BSOD issues with ASMedia drivers and Windows 8

[LH1983]

I have installed the latest ASMedia drivers from the website for Windows 8x64 for my motherboard. My system hangs and will not boot if the ASMedia SATA3 driver is installed. If it is not installed, I get fairly constant BSOD errors involving "memory_management" and the drivers for the ASMedia USB 3.0 ports and the ASMedia SATA3 driver (which is not installed). Is there some workaround that I can employ?


Here is a link to a thread on the Microsoft community regarding my issues. I have tried the fixes suggested to no avail.


I keep getting BSODs with the memory_management code. What gives? - Microsoft Community

[parsec]

What mother board do you have, that would help to know...

[LH1983]

Asrock z77-extreme 4

[parsec]

So the ASMedia 1.3.8 SATA driver, supposedly for Windows 8, causes this? A workaround would be to disable the ASMedia SATA controller in the UEFI.

This memory management issue is with the ASMedia USB 3.0 driver ver:1.16.2.0, for Windows 8?

[LH1983]

So the ASMedia 1.3.8 SATA driver, supposedly for Windows 8, causes this? A workaround would be to disable the ASMedia SATA controller in the UEFI.

This memory management issue is with the ASMedia USB 3.0 driver ver:1.16.2.0, for Windows 8?

I moved my SSD and HDD to the Intel SATA ports, and I was finally able to install the ASMedia SATA 1.3.8 driver. It now boots just fine, but I've left my SSD and HDD on the Intel ports, because if it ain't broke...

The ASMedia USB 3.0 driver still causes BSODs, but only when I try to download and install a rather large game on my SSD (Guild Wars 2). Can't figure out how that's supposed to work, but for now I've just turned off the USB 3.0 support in BIOS and so far, so good. 2 of my USB 3.0 ports aren't working (which is annoying but not a deal-breaker as I don't really need them). I guess I can leave it like this until either MS or ASMedia/ASRock decides to put out an updated driver. I've got two e-mails out to ASRock support, but I figure it might be a while before I hear back from them.

The good thing is that I've now got a stable system (I hope), and anything else can be fixed down the line without me having to format and reinstall Windows 7.

[synack]

That MB just got a BIOS update 3 days ago with "Improve USB compatibility"

I don't have that motherboard and cannot vouch for it's stability, but it may be something to consider, if you have not already.
Maybe someone else can speak to the update's worthiness?


Syn

[LH1983]

I do have the latest BIOS, which is ironic given the problems I am experiencing with this.

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I don't understand why you would use the ASMedia SATA ports, as the Intel ports, both SATA II and SATA III, will give you better performance.

The Intel SATA III ports provide the best SATA chipset performance available, much better than the ASMedia. The ASMedia chip is connected to one PCIe lane, at 5Gb/s max, shared between two ports. They are fine for storage drives, but the Intel SATA III ports are far better for a SSD as an OS drive.

If you have an Ivy Bridge CPU, you have Intel USB 3.0 support, on the lower USB 3.0 ports on the I/O panel. Sounds like you have a Sandy Bridge CPU, so no USB 3.0 on those ports.

[LH1983]

I did not know that about the ASMedia SATA ports. Problem solved.

I have an Ivy Bridge, so I will put any USB 3.0 devices I get on those. Will the two ASMedia USB ports act as regular USB 2.0 ports, or will they be disabled?

[parsec]

Good question, I have no idea. If Windows does not install a standard USB 2.0 driver for them when the ASMedia USB 3.0 driver is not installed, or you can't manually install a driver through device manager, then they won't work.