TRIM update hosed my Windows 7 install

[idata]

Just did the firmware update and it hosed my Windows 7 installation. The updater showed a successful firware update. Initially the computer booted just fine, but once I was within Windows it installed some drivers and asked for a reboot. That's when the trouble started. Now the drive won't boot Windows 7 anymore. I don't know if it's a Dell problem or Intel problem. The Dell BIOS claims a SMART error. I have a Dell XPS 8000.

[idata]

Are the people who are working fine are seeing expected values from the SMART variables? I'd be curious to know, given that I have seen a couple of posts now from individuals who report the SMART variables acting strangely even though the drive itself seems OK.

[idata]

Not sure where this will go (either a new post or a reply) since this is my first time on the forum. Now that the readme attached to the firmware upgrade has been taken down it is hard to remember what exactly I did. I read it as saying one must use "legacy something-or-other" or use AHCI. My bios had no legacy option so I laboriously changed SATA to AHCI. Burned the iso (glad Windows 7 finally will do that) and tried the update. Installer would not recognize my SSD--said to contact Intel support which I did. They guy there said in no uncertain terms that one must use IDE for the thing to work. I called his attention to the readme where it said it should work with AHCI but he kept saying "no, that won't work". He also told me that this firmware release didn't contain the TRIM command update (which I very surely saw that it did on the Intel website). Messed up everything trying to get the system back to IDE mode and ended up blowing out my Vista dual boot and did a clean install of Windows 7 on the SSD. Finally got the firmware to update (in IDE mode); very simple, really. Restarted and loaded up the Toolbox thing and ran it. So far everything is still working OK but am scared stiff something will blow out sooner or later. I did and have rebooted numerous times as the reinstall of Windows 7 required tons of downloads, reboots, etc. There seems to be some confusion on how the thing was supposed to work and even the Intel support guy didn't know the Trim Command was in this update. Beginning to sound like Vista all over again with incompatible drivers, etc. I had to download Acronis Disk Manager and found out it is not compatible with Windows 7 so probably blew $50 on that. When I got into computers everyone said I should get a Mac. With the money I have spent on PC's, could have bought the most expensive thing Apple makes! Do hope everyone gets all their stuff fixed and working. I don't know if the Trim Command is working but left everything in IDE mode for now and run the Toolbox every day. So far, so good. Did get an upgrade in the Windows Experience rating for hard drive after formatting the disk and using the Trim Tool. Still not as high as I had hoped--maybe AHCI would help that. FYI: my system is custom:

Asus P5Q3 Deluxe MB

Q9550 cpu, slight OC

8 gig ram

GTX 285

Intel 160gb G2 SSD

2 WD Caviar Black 500gb HD

Creative Titanium Fatality Champion Sound Card

Samsung Syncmaster monitor

No RAID, etc.

If anybody printed the readme, look over that section again about the bios configurations that would work for the firmware upgrade and let me know what it said. I thought it was very confusing. The Intel people were of some help but could have been better. I never print anything but wishing now I had. My Intel SSD was purchased from Toshiba and if I knew what batch number or run I can post it but not sure what the numbers on the box mean. Also used the Windows 7 upgrade disk that was offered on early release from Amazon, if that helps.

Hope those whose upgrades worked keep working and those whose didn't can get a quick and agreeable resolution to their situations.

Thanks for your time.

[idata]

Just did the SMART thing in the Toolbox and all the categories say "Ready to Use". No idea what SMART is or does. Afraid to do much else with the toolbox in case something fries!

[idata]

You don't have to run Optimizer if you have Window 7 and the Microsoft AHCI driver installed by Windows. Windows 7 passes the TRIM command to the Microsoft driver and running optimizer is not needed or required.

When using the latest Microsoft Windows* 7 operating system with Microsoft AHCI storage drivers the OS will contain native support to execute the Intel® SSD Optimizer on an Intel SSD without requiring any user interaction.

Microsoft Windows* 7

Microsoft* AHCINative OS support (Intel® SSD Toolbox not required)

[idata]

Its,

This is what the readme says: There are 4 known issues listed in the README and one of them is the following:

2. "Drive not recognized" in AHCI SATA mode.

ISSUE: Some platform BIOS implementations of SATA port settings

are not compatible with the update program's process for locating the SSD within the system in AHCI mode.

WORKAROUND: For best compatibility, configure the BIOS SATA port mode to the "Legacy" or "Compatibility" mode to perform the firmware upgrade.

The OTHER important thing the readme says is the following under step 2:

Step 2. Ensure the Intel SSD is attached to a SATA port in the system. FOR BEST RESULTS, ensure the SATA port is a native control

port of your south bridge controller (generally SATA ports 0 through 4). SATA ports attached to a 3rd party SATA controller bridge chip or add-in SATA controller expansion cards are not recommended for use when updating the firmware. For more details, consult your system technical documentation.

The step 2 is VERY SPECIFIC that for "BEST RESULTS", whatever that means, the SATA port must be in "NATIVE control" of the south bridge controller. Somebody from Intel is going to have to explain what that means.

As far as port configuration, the readme states: "This tool will only function correctly with the BIOS SATA ports configured to "Legacy" / "Compatibility" mode, or "AHCI" mode. Some BIOS configurations support SATA port modes such as "IRRT", "RAID", and "Native + IDE" mode, which are not supported by this utility."