The Intel rapid storage tecnology driver problem need solution

Addressing the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver Issue: A Comprehensive Guide

Recently, I purchased an ASUS TUF Gaming F15 laptop equipped with an RTX 4060 graphics card. After approximately two months of use, I encountered a significant issue related to the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) driver, which I’d like to share, along with steps to diagnose and resolve similar problems.

Background and Symptoms

Initially, I installed around 200 GB of games on my laptop. During gameplay, the CPU and GPU temperatures ranged between 85°C and 95°C. To improve thermals, I attempted to reduce unnecessary background processes and services, though I am unsure if I inadvertently removed essential drivers or services.

After some time, I conducted a system diagnostics report to ensure everything was functioning correctly. The report flagged the following warning:

“The device is reporting bad status. The device Intel RST VMD managed controller 09AB is reporting bad status.”

This indicated a problem with the Intel RST VMD (Volume Management Device) managed controller, which is integral to the storage subsystem.

Troubleshooting Attempts

I initially tried updating the Intel RST driver through ASUS support by downloading and installing the latest version. However, this did not resolve the issue. Additionally, I manually updated the driver via Device Manager by:

Navigating to Device Manager > Storage Devices.
Selecting the relevant device.
Choosing Update Driver and installing the driver from my local files.

Despite these efforts, the system still reported that the driver was not properly installed for the RST VMD controller.

Reinstallation and Further Diagnostics

To eliminate potential software conflicts, I performed a clean installation of Windows. After reinstalling the OS and all drivers, I ran system diagnostics again using the command prompt with perfmon /report. Unfortunately, the problem persisted.

In Device Manager, I observed three devices under storage controllers, but only two displayed proper drivers installed. The RST VMD managed controller (device ID 09AB) still showed as “No driver installed,” confirming the unresolved driver issue.

Understanding the Root Cause

The core problem stems from the Intel RST VMD driver not being correctly installed or recognized, which can lead to storage management issues, degraded performance, or system warning alerts. VMD (Volume Management Device) is especially relevant for systems with NVMe SSDs that leverage Intel’s storage management technology.