topic SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro in Archive

SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:01:54 GMT

Hello,

it seems there is a compatibility problem between the Intel 510 Solid State Disks and the new (early 2011) Macbook Pro. A lot of people (including me) are experiencing problems with this SSD in their new Macbook Pros. See for example

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12192122# post12192122 http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12192122# post12192122

http://www.macuser.de/forum/f10/welche-ssd-fuer-425659/index107.html http://www.macuser.de/forum/f10/welche-ssd-fuer-425659/index107.html (German)

To be fair, there seem to be similar problems with Crucials C300

http://forum.hardmac.com/index.php?s=0c6a8e832764fd8a9497e34b57df7b68&showtopic=9921&pid=17870&st=0&# entry17870

The problem may be related to the SATA 3 mode utilized between the mentioned SSDs and the Intel Sandy Bridge SATA-Controller. I don't know and can't tell if Apple or Intel are responsible for these problems, but I think it is in the uttermost interest of Intel to resolve them (or make Apple resolve them). Otherwise Intel will have a hard time selling new SSDs to Apple owners...

The http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-029623.htm# 4 Intel SSD FAQ states:

All Intel Mainstream Solid-State Drives are tested and validated on the latest Intel-based notebook and desktop platforms.

I bought Intel for getting a reliable SSD for use in my Intel based notebook. Now it isn't working properly at all. I'm very disappointed.

regards,

Markus

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 07:24:00 GMT

I'm having issues on the early 2011 MacBook Pro as well, but with the Intel X25-M 160GB SSD.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:15:24 GMT

I've having the same issue. Intel 510 250Gb, Macbook pro 17 2.3 early 2011

I hope intel can contact apple and do something to resolve this issue

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 19:28:29 GMT

I have an MacBook Pro 2011 i5 and the Intel 510 SSD does not work

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:11:40 GMT

Hi guys, I have informed Intel of your issues.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:10:01 GMT

Just want to add myself to the list of people with the same problem, 510 250gb and mbp 2011 17..

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 18:18:18 GMT

Hello,

I am having the same problem as many users are experiencing with the new SSDSC2MH250A2K5 250 Gig Intel SSD. I have a new 2011 17" MacBook Pro and when I install the Intel SSD my MacBook becomes unusable. It seems to boot fine (although slow) but then hangs when trying to do anything. Is there a firmware update that I can get to resolve the problem? Please help as my drive is unusable. I have a Corsair F240 SSD and when I run my MacBook Pro with it – it runs fine, but I cannot get my Intel 510 250 Gig drive to work without extreme slowness issues. Thank You.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:51:38 GMT

I've solved mine, check details here:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12213865&postcount=122 http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12213865&postcount=122

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:43:56 GMT

Me too. Same machine (Early 2011) Macbook Pro 17". Intel 510 250GB SSD

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 05:42:10 GMT

I'm also having these difficulties, except for now mine won't even power on.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:43:20 GMT

I tried replacing my SATA cable with one from an early 2008 17" unibody macbook pro and it did not solve my problem. Waiting for an OWC Mercury hard drive to arrive today. Will put the less reliable Intel 510 in an Opti-bay tray. The SATA II Mercury drive is proven to work on the primary SATA channel.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:26:54 GMT

Hello,

Same problem here. Macbook pro 2011 13" with intel 510 (120Go), big freeze et worse sometimes.

Tried to reset all sort of things, reinstall etc.

Please help us :s

Thanks 🙂

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:46:33 GMT

I can confirm the problem does not appear to be with the drive. My OWC Mercury SSD arrived today with the Data Doubler. I installed the OWC SSD into the primary SATA channel and the Intel 510 SSD into the Data Doubler. All works well now. Intel 510 is running at SATA II speeds but boots no longer hand, boots are very fast and drive performance is fantastic. Currently using the Intel 510 in the Data Doubler as the boot disk so I don't have to reinstall and copy all data over to the OWC drive and all is working well.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:24:37 GMT

Crucial C300 256gb here. 17" 2011 mbp will not allow install of OS on drive and if I clone a working image onto the ssd it will not boot. Must be a sandybridge or mbp problem. Are there any other shipping laptops utilising this chipset that are working correctly with SATA III drives?

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:56:26 GMT

Just got off the phone with AppleCare. They got me on the phone with a senior engineer, who basically said that he hasn't heard about this issue. I directed him to this thread, the Apple Support thread, and to the MacRumours thread. I explained that I had gone through all of the typical steps (restore from TM backup, clean install from OSX DVD, reset SMC, reset NVRAM/PRAM) and he said that he will escalate to the powers that be. He said that he will go to bat for me, but he expects that he will get told that Apple supports Apple products, not third party stuff. "Buy the Apple SSD" is what he expects to get told.

I am pissed. I buy an Intel SSD to make sure that it is compatible with my shiny new Intel Sandy Bridge MacBook, and I end up with an unreturnable paperweight. It isn't even heavy enough to be good at that.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:32:57 GMT

I can confirm I have system instabilities with a Crucial C300 256GB SSD and a 2011 MacBook Pro 13" Core i7. Imaged factory HDD to SDD and found that it would boot but would 'beachball' within 5 minutes of running. Checked processes running and syslogd ran at 196% and fan running at full speed. Spotlight was trying to reindex the drive, disabling this some stability back and was able to investigate further. However when re-enabling indexing it crashed.

Attempted an Erase and Install on the SSD this morning but fails to install the OS from the restore disks. There were multiple errors in the log point to failing to write to the disk. Now attempting to erase the whole disk and try again, but think it'll be futile.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:37:39 GMT

Ngiardina,

You are giving us vrey bad news. I'm on the same boat with a mbp 2011 17' and an intel 510.

Thread, does the sata iii / macbook pro issue have anything to do with the intel sata controller chipset design error ? :

http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/01/31/intel-identifies-chipset-design-error-implementing-solution http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/01/31/intel-identifies-chipset-design-error-implementing-solution

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:39:21 GMT

Spoke to Apple last night. Here is what I was told, "Apple can only support the drives that they sell, and since we don't sell any SATAIII drives, we won't admit that it is a problem with SATAIII in general, just a problem with an unsupported drive." That said, I told him that my plan of action was first to install a new 2010 MacBook Pro 13" SATA cable from iFixit and try again, and if that doesn't work, I plan on getting an OCZ Vertex 3 once they are available. He told me to please keep him up-to-date on anything that I discover, but not to expect any help from Apple.

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:27:18 GMT

I'm still trying to figure out if the root cause explaining the SSD's SATA III (for instance Intel 510) vs MBP2011 incompatibility issue is due to:

A) The SATA cable (see my post above);

B) The SATA "series 6 chipset design error" (google the text in quote for more info);

C) The SSD itself (don't think so given the number of posts?).

D) Software

E) Something else

Any idea any one?

Re: SSD 510 compatibility problems with Macbook Pro

idata — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:26:57 GMT

A) Changing the SATA cable changes results. But there is also evidence against the cable being the (only) cause for the problem. See also http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12254426&postcount=181 my recent post on macrumors.

B) I don't think the chipset design error is to blame since it should not affect SATA III ports 0 and 1.

C) Don't think so since different models from different manufacturers are affected.

D) Maybe. Maybe combined with A (see above).