Intel X25-M G1 80GB SSD hangs/freezes in Windows 7

[idata]

About a week ago, I bought Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G1 80GB SATA II MLC from NewEgg.com.

I plugged in the new SSD as my main (OS) drive (all my specs are in my sig.) and started installing Windows 7. During install I split the drive into 2 partitions: 20GB for win7 & the rest. On the first attempt win7 install froze at "completing installation" stage, iirc. As it was only my 2nd attempt to install windows 7, and first attempt to install it on the desktop pc, I waited for it to "unfreeze" or continue for ~30 min. Finally I gave up and had to push the reset button. I did my first windows 7 install that very same day on my Acer AO751h netbook and it went smoothly and pretty **** fast (and is still working perfectly).

On the second attempt I was able to install windows 7 successfully. I deleted partitions during second install and recreated/formatted only 1 partition 20GB for win7. The 2nd partition I created/formatted already in windows 7. Just after installation, on my first log in to windows 7, I installed Acronis True Image Home 2009 and tried to create an image of my fresh win7 OS partition. That is something I always do, I like having last fresh windows install image for quick "fresh restore", especially in this case, as I knew there are numerous tweaks to be made, to optimize SSD drive usage. Creating the image failed, as True Image software froze and shortly after-wards windows completely froze as well. At that point I had 5 Seagate 1.5TB (ST31500341AS) drives connected to my pc. Knowing the story behind those drives and from my own experience (from the 17 Seagate 1,5TB drives I had, 2 developed freezing/hanging problems), I obviously suspected the problem was one of them. I disconnected all drives, but Intel's SSD and tried to make partition image again. I probably tried 5-6 times and all attempts failed. By now I wasn't sure, maybe True Image was not working properly on windows 7, so I gave up on making image. I used windows 7 for a couple of days, applied tweaks for SSD, like moving paging file, temp files, disabling system restore, hibernation, indexing, superfetch, defrag, firefox memory cache, etc. Windows 7 was flying, I was ecstatic seeing the performance of windows. Though time from time, windows would just freeze up and nothing helped, but the reset button.

I started googling for solutions. All I could find, that maybe Intel SSDs have trouble with nForce chipsets (ironically, neweeg product review that was posted just yesterday put me on this track).

The questions I would like to ask:

What software should I use to diagnose this SSD? I could not find any tools on Intels site, and googling for SSD diagnostic tools gave me nothing.

Is the incompatibility of nForce chipset an Intel SSD the main and only reason for these hangs and freezes? Does the new G2 drives have this problem as well? If it is, I need to think about returning this drive.

Any other ideas/solutions?

I'd be very disappointed to return it, after experiencing the performance boost it delivered, when it was working

Thanks in advance.

[idata]

The drivers you're talking about with the 2006 dates handle the concepts of disk and partitions. They don't have anything to do with the underlying implementation of a disk, and so don't need to be updated - I have the same drivers in use on my P55 system. Drivers below them handle the implementation details; in the case of drives which adhere to the ATA specs, it's the ATA controller driver that matters.

[idata]

I wanted to give credit to the solution proposed by a previous poster about turning off Tagged Queing.

I'm not happy with the solution but for my desktop it's quite suitable and my performance is still fantastic on the my MSI M2N-E motherboard (nForce 570 SLI).

As previously stated by a previous poster:

1. Device Manager, expand out IDE ATA/ATAPI settings.

2. Identify the "nForce Serial ATA Controller" that is relevant to your SSD (I'm running on a Gen 1 32gb Intel - X25-e), flip through the Port tabs until you find your drive on each controller.

3. Uncheck "Enable command queuing"

4. Be prepared to reboot, mine as well do it now since your computer could randomly freeze if you're on this thread.

Wanted to write this up with specifics so other sufferers can find this post..., pardon the length.

Alec

[idata]

Best solution is to simply have your G1 replaced with a G2. Just call/chat up Intel tech support, explain this issue you're having, and they'll replace it. Was a rather quick process and the G2 has none of the problems of the G1, plus performance is better typically.

[idata]

I've got 3 more I'm definitely going to do that with, then I'll do it to the OS one :-).

Alec

[idata]

I have had the Intel X25m 80 gig for about 4 months now with absolutley no problems what so ever. I Installed medal of hononr and I ended up losing 8 gigs of space that I couldent seem to get back even after uninstall. So I got frustrated and ended up formatting and reinstalling windows.

Now let me tell you guys I have not had a single problem with this drive prior to the format. After the format is a whole new story.

I Installed windows 7 ultimate and everything was working fine until I got the random freeze in Internet Explorer 8 while trying to navigate a page with adobe. My Pc just locks up it doesent unfreeze everything straight freezes and the only way around it is a hard boot. Now I formatted again another 5 times in the past 4 days. I used HDD erase 3.3 , Intel Toolbox secure erase and everything possible. I still have the problem. Not only does it happend with Windows 7 Ultimate's web browsing but also when Im trying to load up a multiplayer match in starcraft 2 it freezes. Now I was ok with using mozilla since it didint freeze but after troubleshooting it for almost a week straight I am more then 100% sure its the drive.

A) I Never had a single issue before I formatted and reinstalled Windows 7. Everything worked fine for 4 months and I cant ever recall my pc freezing or locking up on me.

B) I tried every single option to get the drive working all my S.M.A.R.T prefrences are green and ready to use not to mention Ive done every step listed online and even steps given to me by the intel phone support staff that I called 4 times and ran through every troubleshooting tip they had... Not to mention 6 Installs of Windows 7 in the past few days has got me stressed out.

C) I never tried installing another drive and testing it but again It worked fine for 4 months before the format so there is no reason for me to try to install windows 7 on a mechanical hard drive and waste my time trouble shooting that when Im absolutley positive it is the Intel X25m.

Conclusion: It has to be the SSD... Like I said everything worked fine until the format... I didint change any bios settings or flash any of my bios.

Also my computer was built brand new 4 months ago by me and everything worked fine as stated until the new format... My Spec's are as follows.

Intel 980X 6 core Processor

Evga X58 Classified E760

Corsair Dominator 1866

Intel X25m G2 80

Western digital Caviar 1TB

Antec 1200Watt PSU

Evga GTX 480 Video card

Asus Bluray player

Im going to RMA my drive back to Intel monday first thing and try to overnight the new hard drive Ill let you guys know what happends but again Im 100% positive its the SSD and the new one should solve all my problems... Intel I expected better from you...