I recently started working at my new job, and my boss was generous to provide a top-of-the-line system for me to use. It’s got a Core 2 Duo processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM, and two 80 gigabyte 10,000 RPM drives in a RAID 0. Vrooom.

Problem is, every so often, my machine would “pause”. Not freeze, because I could move the mouse and such, but couldn’t perform any actions. Then the machine would “catch up” with itself and work fine again. While this was happening, the hard drive light would remain lit.

Looking in the system’s event log, I found numerous entries that said a timeout occurred in iaStor.sys — I’ve had my share of problems in the past with this particular driver, so I knew it was an Intel driver.

I tried updating to the latest drivers. No joy. I tried the Dell drivers.. nope!

And then I searched the internet and found the jackpot. A post over at the Things Worth Knowing blog regarding this very issue. There’s so much in the comments, it would take you days to wade through. Let me just save you the trouble: Intel has admitted that it’s their fault.. and they blame Microsoft! I found this information on The Flying Nerd blog.

You can read the full writeup at Intel’s website. They have a registry fix you can attempt yourself if you’re savvy enough. It solved the problem for me. But isn’t it a bit childish to blame Microsoft for your lack of proper testing?

And in the end, I feel sorry for Joe-Schmo consumer who spends $2k+ on a computer just to get it home and have it freeze every so often. I also blame Dell… I mean, come on, even basic computer usage tests would have revealed this problem. And judging by the response online, you can bet a lot of people are unhappy and affected.