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HDD to SSD upgrade, problems with Surface Drivers iaStorA.sys

I had my HDD fail in the original Surface Studio, and I seen a write up on how to upgrade to SSD drives, figured it was a bonus to get an extra 1tb, and a lot more speed.  Everything went fine up until I tried to install the Latest Surface Studio Driver pack.  I can install base windows from a USB drive, and it all works,(really fast too!!) however as soon as I do a windows update, or run the Driver pack, and reboot, I get boot failure.  (windows logo, and some spinning dots, dots stop half way, and it restarts)

I've also tried the Surface BMR recovery, and can't get that to boot from usb at all, same reaction with the spinning dots.  Sorry, wish I had an error code to provide, it just quits and reboots.

I've had some bluescreens along the way, complaining about iastora.sys, it seems like updating to the latest raid driver, is causing me the problem.  Which makes me wonder if that isn't what broke the drives in the first place.  

Just wondering if anyone had experience with this, I've seen  few people on this site saying they had done this, and unfortunately, I didn't see any mention of these errors.  Hoping someone has some ideas. 

Thanks!

Eth

update:  I also tried to use the raid driver extracted from the drive pack during install, where it asks to load driver.  did that and immediate bluescreen.

Hi eth777

Thank you for raising your concern. For us to isolate the issue given we have here some questions. Please do verify : 

  • How is the boot-up of the surface studio?
  • Is it still running on the pre-installed OS that it came with when you initially purchased it?
  • Is the new SSD used purely for storage or is this where you boot the OS from at the moment?

I would like to collate a few details about your current setup to ensure that I can picture out how we can help you in getting this issue resolved.

Regards, 

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Microsoft does not support this officially. Take a look at
for other customer experiences on this.
 
Barb - Windows and Devices for IT MVP
*Please click Yes below if your problem is resolved. This may help others with the same issue.*

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I replace the HDD with and SSD, and the NVMe with a larger NVMe drive.

I am using a windows 10 boot disk, to install windows, and I can install windows to either drive, however, when I run the latest surface drivers, and reboot, It hangs up and never comes back.  At that point I can't do any repairs or rebuilds, only thing that gets it back is a full reinstall of windows.

these are the drivers i use: 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54311

Ran after a standard windows install, with latest windows 10 USB boot disk.

After initial install, it boots fine, and I everything is good. (did i mention very fast :)

However the problem occurs after installing the drivers, or even letting windows update do it's thing.  same result, it starts to boot, gets to windows logo, then spinning dots stop half way and it restarts until i get automatic recovery.

I know it's not specifically supported, just hoping to figure out why that driver isn't working.

Thanks!

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Anyone have any suggestions ?

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Hi eth777,

Thank you for the response.

Since upgrading your SSD is not officially supported by Microsoft, this may or may not work. 

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Looks like the RST Driver software did not like the drive I chose (WD Black NVMe)

I put the stock nvme drive back in, and it loaded up on that with the recovery disk with no issues.

Eventually I'll pick up the suggested samsung 960 pro NVMe drive from the ifixit writeup and see how that works.

So I have a new SSD, and windows installed on the NVME drive.  It's moving really fast.  Got to watch drivespace though.

However if anyone is looking to attempt this read everything out there about it, and be ready for some frustrating troubleshooting, just in case :)

I probably wouldn't have even attempted this is if the stock HDD didn't completely crash, and it looked like Microsoft wanted to charge $899 to fix it.(basically replace it with a refurb, with the same sub-par HDD)

Just an fyi, it's probably not good practice to shun customers who are willing to do more technical work, they are still customers. 

Thanks

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Hello,

  • We would like to know if you open the Surface Studio and replace the HDD and SSD to a new HHD and SSD? 
  • Is the Surface Studio will boot to Windows or you stuck on the blue screen and cannot boot to Windows?

 If the issue persist please contact Microsoft Support for further assistance.

Thank you,

Cleofe_P

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Question Info

Last updated July 1, 2022 Views 846 Applies to: