Windows Startup Repair query

What is the SSD model? The benchmark results are not promising, you should be getting around 500 read/write sequential (really depends on SSD model but those write speeds are not acceptable). By the way you are using a driver called LSI-SAS 3.

Did you enable msahci driver already? If not AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista. It is enough to just enable msahci.

After that can you try something? Shut down PC, open front, get a flash light and see if you can see sata data and power connections inside the top empty space as you call it. Look at the HDD's (that you removed) back side to see what I mean. Or the picture below.



If you can see it inside the SATA-1 bay, remove your SSD and try to insert into there. You may have hard time inserting your hand in though. If you succeed, you may have to change BIOS boot order. Report back.

Here is a pic of my SSD - to be honest, I have had a weird feeling about this drive from day one.

Edit: Not too sure about the driver you mention how do I check that?

According to Samsung SM841 vs 840 Pro ? [Solved] - Storage - Storage your SSD is the OEM verson of Samsung 840 Pro, which is a good SSD. So your device is definitely underperforming at the moment and the reason most probably is the SAS RAID driver.

When you open AS SSD ( no need to run the benchmark), see green text in upper left corner? It says LSI_SAS3 - OK (LSI_SAS3 is the driver it is using). If it was using the MS built in AHCI it would say msahci. Clear enough?

See the back of your SSD, and check inside the upper large hole in front, try to insert the SSD there if possible. Might need some work :)

GokAy said:

According to Samsung SM841 vs 840 Pro ? [Solved] - Storage - Storage your SSD is the OEM verson of Samsung 840 Pro, which is a good SSD. So your device is definitely underperforming at the moment and the reason most probably is the SAS RAID driver.

When you open AS SSD ( no need to run the benchmark), see green text in upper left corner? It says LSI_SAS3 - OK (LSI_SAS3 is the driver it is using). If it was using the MS built in AHCI it would say msahci. Clear enough?

See the back of your SSD, and check inside the upper large hole in front, try to insert the SSD there if possible. Might need some work :)

Ok, I see. So that's why it's so slow. When in install 3ds max, it took 40-50 mins I reckon. Usually it installs in about 10 mins maybe.

I will power down and try that with the SSD. I can actually see some wires/connectors in that big gap area

I can't really get at them connectors, very awkward to get to. But from what I see the SSD will not connect in there.

Mind taking a photo of those connectors and the connectors at the back of SSD?

Also wondering if there is no way to set SAS ports to act as AHCI in BIOS. Did you thoroughly check each option?

Here are two pics.

About your other question - to be honest I'm not really sure as this has been wrecking my head for days now. I have a headache from the whole thing. Thank you so much for your help though, I really appreciate it. Very helpful posts.

Nice, exactly what we needed to see!

The SSD has regular SATA data and power connectors.

Those cables are also the regular ones, the longer one is the power, shorter one is the L type SATA connector.

I know you said you don't like to mess with the case but I strongly urge you to find a way to get there.

I was thinking that there was a bay in there which you could slide in a DVD-ROM and it would just connect but seems there are cabling. So there must be a way to open it.

- Make sure there are no stickers on the back/sides (or anywhere for that matter) of the case which would stop you from opening.
- Open Dell Precision Tower 7910 Owner's Manual
- expand "Removing and Installing components"
- scroll down to "Removing the right cover"
- remove the right cover
-hopefully the cables will be in the open, attach your SSD to these cables (they are fail proof, only 1 way of attaching them)
- just put the SSD there, don't close cover. Boot into BIOS, set boot order if needed, log in to windows (you did enable msahci from earlier post - #111, right?)

You can finish all this in tops 10 minutes, it is really easy business! :)

Great help GokAy. I'd rep you but I need to pass it around first.

Connecting directly to the mobo's SATA ports both the SSD and a single data drive is certainly best. But I worry about the RAID card causing trouble as we've seen here in the past. A discreet RAID card should have a popup at boot to disable. It think I mentioned it in the beginning. I suspect he has a RAID card because Dell was finding him a driver for it and they wouldn't do that for a single HD I don't think.

I think the same way as you do Greg, there should be a way to change that SAS RAID controllers operation mode. But we can think of that later if it causes problems with the 4TB spinner (currently removed).

I believe the SSD will start to perform with it's advertised speeds once it has been moved to SATA-1. It is 40MB/s write at the moment, that's barely better than a USB2 stick/HDD. Access times/4K etc are low as well.

We will see once RedLAd returns and gets his hands dirty