Crucial M4 BSOD on startup

[gameranew22]

Hiya all, this is my first time asking about SSDs and the first time I've had a problem with mine so bear with me when I say I have no idea what I am talking about here but have guesses as to what is going on. Thanks for reading ahead and helping me out if possible.

I was switching out my old fans on my haf 912 gamer build and put in two new gelid high-performance ones today and when I switched my computer back on and plugged everything back in, I clicked on something or was prompted to click on something during the boot up sequence for my bios (reading the firmware version, chipset, etc.). Now I am getting straight bumped to my boot up configuration utility on my asus asrock p67 (w/ 2500k chipset) and prompted to either repair or boot windows normally or run my UEFI config. utility.

My 64gb Crucial SSD is my bootdrive and I've got a WD 1tb caviar as my hdd. I've never had BSODs before really, and none that seem permanent and consistent as this one (I've run the repair tool 3 times and restarted my computer over 12 times and still get BSOD when windows tries to start).

I don't know how to collect my crash dumps or a screenshot when my computer is in the configuration utility/safe-mode operating shell but I make out in the BSOD that it says there is an error with my boot drive and the repair utility kept saying my error code is 0x0. One sector, however, said I was like 1x489 or something and suggested that there was hardware or software added that made windows unstable.

Any ideas? Thanks for any help sincerely. I am stumped and a little pissed

 

[Wamphryi]

It sounds like your BIOS may have been reset to default settings. This could mean your SATA controller has switched to IDE mode instead of ACHI mode or perhaps the other way round. If Windows was installed under ACHI mode for instance and the BIOS is now running the controller as IDE then your PC will blue screen at boot up. Check the SATA controller settings.

 

[gameranew22]

Thanks, I will check that out! I had it set up under IDE I had thought....we will see.

 

[gameranew22]

Thanks, I will check that out! I had it set up under IDE I had thought....we will see.

 

[gameranew22]

So I did what you suggested and I guess I must have installed windows under achi mode and had it switched to IDE somehow. Now I've gone back in through the UEFI setup utility and gone to the storage configuration tab.


Here's what I have selected now:

Marvell SATA3 Operation Mode: AHCI Mode
Marvell SATA3 Bootable: NO
SATA Mode: AHCI Mode
SATA Aggresive Link Power Management: Enabled
HARD DISK S.M.A.R.T Enabled

How does this look to you guys?

Thanks!

 

[Wamphryi]

That looks right. The question is does it boot under that configuration?

 

[RetiredChief]

Unless you have a disk connected to marvel ports, it is irrelavent.
For your Intel sata ports, The Ports should have been set to AHCI for windows install.

If by chance they were set to IDE during windows install, then should fix.
See: http://tweaks.com/windows/44119/improve-sata-hard-disk-performance-convert-from-ide-to-ahci/

Switching back an forth may have "confused" your windows registry.
Push comes to shove, reload windows 7 on to SSD.
... BIOS set to AHCI
.. ALL other HDD disconnected until windows is installed on SSD, then reconnect.

PS. If you had/have made a backup image of your "C" drive (SSD) using windows Backup (Located in control panel. Re-install would be a 10->15 min job. As You would have been able to insert windows installation disk, select repair, repair from image. This would have you up and running, No re-install, no Windows UPdate downloads, No driver re-install, and all your programs would be there - The system would be exactly like it was the day you did the image.

 

[daysyang]

Also make sure firmware is up to date m4 should have firmware 0309 that resolves random bsod after 5000hrs of use.

 

[gameranew22]

All seems right as rain so far. I've got everything back to AHCI mode and I will definitely look into getting off my ass and making a backup image for future problems. As for the firmware update to solve the random BSODs after 5000 hours of use, I'm not exactly sure how I go about doing that; I would assume it's just in UEFI that would tell me the firmware ver. number, but I'll dig around.

Thanks all for helpin out this n00b

 

[Wamphryi]

Well if my advice that going to ACHI mode would fix the problem has fixed the problem then a best answer would be nice. ;-)

 

[daysyang]

firmware can be manually checked on ssd

check in windows
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/READ-ME-FIRST-SSD-Guides-and-FAQs-updated-12-16-09/m-p/17638#M6444"

firmware 0309
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/M4-firmware-0309-is-now-available/m-p/80286/highlight/true#M24372"

 

[RetiredChief]

You can akso check the firmware version using AS SSD.
In addition to the make/model of SSD it also provides:
.. Firmware version
.. Driver (ie msahci or iaSTor, and if it is pcide it will also show BAD
.. Partition alignment Ok
You do not need to run the bench mark, just open the progrqam.
http://downloads.guru3d.com/AS-SSD-Benchmark-download-2569.html

Have 2 M4s have upgraded the firmware twice on both. Updating the firmware is quite easy. Basically you download an iso and put it on a CD (Makes the cD bootable) and run it. daysyang provided the link. The 309 has been out since mid January, so good chance yours may have the latest if perchased after Jan.