A103&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) 100 Series/C230 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A282&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) 300 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_9DD3&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) 300 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A352&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) 300 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A353&CC_0106.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) 300 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller"

But the iaStorAC setup information file does.

; Client devices
iaStorAC.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2822&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_282A&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_9D07&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A107&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A106&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A28E&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A286&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_9DD7&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A356&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A357&CC_0104.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller"
PCI\VEN_8086&CC_0108.DeviceDesc = "Intel(R) NVMe Controller"

So, I would like you to post the hardware ID for theStandard NVM Express Controller device that you found.

If it matches the ID of the Intel(R) NVMe Controller I highlighted in red, I will give you the steps to manually update the standard driver W10 installed to the above driver listed.

Use this guide for how to find the hardware ID for a device.

https://www.howtogeek.com/193798/how-to-find-drivers-for-unknown-devices-in-the-device-manager/

[ChrisCrossCrash]

Thanks Paul. I just checked it. Here are the device IDs for the Standard NVM Express Controller (none match the red text):

I guess Intel RST just something I didn't even need? Thanks for the help regardless.

I wonder if you could help me with one more thing that sprang up as I was updating my BIOS and chipset drivers. I got the drivers from the official HP drivers page for my laptop:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-15-cs0000-laptop-pc/20284004/model/2232...

I downloaded and installed this driver because it appeared to be the most recent version for Kaby Lake CPUs:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/swdetails/hp-pavilion-15-cs0000-laptop-pc/20284004/... 

However, the has drivers for laptops with several different configurations (for instance, there is a driver listed to prevent write-head crashing on HDDs, even though I don't have one).

Looking in my device manager, I can see a device listed as:"Intel(R) 6th Generation Core Processor Family Platform I/O SATA AHCI Controller". However, my CPU is an eight-gen i7-8550U. Is it possible that I accidentally installed the wrong chipset driver? Probably I'm just freaking out over nothing. Thanks again.

[ChrisCrossCrash]

Thanks for the help, @Huffer. I tried the benchmark software and got these results:

Not too far off what you said, but I also just ran it without shutting all the background stuff down. I thought that it might be as you said about needing special Intel hardware, but I was a bit confused because I was getting updates for it from HP. Thanks for clearing that up!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

OK, so that driver is not going to have any effect on the NVME controller your notebook has.

It's interesting they have a RST driver that is supposed to work for NVME drives, yet it does nothing and has no support for the hardware ID your notebooks NVME controller has.

Accordingly, the RST driver is something you really don't need, since your notebook does not have a SATA hard drive.

But it does have the SATA controllers, so you may as well be up to date.

As far as the chipset driver, if it was the wrong one, the "Intel(R) 6th Generation Core Processor Family Platform I/O SATA AHCI Controller device would not report as working normally.

Anyhow, you can install a newer chipset driver for notebooks with the 8th gen processors from the link below...

10.1.18019.8144      Aug 26, 2019

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp99001-99500/sp99031.exe

[Huffer]

You are not going to find that the NVME driver has much effect on the system. I am running the standard Windows 10 NVM driver (same as yours) for my personal laptop with a Samsung 970 Evo Plus and get over 3400 mbps read speed. There is also a Samsung NVME driver you can install if you have a Samsung SSD and I have installed it on systems before but it makes no difference in the speed.