New SSD & Concerns/Problems

Sensations

Honorable
Aug 9, 2013
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10,510
Hi,

Background: So about 2 years ago I built my first gaming computer and everything was running fine (No CPU OC and memory defaulted @ 1333hz). It has the following specs:

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD4-B3
Ram - CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GPU - EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti
PSU - CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850
OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM
Boot - Plextor PX-M2 Series PX-128M2S 2.5" 128GB SATA III
Storage - Hitachi GST Deskstar 5K3000 2TB

Problems: Last week, I decided to upgrade the boot drive for a larger SSD, so I could put a few more games on it. I ended buying a refurbished SSD because I thought for $100 it was worth the risk, but now I'm not so sure. I went with a Refurbished Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F240GB3/RF2 2.5" 240GB.

The first problem occurred when I attempted a fresh install of Window 7 onto the new SSD. The BIOS/Windows couldn't recognize my new SSD and went into BSOD, so I shut everything down and reconnected the SATA cables and SSD power cord. It began working properly and I completed the fresh install. I thought everything was fixed.

Since the install my computer has frozen up 2 or 3 times in just a weeks time. However, I'm not sure this was the SSD but just stating that it has happened more than normal.

Then yesterday, I turned on my computer and noticed my POST beep was sounding a little off. I timed it and my POST beep was now around 2 seconds long (still one beep but longer), prior to the new SSD it was around .5 seconds. Today, in an attempt to confirm it was the new SSD, I unplugged the SATA cable and let the computer boot into the BIOS and the POST beep was normal again.

Questions: So is my new SSD going bad? I mean it's still only one post beep, it's not a continuous beep, and I can still boot into windows.
My friend told me one beep is usually a ram/memory issue but I've run memtest for 24 hours (8 passes) on my memory with no errors.
Could it be a motherboard error or incompatible with the new SSD?
Should I RMA it to be safe?

Also, I don't have another desktop to test the SSD on.

I'm not very computer savvy so any feedback or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Solution
First off; are you running any anti-virus software?
I had some trouble similar to yours, my system is 3 years old this month.
I upgraded my SSD back in Feb to a 240 GB 840 Samsung and it too BSD all too often.
Did some research and it turned out to be the McAfee and not the SSD or video card as I first thought.

Check your BIOS to ensure ACH is selected instead of IDE.
Sometimes when re configuring your system: it needs to be checked again
as the system might revert back to IDE.

When I first built my system, I read through allot of the forums to see what problems others are having. When I first booted the system up; I made sure all setting were where they needed to be before trying to install windows.

I'm sure newer systems is...

JD13

Distinguished
Mar 24, 2009
252
0
18,790
First off; are you running any anti-virus software?
I had some trouble similar to yours, my system is 3 years old this month.
I upgraded my SSD back in Feb to a 240 GB 840 Samsung and it too BSD all too often.
Did some research and it turned out to be the McAfee and not the SSD or video card as I first thought.

Check your BIOS to ensure ACH is selected instead of IDE.
Sometimes when re configuring your system: it needs to be checked again
as the system might revert back to IDE.

When I first built my system, I read through allot of the forums to see what problems others are having. When I first booted the system up; I made sure all setting were where they needed to be before trying to install windows.

I'm sure newer systems is less of a problem
 
Solution
I would believe just from what you said the SSD is the main culprit as SSDs have risk already (less space significant speed loss, 10-100sGB constant read writing causes fast wear out, etc.) so I wouldn't dare go with a refurb.

Have you checked that your BIOS is up to date first? It may not 'know' about the newer SSD (hence the first problems you had). As mentioned make sure your drive in BIOS is not set to like RAID.
 

JD13

Distinguished
Mar 24, 2009
252
0
18,790
You might also want to see if there is updated firmware for the SSD.
Also make sure that you are plugged into a SATA 3 / 6 GB port
I wouldn't even touch the BIOS unless, they list issue fixes in the update.
 

Sensations

Honorable
Aug 9, 2013
3
0
10,510
My BIOS should be updated to the latest version, because a couple months ago I got the grand idea to flash my BIOS. Additionally, I double checked with the motherboard manual to confirm that I am indeed using the 6GB SATA ports. Also, the SSD firmware is the current version.

Anyways tonight, I was messing around with some BIOS configs and I changed SATA Mode Selection to IDE (from AHCI) and let it reboot to see what would happen. To my surprise, the POST beep was back to the normal short beep. I didn't let it attempt to boot into windows because I didn't have time to edit the registry beforehand. Does that make sense to anyone why IDE/AHCI would be affecting my POST? Tomorrow, I'm going to change my registry to IDE and then change the BIOS to IDE and run it for a few hours to see if that helps with the freezing/locking up.

Also, not sure if it matters, but I still have my old 60 GB SSD boot drive connected (it has old documents and one game). Is it possible that AHCI mode doesn't work with 2 SSDs connected?
 


*FACEPAW!!!* Yes it matters because the 'old' SSD has a MBR telling the Hardware "I AM THE MASTER BOOT DRIVE, load my OS, NOW!" when you start up. You can't have TWO drives both trying to be the 'boot' drive.

Put the BIOS back to AHCI, remove the second SSD, then try the new SSD alone. If you need the data (not the game/programs) from the old drive, boot that FIRST and ALONE, then run Windows Easy Transfer to a external drive, this will save your desktop/data, then when the new drive is all up and running run Windows Easy Transfer again, pull the data, reboot and POOF everything back to 'normal'.

All programs have to be reinstalled from scratch because they have file components everywhere (not centralized) so can't 'get' all the components to just 'drag and drop' for it to run. Otherwise you would need to connect the old drive via a USB to SATA connector once you have the new drive up and running to manually look for files (liek a external harddrive)