Problems with Vertex 3 Upgrade

[pnuker]

I just upgraded my desktop from 120GB Intel X25-M to a 240GB Vertex 3, and I've been having some issues. First of all, windows 7 freezes randomly to the point where absolutely nothing responds and I have to manually restart. Secondly, I believe that I've lost some disk performance because the WEI score with the X25 was 7.7 and now it's only at 5.9 with the Vertex 3, which is obviously a better performing drive.

I upgraded using the Paragon Migrate OS to SSD application and it seemed to have gone smoothly aside from an error message saying there was a hardware conflict or something like that. It didn't give me any more info than that unfortunately, so I have no idea what caused it. It did say that the migration was completed successfully at the end, so I didn't think much of it.

I'm pretty sure that it is aligned too, because Paragon says they do this automatically. Is there any way I can check to be sure?

I tried to do a PCMark benchmark test, but it gave me this error:

Unfortunately one of more tests have failed. Please submit your results online for further information and for possible solutions.

So I also ran the ATTO benchmark program and got these results:

Is this normal for Vertex 3? I'm not sure what to compare it to.

Any idea what might be wrong here? I really don't want to reinstall windows from scratch; it's taken me a huge amount of time getting it the way I want it. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[tecmo34]

I would down load AS SSD Benchmark to verify it is aligned correctly. The 1024K (may not be the exact #'s) area should be green.

With the error message, I do fear you had a transfer issue, which may result in a fresh install after a secure erase.

 

[RetiredChief]

Probably have a driver issue. When you download and run AS SSD (do not need to run the bench mark. Look at the driver, is it the correct one. You also need to mention which controller have you installed the SSD on (Sata III marvel, or SATA II Intel) ie which MB?

You will most likely have to do a clean install as techmo34 indicated.
I did a clone from my Intel G2 80 gig to My ne Phoenix Pro - same as you poor performance, Incorrect driver. A reinstall corrected it.

 

[slothy89]

By doing a clone from one SSD to another its quite likely the driver has stuck for the intel drive. As the others said reinstalling the driver would help this. If possible try reinstalling just the driver first, but being the boot drive you will probably need to clean install the OS.
Hope the drive itself isnt damaged.

 

[pnuker]

Probably have a driver issue. When you download and run AS SSD (do not need to run the bench mark. Look at the driver, is it the correct one. You also need to mention which controller have you installed the SSD on (Sata III marvel, or SATA II Intel) ie which MB?

You will most likely have to do a clean install as techmo34 indicated.
I did a clone from my Intel G2 80 gig to My ne Phoenix Pro - same as you poor performance, Incorrect driver. A reinstall corrected it.

I'm using the SATA III Intel controller on my P8P67 Deluxe board. I'm not sure which driver it needs to have, where do I look in AS SSD to find this?

Here's a screenshot of my AS SSD results:

 

[tecmo34]

1) Your SSD is aligned

2) You are running off of the Intel RST drivers, so that is correct driver.

It points to the transfer of the clone drive to your new SSD and the error message your received... IMO.

 

[pnuker]

Any chance of salvaging it, or do I pretty much just have to do a fresh install?

 

[tecmo34]

You could try uninstall all your drivers for your motherboard, GPU & SSD. Reboot with no drivers installed than reinstall them to see if it improves the system.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

One thing peeps commonly do with an SSD is to redirect the default lacation for program installs from the SSD's C:\programFiles to a location on the HD say D:\programs

Problem here is....wherever the default location of ProgramFiles is, that's where Windows runs the WEI

 

[pnuker]

One thing peeps commonly do with an SSD is to redirect the default lacation for program installs from the SSD's C:\programFiles to a location on the HD say D:\programs

Problem here is....wherever the default location of ProgramFiles is, that's where Windows runs the WEI

Yea, and the programs will run slower. That's the point of having the SSD in the first place

 

[mcg75]

This might sound dumb but is hot plug enabled for the SSD in your bios? For some reason, Asus p67 boards have issues when hot plug is not enabled. It solved the freezeing issues on my c300 when I enabled it.

 

[RetiredChief]

Your using SATA III controler. This is the marvel controller on your MB.
If that is correct then the driver iaStor is a incorrect driver, That driver would work if you switched your SSD to the SATA II Intel port.

Which is best depends on which marvel chipset you Have (should be in the MB manual, Didn't see which MB you have. If it is the older marvel controller, I think the best is the Intel SATA II port -Might be able to just switch it over and not have to reinstall.. If it is the Newest Marel controller, then use the Marvel controller. Not sure if marvel has a AHCI driver (If they do, you would probably need to put the driver on a Thumbdrive and use the "F6" to load driver during custom install), if not just use the default microsoft ahci, inwhich case I would re-install.

Some one might clear that up - Does Marvel have a AHCI driver that will pass trim or do you need to use the defaul msahci driver..

 

[pnuker]

This might sound dumb but is hot plug enabled for the SSD in your bios? For some reason, Asus p67 boards have issues when hot plug is not enabled. It solved the freezeing issues on my c300 when I enabled it.

Yes, I enabled hot plug for everything to see if it would fix it, but I'm still having the issues, although the freezing seems to be more spread out now, but still happens, and I still have the performance loss.

 

[pnuker]

Your using SATA III controler. This is the marvel controller on your MB.
If that is correct then the driver iaStor is a incorrect driver, That driver would work if you switched your SSD to the SATA II Intel port.

Which is best depends on which marvel chipset you Have (should be in the MB manual, Didn't see which MB you have. If it is the older marvel controller, I think the best is the Intel SATA II port -Might be able to just switch it over and not have to reinstall.. If it is the Newest Marel controller, then use the Marvel controller. Not sure if marvel has a AHCI driver (If they do, you would probably need to put the driver on a Thumbdrive and use the "F6" to load driver during custom install), if not just use the default microsoft ahci, inwhich case I would re-install.

Some one might clear that up.

My P8P67 board has a SATA III Marvell controller AND a SATA III Intel Controller also. The SSD is plugged into the Intel SATA III (not II, I'm sure of it).

My previous SSD was a X25-M and was plugged into the Intel SATA II controller. Maybe that's where the problem lies?

One thing I noticed in my device manager is that under "storage controller" it doesn't show the intel controller, even though I've installed the driver directly from asus.com. Here's a screenshot:

 

[tecmo34]

Have you 1) confirmed the device is plugged into the correct SATA III port (Intel vs Marvell) and 2) have you tried uninstalling all the drivers and reinstalling, as I mentioned above?

Based on your AS SSD Benchmark screen shot and the Storage Controllers, your have a driver conflict. AS SSD finds the Intel RST but based on your system, it looks to be running off of Marvell.

 

[RetiredChief]

^ should be the gray ports.

My bad - did know that intel finally got around to supporting Sata III - Great.
Do you remember if you had installed Intel RST ver 9.6, or 10.1

9.6 predated P67 MB I think, but I saw Series 6 chipsets included in the support for the 10.1 drivers.

And yes, stand corected, iaSTOR should be the driver when pluged into the gray ports. but think it needs to be the latest ver (10.1)

 

[pnuker]

Have you 1) confirmed the device is plugged into the correct SATA III port (Intel vs Marvell) and 2) have you tried uninstalling all the drivers and reinstalling, as I mentioned above?

Based on your AS SSD Benchmark screen shot and the Storage Controllers, your have a driver conflict. AS SSD finds the Intel RST but based on your system, it looks to be running off of Marvell.

Yes, it is absolutely plugged into the Intel SATA III port (grey). Triple checked with the manual too.

I just uninstalled all drivers in the controller category, then installed just the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver software V10.1.0.1008. After restart, there are no controllers at all in the device manager. Am I installing the wrong thing?

By the way, in the screenshot, I had installed the Marvell driver even though I wasn't using it just because I was thorough and downloaded everything from asus, that's why it was listed in my device manager.

 

[pnuker]

^ should be the gray ports.

My bad - did know that intel finally got around to supporting Sata III - Great.
Do you remember if you had installed Intel RST ver 9.6, or 10.1

9.6 predated P67 MB I think, but I saw Series 6 chipsets included in the support for the 10.1 drivers.

And yes, stand corected, iaSTOR should be the driver when pluged into the gray ports. but think it needs to be the latest ver (10.1)

I installed version 10.1.0.1008

 

[flong]

Yes, it is absolutely plugged into the Intel SATA III port (grey). Triple checked with the manual too.

I just uninstalled all drivers in the controller category, then installed just the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver software V10.1.0.1008. After restart, there are no controllers at all in the device manager. Am I installing the wrong thing?

By the way, in the screenshot, I had installed the Marvell driver even though I wasn't using it just because I was thorough and downloaded everything from asus, that's why it was listed in my device manager.

Dammit, I feel like I am reading a soap opera or one of those old Flash Gordon TV series that leaves you with a cliff-hanger ha, ha. Did you get it fixed????? Inquiring people want to know .