M4 ssd booting issues

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BradS

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Here's the story: I recently bought an M4 64GB ssd primarily for my desktop. Soon after ordering the ssd, I found out that my graphics card in my desktop needed to be rma'd. So, when I got the ssd, I had no desktop to use it in essentially. So, I decided to put it to use instead of letting it sit on a shelf for a month (yes, the rma took a whole month...) by installing Windows 7 64 bit on it for my laptop (Asus G73SW). The ssd installed and booted like a dream. I soon after updated the ssd firmware successfully to 009 and found the ssd to run even faster than before. Everything worked great up until I finally got my graphics card back from rma and decided to install it into the desktop.

Here is where the problems start. I inserted a windows installation cd to do a fresh install of windows on the ssd. Everything was looking good until the install had to restart to complete the installation. It was saying something about a corrupt or missing file that was necessary. After a few hours of troubleshooting, I found out that the problem could be the partition that was made during the original installation for my laptop. There is a 100mb partition that windows creates for a fresh install and I didn't delete the partition until recently. After deleting the partition and the ssd, everything actually installed and I was able to get to the desktop. Everything was working but then after installing around 4 or so updates and restarting, I got a black screen at the windows logo and was pushed into the windows repair software. I'm not sure why this is happening but I have a hunch that it could possibly be the bios for my motherboard since I have not updated it at all since I have had it (bought last July and was manufactured in Feb. 2010).

If anyone has any ideas that would be great. :p
 
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RetiredChief
Are You installing on a Intel Sata Port, or is this a 3rd party sata III port. Recommned using the Intel Sata Port. Did not look up your manual.

Added: Looked up your manual, all Intel Sata Ports are sata II. Your Sata III ports are a marvel 9123 (Believe this is the older controller). IF this is the controller you are connected to on the mother board, then swith the SSD to the SATA II port. Sata 2 will knock the sequencial speeds (but these are not that important), but the more important random 4 K read/ writes will be close to the same. End Added

Did you do a secure erease on the SSD prior to installing Windows.

I had the exact same problem, but with agility III in Sandybridge note book.
I was able to get to the starting...
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RetiredChief

RetiredChief

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Yes, update the MB Bios to the latest version.
IF Intel Chipset, Make sure you are using the latest INTEL RST Driver (Ver 10.6, earlier versions have some problems with newer generation of SSDs)
If that does not fix the problem then Do a secure erease on SSD and reinstall OS.
 
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BradS

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Ok, I'll update the bios when I find the time after class today. I have a feeling that that may be it. :)
 
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BradS

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Ok, I have updated the motherboard's bios successfully and it seems that the ssd is still having some issues. I tried another fresh install of windows and it froze when the screen said "Starting Windows." When the ssd was used in my laptop, it would load so fast that the logo wouldn't have time to complete its animation. Now it seems to hang for a long time and then restarts the computer. The hdd activity light will sometimes stay lit when the computer freezes. It is now going past the windows logo after a few minutes and will go to first time setup only for a couple seconds. That is where the screen goes blank and the computer restarts. If the ssd is up to date in terms of firmware and the motherboard has the latest bios version, what could it be??? >.<

Here are my computer specs btw:

Asus P6X58D Premium motherboard
Intel Core i7 930 at 2.8ghz
G.Skill Ripjaws 6GB triple channel memory
Corsair HX750 Power Supply
XFX Radeon 6870 Graphics Card
Antec Twelve Hundred Full Tower Case
M4 64GB SSD
WD Caviar Black 750GB HDD

Edit: Also, just to clarify....the system will run without any issue with my hdd. It seems to either be the ssd itself possibly or rejection of the ssd by my system?
 
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RetiredChief

RetiredChief

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Are You installing on a Intel Sata Port, or is this a 3rd party sata III port. Recommned using the Intel Sata Port. Did not look up your manual.

Added: Looked up your manual, all Intel Sata Ports are sata II. Your Sata III ports are a marvel 9123 (Believe this is the older controller). IF this is the controller you are connected to on the mother board, then swith the SSD to the SATA II port. Sata 2 will knock the sequencial speeds (but these are not that important), but the more important random 4 K read/ writes will be close to the same. End Added

Did you do a secure erease on the SSD prior to installing Windows.

I had the exact same problem, but with agility III in Sandybridge note book.
I was able to get to the starting windows, and it would bomb out.
..I did try the secure erease, No help.
.. Installed win 7 on a 80 gig Intel G2 SSD, Ran fin. So cloned the intel drive (win 7 image) and did a restore to the Agillity III. This method works for some, BUT not me.
.. Finally put it into my desktop (i5-2500k) as a DATA disk - worked fine, Also have a Agility III as a OS + Program disk as I messed up and ordered two of them -
 
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BradS

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Oh wow. That's crazy that this motherboard has older sataIII ports on it and I paid about $300 for this motherboard a year ago! lmao

Anyway, I have been looking about how to secure erase the ssd and I cant figure it out. Is there a way that I can do it in windows 7 using my 750gb hdd and using the ssd as a secondary? I'm not sure but I heard that just formatting the drive doesn't help with restoring to factory settings and also may decrease life in the ssd, which I don't really want. I've been trying to create a bootable dos usb drive to put hdderase on it but I cant figure out all the specifics. >.<
 
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RetiredChief

RetiredChief

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BradS

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I managed to finally get the ssd secure erased via Parted Magic. It was a hassle but I learned how to do it in case I need to in the future for performance reasons, etc. Anyway, yes I did try the sata II ports first before the erase and it didn't work. It may work now (hopefully) when I do a fresh install on this ssd. If this doesn't work then I just don't know what it could be. Worst case scenario, I guess I could just use it in my laptop since it is a pretty new and fairly equivalent to my desktop. The laptop is just a bit behind in the graphics department is all compared to my desktop (GTX 460M compared to a new XFX 6870 in my desktop).

I'll post to let ya know if it works. :)
 
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BradS

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Well, good news. It worked! I am currently updating and downloading all my programs. I have probably restarted the computer 10 times so far and it is getting to the desktop with no problems. Who knew that doing a secure erase of a ssd can cause such a difference! The drive is using one of the SATA II ports and still runs fairly fast although I do notice that it is a bit slower than SATA III. I'm not sure if I should try it in SATA III to see if it works. Anyways, I'm glad this whole mess is settled. It sure was a long process, for me at least! XD
 
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