Good news, I guess...
Windows 7 installation on the SSD worked perfectly with the Marvell SATA 3 port. So my SSDs don't want to work properly with the Intel SATA 3 ports. Could my MOBO be defective? or is it a BIOS thing?
I'll use the Marvell ports, but wonder if this warrants RMA?
I would try to find out from the Mobo company what the story is. The BIOS being integral part of the Mobo can be at fault - but who knows. When in doubt, RMA.
It may also be useful to ask the question on the Intel Forum. They are more specialized in those matters than we are. I would have expected more of a problem with the Marvell ports than with the Intel ports.
Hi Jim,
I just got a new computer with almost exactly the same parts as yours. Only the RAM and SSD are different (both Mushkin). I'm also running a 580 in my main slot and a 480 in the other slot (it's for computation, not gaming). When I tried installing Windows 7 I got PRECISELY THE SAME ERROR as you did. Did your solution of switching to the other SATA controller work out in the long run or did you still have problems? Did you ever find out more about this problem?
James
James,
I've been away from my system for several months (currently in Afghanistan), but I'll be glad to share what I discovered to be causing the problem.
First, I didn't mention that I was able to continue with the installation process by hard-restarting the PC when I ran into the problem previously described. After the restart, the artifacts disappeared and I was able to continue with the installation process. Are you able to do the same? I went through the extremely painful process of erasing my SSD / HDD using the DISK PART's CLEAN ALL command approximately (10) times while I tried to identify the problem. I was always able to hard-restart and continue, but also always got the same screen displaying gratuitous amounts of artifacts. Through isolated harware testing and speaking with Gigabyte customer support it became clear that the problem lies within the motherboard's X79 chipset SATA-3 controller and how it interacts with SSDs. I'm not sure if the most recent BIOS version fixes this problem or if it is purely the hardware, but the motherboard is definitely the culprit.
In the end, you install Windows 7 using the SATA-3 ports tied to the Marvell controller, or those to the X79 SATA-3 controller (using the hard-restart method) you should be able to get your PC up and running with your current hardware. I am, however, planning on replacing my motherboard to be absolutely sure that it is the cause of the problem. I will update once I have done the swap.
-Jim
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