The intel toolbox can't run optimizer

[idata]

I have a x25-v ssd and installed it with win7. I have installed the toolbox but it can't run optimizer. Does anybody know it?

[idata]

When working with the SATA ports on all Socket 1366/X58 mother boards, it is not the X58 Input Output Hub (IOH) we are dealing with, but either the Intel ICH10R I/O Controller Hub (ICH), which is the SATA 3Gb/s interface, and whatever chip the mother board uses for the SATA 6Gb/s interface, usually the Marvell 9128 chip.

The term "chipset" is a rather generic term that applies to any chips (yet another generic term) that are directly connected to the CPU and provide major support functions. Until recently, there were two chips that worked with the CPU, which were also generally termed the Northbridge and Southbridge, but now Intel has changed with some CPUs to one support chip, called the Platform Controller Hub (PCH). This is an example diagram of an i7-900 series CPU and it's chipset: (please click on "Block Diagrams")

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=41447&code=I7-930 http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=41447&code=I7-930

AFAIK, all 1366/X58 mother boards use the Intel ICH10R chip for the SATA 3Gb/s interface, and most use the Marvell 9128 chip for the SATA 6Gb/s interface.

According to your post, the 2.0.0 Toolbox worked on the Marvell interface before you changed the firmware in your SSD. After changing the firmware, Toolbox 2.0.0 no longer functioned, and Toolbox 2.0.1 also did not function (you did not mention what interface you used, I assume it was the Marvell 6Gb/s.)

So that is the real difference, the new firmware. You should try your SSD on the Intel ICH10R SATA 3Gb/s interface, I'll bet the toolbox will work just fine.

I have a 1366/X58 mother board with the Intel and Marvell SATA interfaces, and use Intel SSDs. In testing with the AS SSD Benchmark tool, the Marvel interface scored lower than the Intel interface. Not by a large amount, but about 5%.

[idata]

MSI P55A-GD65 here with a 120GB Intel SSD SSDSA2M120G2GC (latest firmware). If I hook it up to the SATA3 port (Marvell SE9128) and try the 2.01 version of Toolbox I get the 'failed to run' error. Switched it over to the P55 controller and it works fine. Not running anything in AHCI mode.

Sure seems like there's a bug in the toolbox when running on a SATA3 port/controller.

[idata]

The problem is apparently caused by the differences in the two SATA controller chips, in this case the Intel ICH10R and the Marvell 9128. Although they are both SATA interfaces, which is a standard, there are no doubt differences between the protocols and programming of the chips drivers. Intel may not even have access to the code for the Marvell driver, etc, so they cannot program the Toolbox accordingly. For example, they may not be able to identify what chip/interface they are working with. There are so many possible differences in the implementation of the drivers, and all it takes is one piece of data being in a different format to stop the program from running.

As noted in this thread, the Toolbox worked with AMD chipsets in the past, but now no longer does. The User Guide and other documentation for the Toolbox does not state that the Toolbox is limited to use on a specific hardware platform, such as an Intel chipset. If there are hardware limitations, that should be stated. If there are no hardware requirements, then something else is the problem which we do not understand.

[idata]

I installed the 80GB X25M Mainstream SATA II Solid-State Drive a week ago with no problems. The Toolkit ran OK at that time. After a clean install, I installed my apps on the SSD and everything ran like a bat. Didn't look again at drive until yesterday.

Yesterday, I tried to run the Toolkit again to do the optimization, etc., but all the buttons were grayed out. I could not select my SSD drive, indicating, I think, that it isn't recognized as such. However, can't even view any of my 3 drives.

I contacted chat support with Intel, but they could not figure out what is wrong. I started in safe mode, still doesn't work.

Now, I notice that the SSD drive is listed in properties as a SCSI drive and the driver says it's a Microsoft driver. That doesn't sound correct, does it?

Running Windows 7 Ultimate on an AMD Quad 4 64-bit machine. Not sure of the chipset.

Not even sure I'm running as an SSD now. Sounds similar to the other posts on this thread - any ideas?

[idata]

UPDATE! FIXED!

I saw a short email/faq re XP that said I needed to replace an NVIDIA driver on motherboard in order for Toolkit to work. I tried this on Win 7 and it fixed the problem!

Here's what I did:

Go to Device Manager, open "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers", and choose the NVIDIA entry. Update drivers, choose from a list (do not search), and select the AHCI driver from the list. Reboot.

Now the above entry in device manager shows "ATA Channel 0, 1, 2, 3", and the Toolkit is working great!

Not sure how this got changed, but now I'm back in business and the SSD is working great, too!