Vertex 2 hangs BIOS after merging two partions on SSD

Vertex 2 hangs BIOS after merging two partions on SSD

Hello! I have been the owner of a Vertex 2 120 GB for a year now and everything was perfect. I am using Windows 7 on the SSD (AHCI mode); my computer has also a 1 TB hard disk. Last week I created a second partiion on SSD and installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview (dual-boot with Windows 7). After few days I decided to stay with Win7 , so I format the 2nd partition and merge it with the first (using Paragon Partition Manager). The operation completed successfully, however, after restarting, the BIOS hangs at:

Controller Bus#0, Device#1F, Function#02: 06 Ports, 02 Devices

(although there are 3: the SSD, the HDD and the DVD-RW)

If I remove the other two devices and try only the SSD, I get

Port-00: No device Detected.

Without the SSD connected, the computer boots from the HDD. If I plug the SSD while the operating system is running from the HDD (I also have Windows installed on it), the drive is recognized and shown in Windows Explorer. I tried flashing the firmware on SSD from this Windows and succeeded, but still no change. The SSD light is green, I reseted the CMOS by removing the battery on mainboard, I reseted the BIOS to the default settings...nothing works!


Then I changed in BIOS from AHCI to IDE mode and I can boot now from SSD! However, Paragon Partion Manager shows me this:

"Invalid Partition - Unknown : Paragon Hard Disk Manager™ has discovered problems with this partition. It must have been caused by an incorrect geometry. In order to resolve the issue, please collect LOG-files and send them to our Support Team

Howevere, Disk Management in Windows shows no error, so..... But how do I get back to AHCI? I tried to activate it again and the SSD hasn't been recognized again...

Do I have to Secure Erase the drive using OCZ Toolbox and reinstall Windows? If I change back to AHCI in BIOS after Secure Erase, will the SSD be recognized???

Thank you!

Hi there
I think your problems came with "Merge Partition functionality -- since normally W7 and W8 create a hidden system boot partition at install time and by "Meging" the partitions you might have hosed up your boot mechanism.

The other thing that could have caused a problem is the partition you are trying to boot from is not flagged as "Active". The BIOS should still see the drive but it won't be bootable.

I think your best mechanism would be to logon wth say gparted or another free bootable partition manager -- format the SSD and then if you have an old W7 image use whatever image copying program you have to copy the image to the SSD.

Unless you've got a zillion products to install -- I'd just go for a fresh install -- W7 instals on an SSD in a few minutes !!! and W8 even quicker.

Dont forget to set AHCI in the BIOS before install as you won't be able to change it after installing.

There isn't as the previous poster says any problem with restoring an HDD partition / image to an SSD (provided the destination partition has enough space. Decent imaging programs can also let you dynamically change the size too.

Cheers
jimbo