12-01-2011 07:37 AM
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.
12-04-2011 11:25 AM
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.
12-07-2011 08:10 AM
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.