SSD problems

simplecj · 05 Dec 2010

Wow, thought my posts were deleted, thanks for starting a separate thread.

It is the one that's 23mb and I verified that my mobo has the correct hardware so something else is stopping it. I DLed the Chipset drivers when I did the install of Win7, so they should be installed correctly. Order should go Chipset > Storage Controllers or reverse of that???

I'm getting ready to do a new clean install. I found the SP1 RC and am going to make a slip-stream disc using nLite. I'm also having some frustrating Bluetooth issues and am hoping these will also be resolved by a clean install. I'm still trying to decide if I should shell out the money for a new SSD, prob a OCZ one since they seem to be getting good reviews and are considerably cheaper than the Intel SSDs.

FYI
ASUS Driver: Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager Driver V8.9.0.1023 for Windows XP/Vista/7 32/64bit
Hardware: Intel Southbridge ICH10R 6 Port SATA (3GB/s) AHCI Controller

Update... screw it, I'm getting 2 OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSDs and I'm going to utilize my mobos dedicated raid ports to setup raid on these bad boys. At least I know my Marvel Raid drivers will install correctly. $260 for the two drives on Newegg right now, this better be the last upgrade I do for a while. Just upgraded mobo and cpu about one and a half years ago. Maybe I'll throw this Kingston into my laptop.

simplecj · 05 Dec 2010

Was messing around a bit more. Realized that my BIOS had storage configured as IDE, tried to switch to AHCI but got BSOD as Win tried to boot. Apparently you have to have the system in AHCI when installing the OS or you won't be able to activate/deactivate it later. THIS may be my problem with why the AHCI drivers won't install, what do you think?

Oh well, already purchased the OCZ drives for the clean install.. going to read up on how to install them in raid and which raid mode to use.

profdlp · 05 Dec 2010

You could go this route:

AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista

I know you said you already ordered the new drives, but it might pay to go ahead and troubleshoot your current problem just for the sake of knowing what to do if the situation comes up again.

It will be interesting to see your benchmark with the new RAID setup, too. :)

simplecj · 05 Dec 2010

From your link: "The issue with AHCI is it needs to be enabled in the BIOS prior to OS installation; doing so after you have installed the OS will disable the PC."

I think I had it in IDE when I installed my OS... so I can't enable it. I tried to and Windows didn't make it past the splash screen before BSOD and restarting.

Note to self: Check storage mode before next install...

fseal · 06 Dec 2010

Yes but you CAN switch windows to AHCI mode afterwards with just a couple steps. In fact all I did was boot into safe mode, remove the ide drivers, then boot normally. The AHCI drivers were installed automatically and I never touched anything else.

However, IDE vs AHCI mode really only affects the 64k multi threaded test and it wouldn't by itself makde the drive insanely slow, Just not as fast as it could be. (Usually the 64k multithread test ends up being the same speed as the 64k single thread test)

simplecj · 06 Dec 2010

I tried what you said with the same result, splash screen hangs for a minute then BSOD and auto reboot. Tried Start-up Repair, but that didn't work either.

No matter, will be setting it up in RAID mode anyways. Do you know if the non-raid drives will run in AHCI mode? There is no setting for RAID+AHCI, manual doesn't say how the "non-raid" drives are handled in raid mode.

EDIT: Drives arrive on Wed, I'm doing my research now. Will update firmware before rebooting and setting both drives up with the ASUS Raid Utility. Once I confirm raid is working, I'll disconnect the Kingston, refresh the bios with the new drive config, then reboot into my newely slipstreamed Win7 Pro 64bit SPI RC boot disk. From what others have posted on Newegg, I should expect about 500MB/s read/write with these drives in RAID0. I will post a benchmark as soon as I get it all up and running.

QUESTION: From what I've read Win7 comes with the proper RAID drivers already built in and I'm assuming that the SP1 has updated most of the drivers. Should I still load the Chipset and Storage Controller drivers before install? I read thru a tutorial and it seems abit involved to get it all loaded for Win7 64bit. ASUS does like to tweak their stuff so I'm not sure if there's any difference in the ones from ASUS and the ones from Intel.

simplecj · 08 Dec 2010

SOOO... I'm now running the 2 OCZ Vertex2 drives in RAID0 on a clean install... SOO much more responsive!

Still, seems to benchmark a bit slower than I thought it would... check the benchmark... Something doesn't seem right. Windows User Experience rated my Hard Drives a 7.9, everything else in my system is at a 6.8...

EDIT: I'm using the Intel Matrix drivers right now, but I've read that the Intel RTS drivers are better and still compatible with my hardware...