topic Intel SSD 320 160GB issue in Archive

Intel SSD 320 160GB issue

idata — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:37:45 GMT

Hello all,

So I just bought an Intel SSD 320 160GB to add to my existing system as a new boot drive. However, it's not going smoothly...Windows 7 64-bit did install, but is highly unstable and will periodically hang for ~20 seconds every couple of minutes and eventually crash after a couple of these hangs. I booted back into my existing hard drive (which was still fully stable) and downloaded Intel's SSD toolbox - checked the firmware (was already the latest version) and ran a full diagnostic scan (came back clean).

So I formatted it and tried installing Windows 7 again...same deal. Then I tried my old XP 32-bit...stayed up a couple minutes longer, but after ~10 minutes I got a hard error that forced a reboot, followed by a chkdsk which came back clean...and then it would no longer boot into it.

So far I have tried the following:

-Flashed motherboard BIOS to latest version

-Installed latest motherboard drivers

-Disconnected the other hard drives

-Moved it to a different SATA connector

-Installed a different OS

-As mentioned, ran full diagnostic scan via SSD Toolbox and verified the SSD's firmware was the latest revision

Anyone have any other ideas? I'm running out, I think it may just be DOA. For reference, my system specs in case there's some weird compatibility thing:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

MSI P6N SLI

ADATA 4GB DDR2-800

Leadtek Geforce GT 240 GDDR5

Samsung 1TB and Western Digital 250GB hard drives

Thank you all.

Re: Intel SSD 320 160GB issue

idata — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 19:25:50 GMT

Did you also install the latest nForce drivers from Nvidia? n650 chipsets are pretty terrible (not just because they're old. they weren't very good from the start) - you may want to switch the motherboard to something more modern so that you can get AHCI and trim for your SSD.

Re: Intel SSD 320 160GB issue

idata — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:10:41 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

Turns out the drive is fine. This is actually a known compatibility issue with nForce chipsets that there are no plans to resolve. Tried a few workarounds, but no luck.

Fortunately my brother happened to have a system with a very similar CPU with an Intel-based chipset. Swapped computers with him, switching over the memory, hard drives and video cards - works like a dream.