1. System crash (BSOD) or disappearing of drives when using ASMedia SATA/AHCI or USB 3.x xHCI drivers.
Description: It has been reported multiple times that ASMedia SATA or USB drivers can cause a system crash/BSOD or disappearing of drives in system during the scan process.
HWiNFO performs standard queries to storage and USB drivers, but under some specific scenarios the ASMedia drivers don't handle these requests properly and can cause several problems. Since other drivers including default SATA AHCI don't cause any problems, it is believed the problem is in the low quality and reliability of ASMedia drivers.
Workaround: Update the ASMedia drivers to latest versions available. If the issue persists, switch back to default Windows inbox drivers (Standard SATA AHCI driver). A detailed guide how to replace the driver can be found here: https://www.hwinfo.com/forum/Thread...drives-when-using-ASMedia-SATA-or-USB-drivers
2. Higher system load or latency during sensor monitoring.
Description: When performing sensor monitoring, on some systems (depending on sensors present), the user might experience higher system load or latency (including DPC). This can be caused by certain sensors, especially sensors of the "EC" type, "DELL SMI", or disk SMART sensors (depending on controller and disk driver used).
HWiNFO since version 5.51 offers an option to display the latency of each sensor readout. This feature can be enabled in sensor settings - General - Show columns - Profiling Time. When enabled, the last column on sensors screen will display the amount of time required to read either the entire sensor or a particular value. Time show is in milliseconds and a value in excess of hundreds of milliseconds can be considered a high latency.
Workaround: Disable monitoring of particular sensor items (right-click and "Disable monitoring") until the latency/load is reduced. If this is caused by the Disk (SMART) sensors, try to upgrade the storage drivers.
3. Discrete GPUs (Secondary) not found
Description: On systems with hybrid graphics - primary integrated GPU (i.e. Intel HD Graphics) and secondary discrete GPU (DGPU) with nVidia Optimus/AMD technology enabled, HWiNFO32/64 might not be able to detect the DGPU if it's disabled by proprietary techonolgies. These technologies completely disable the DGPU when not utilized, so that it's not even visible on PCI bus.
Workaround: HWiNFO 32/64 v4.16 and later implement a method which wakes up the disabled DGPU during launch, then the DGPU goes back into off state, so HWiNFO will not report its parameters until another application wakes up the GPU. This behavior is intentional to save power and not influence the GPU's desired (low-power) state. However, there still might be some systems, where HWiNFO is not able to wake the DGPU up. HWiNFO v4.46 adds an extended method of waking up disabled dGPUs, which is not enabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled in settings. If neither method is able to wake up the dGPU then it's recommended to do this manually using the tools/techniques provided by vendor.
4. Missing disk/SMART/drive temperature information with Intel RST drivers, systems lags, BSODs.
Description: Using Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) driver v11.5 or Enterprise RST driver will probably cause loss of disk information including SMART and temperature. This is a bug in the Intel RST driver v11.5 and Intel fixed this problem in version 11.5.0.1153 of the RST driver and Enterprise RST driver v3.2.
Workaround: Update the RST driver to v11.5.0.1153 (or eRST to v3.2) at least. Note, that there are still certain RST versions known to cause various issues including system lag while reading drive temperatures, or even a BSOD. In this case try to update to the latest RST version and if that doesn't help, disable entire "Drive Scan" in HWiNFO. It is also recommended to report this problem to Intel.
5. Problems with default Windows 8 drivers
Description: If you experience various problems with HWiNFO start on Windows 8 systems, you might want to check the default drivers provided with Windows 8 and upgrade them to latest version from particular manufacturers. There have already been reported issues with GPU, storage and USB drivers shipped with Windows 8. After upgrading, all problems were solved.
Solution: Upgrade default Windows 8 component drivers to latest versions from particular manufacturers.
6. CPU core temperature measuring
Description: CPU core temperatures reported might not represent real values.
Solution: There are several families of Intel and AMD CPUs which exhibit flaws in internal temperature sensors. Unfortunately there's no solution for this problem, since the defect lies inside the CPU internals. Please check this for more information: http://www.hwinfo.com/forum/Thread-CPU-Core-Temperature-Measuring-Facts-Fictions
Description: It has been reported multiple times that ASMedia SATA or USB drivers can cause a system crash/BSOD or disappearing of drives in system during the scan process.
HWiNFO performs standard queries to storage and USB drivers, but under some specific scenarios the ASMedia drivers don't handle these requests properly and can cause several problems. Since other drivers including default SATA AHCI don't cause any problems, it is believed the problem is in the low quality and reliability of ASMedia drivers.
Workaround: Update the ASMedia drivers to latest versions available. If the issue persists, switch back to default Windows inbox drivers (Standard SATA AHCI driver). A detailed guide how to replace the driver can be found here: https://www.hwinfo.com/forum/Thread...drives-when-using-ASMedia-SATA-or-USB-drivers
2. Higher system load or latency during sensor monitoring.
Description: When performing sensor monitoring, on some systems (depending on sensors present), the user might experience higher system load or latency (including DPC). This can be caused by certain sensors, especially sensors of the "EC" type, "DELL SMI", or disk SMART sensors (depending on controller and disk driver used).
HWiNFO since version 5.51 offers an option to display the latency of each sensor readout. This feature can be enabled in sensor settings - General - Show columns - Profiling Time. When enabled, the last column on sensors screen will display the amount of time required to read either the entire sensor or a particular value. Time show is in milliseconds and a value in excess of hundreds of milliseconds can be considered a high latency.
Workaround: Disable monitoring of particular sensor items (right-click and "Disable monitoring") until the latency/load is reduced. If this is caused by the Disk (SMART) sensors, try to upgrade the storage drivers.
3. Discrete GPUs (Secondary) not found
Description: On systems with hybrid graphics - primary integrated GPU (i.e. Intel HD Graphics) and secondary discrete GPU (DGPU) with nVidia Optimus/AMD technology enabled, HWiNFO32/64 might not be able to detect the DGPU if it's disabled by proprietary techonolgies. These technologies completely disable the DGPU when not utilized, so that it's not even visible on PCI bus.
Workaround: HWiNFO 32/64 v4.16 and later implement a method which wakes up the disabled DGPU during launch, then the DGPU goes back into off state, so HWiNFO will not report its parameters until another application wakes up the GPU. This behavior is intentional to save power and not influence the GPU's desired (low-power) state. However, there still might be some systems, where HWiNFO is not able to wake the DGPU up. HWiNFO v4.46 adds an extended method of waking up disabled dGPUs, which is not enabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled in settings. If neither method is able to wake up the dGPU then it's recommended to do this manually using the tools/techniques provided by vendor.
4. Missing disk/SMART/drive temperature information with Intel RST drivers, systems lags, BSODs.
Description: Using Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) driver v11.5 or Enterprise RST driver will probably cause loss of disk information including SMART and temperature. This is a bug in the Intel RST driver v11.5 and Intel fixed this problem in version 11.5.0.1153 of the RST driver and Enterprise RST driver v3.2.
Workaround: Update the RST driver to v11.5.0.1153 (or eRST to v3.2) at least. Note, that there are still certain RST versions known to cause various issues including system lag while reading drive temperatures, or even a BSOD. In this case try to update to the latest RST version and if that doesn't help, disable entire "Drive Scan" in HWiNFO. It is also recommended to report this problem to Intel.
5. Problems with default Windows 8 drivers
Description: If you experience various problems with HWiNFO start on Windows 8 systems, you might want to check the default drivers provided with Windows 8 and upgrade them to latest version from particular manufacturers. There have already been reported issues with GPU, storage and USB drivers shipped with Windows 8. After upgrading, all problems were solved.
Solution: Upgrade default Windows 8 component drivers to latest versions from particular manufacturers.
6. CPU core temperature measuring
Description: CPU core temperatures reported might not represent real values.
Solution: There are several families of Intel and AMD CPUs which exhibit flaws in internal temperature sensors. Unfortunately there's no solution for this problem, since the defect lies inside the CPU internals. Please check this for more information: http://www.hwinfo.com/forum/Thread-CPU-Core-Temperature-Measuring-Facts-Fictions
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