X-25M SSD and ICH8M/965Express SATA Issues

[idata]

I've got a Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop that I just plugged a new X-25M 80GB G2 SSD into. It's only operating in SATA 1 mode. I believe this laptop can operate in SATA II mode....I just can't make it work. I'm running in ACHI mode with Windows 7. My details are below:

OS Name: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium OS Version: 6.1.7600 Build 7600System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHzBIOS Version/Date: Dell Inc. A09, 07/11/2008

Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager

Intel Serial ATA Controller: Intel(R) ICH8M SATA AHCI Controller

Number of Serial ATA ports: 2 Driver Version: 8.9.0.1023Serial ATA Plug-In Version: 8.9.0.1023Language Resource Version of the Serial ATA Plug-In: 8.9.0.1023ISDI Library Version: 8.9.0.1023 Hard Drive 0Status: NormalDevice Port: 0Device Port Location: InternalCurrent Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 1Model: INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GCFirmware: 2CV102G9Native Command Queuing Support: YesSize: 74.5 GB

I've got everything up to the latest driver/firmware/rev, that I can find. I was just under the impression that this level of hardware was SATA II capable. Unfortunately, the HDD I pulled out was only SATA 1, so I can't compare there. I'm going to try in the Dell community as well, to see what they may know.

Anyone have a similar situation or have some insight?

Thanks!

[idata]

Below are my benchmark results, first in AHCI mode and after, in ATA mode (changed the setting in the BIOS and didn't have to reimage the SSD). You can see a huge improvement. I'm assuming it's in SATA II mode now since it exceeded 150 MB/s. It's still shy of the 250 that the SSD is rated for, but it's much improved. The Intel Matrix drivers won't load now, so I cannot get that official report this time. I'm not sure what else I can tweak to get the 250 out of it.

--------------------------------------------------

CrystalDiskMark 2.2 (C) 2007-2008 hiyohiyo Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/--------------------------------------------------

Sequential Read : 134.304 MB/s

Sequential Write : 75.134 MB/s Random Read 512KB : 121.948 MB/sRandom Write 512KB : 74.171 MB/s Random Read 4KB : 16.043 MB/s Random Write 4KB : 28.129 MB/s

Test Size : 100 MB

Date : 2009/10/21 9:58:44--------------------------------------------------CrystalDiskMark 2.2 (C) 2007-2008 hiyohiyo Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/--------------------------------------------------

Sequential Read : 200.909 MB/s

Sequential Write : 79.837 MB/s Random Read 512KB : 151.993 MB/sRandom Write 512KB : 79.951 MB/s Random Read 4KB : 16.365 MB/s Random Write 4KB : 30.887 MB/s

Test Size : 100 MB

Date : 2009/10/21 21:42:43

[idata]

I had a similar experience. I have an X-25M G2 160 and a 2Ghz C2D Dell Precision M4300 with ICH8M. Running XP Pro SP3 and aligned partition.

First, scores with standard IDE:

Now, with XP forced driver over to Intel AHCI driver 8.9.0.1023 (June 4 2009), then AHCI enabled in BIOS:

Note: The Intel AHCI driver has only worked on 1 out of 3 XP machines I've tried it on, definitely a "try at your own risk" because you may end up with a system that won't boot.