Crucial m4 / Gigabyte z68-ud4-b3 : Issue after installing the ssd

[zoidbergforpresident]

Hello all,

I post here in the hope of fixing my issue.

I recently bought a Crucial M4 512GB and installed it in my tower based on that Gigabyte motherboard.

The issue is that when I'm using the SSD (more while I'm writing, like when I download a Steam game), I get micro freezes every second and then. It also happen when I watch a video on YouTube or when I copy a lot of small files from my hd to a folder on the ssd. Steam has nothing to do with it.

I had some trouble while reinstalling Windows 7 because of whatnot (I also already had that problem in that first bad install) but I eventually got the boot partition on the ssd and activated ACPI in my bios to enhance ssd performances.

After the second install, it seemed OK at first, I moved the mouse a bit after each driver install (http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3849#dl), I even made a demo of Dishonored to a friend this morning.

But later when I downloaded TF2, the problem came back and it is strange because earlier I redownloaded some other steam games and I didn't remark much.

I thought there was an issue because of the sleep mode (after the dishonored demo, we left the room, and later when I came back it was in sleep mode) but I rebooted and we did some other testing (copying files) and it seems the mini freeze issue is related to the ssd.

I intend to connect the ssd with the same cable and on the same MB connector as the HD that gave me no problem but I wanted to know if any of you had similar issues with that kind of configuration.

Regards,

 

[RealBeast]

Do a secure erase on the SSD. Reinstall W7 with only the SSD attached -- no other hard drives. As it boots just before the reinstall enable AHCI sata mode. Then install all of your drivers. A "difficult install" is the root of the problem.

And before you do any of that run a quick check on your memory with Memtest86+: http://www.memtest.org/

 

[zoidbergforpresident]

Do a secure erase on the SSD. Reinstall W7 with only the SSD attached -- no other hard drives. As it boots just before the reinstall enable AHCI sata mode. Then install all of your drivers. A "difficult install" is the root of the problem.

And before you do any of that run a quick check on your memory with Memtest86+: http://www.memtest.org/

Thanks for posting.

I actually did that, a clean install (without the hdd because the boot partition was put on there instead of on the ssd), the second install was all clean (no exclamation marks in the device manager).

I just tested the ssd with the same sata cable as the hdd, connected on the same sata port the hdd was connected on the motherboard and I still get it.

 

[RealBeast]

I would run the memory check and use a new cable. Which SATA port are you using to attach the SSD?

I would also run CrystalDiskInfo to see if the SMART information says the drive is okay.

BTW Crucial is working on a firmware update that among other things fixes issues with drives that have issues when placed in sleep or hibernate (I never allow those states with my SSDs due to too many past issues). They released an update not long ago (010G) but it is NOT for use on UEFI bios machines.

For now, if the SMART data is okay, I would do a *secure erase* to completely clear the drive and then re-install using AHCI sata mode with only the SSD attached and avoid sleeping or hibernating the SSD (just power off the monitor or shutdown) until the new firmware is out.

 

[zoidbergforpresident]

I would run the memory check and use a new cable. Which SATA port are you using to attach the SSD?

I would also run CrystalDiskInfo to see if the SMART information says the drive is okay.

BTW Crucial is working on a firmware update that among other things fixes issues with drives that have issues when placed in sleep or hibernate (I never allow those states with my SSDs due to too many past issues). They released an update not long ago (010G) but it is NOT for use on UEFI bios machines.

For now, if the SMART data is okay, I would do a *secure erase* to completely clear the drive and then re-install using AHCI sata mode with only the SSD attached and avoid sleeping or hibernating the SSD (just power off the monitor or shutdown) until the new firmware is out.

I updated the firmware to the latest version before I started installing (I had issues of it dissappearing).

But I get this problem even if I don't get out of sleep...

 

[zoidbergforpresident]

Problem has been fixed by uninstalling the drivers/softwares downloaded from Gigabyte's site.

It probably originated from one of the softwares that created an overhead of the SSD.