X25-M + ICH9R + AHCI = No Post

[idata]

I have an Asus x38 Maximus Formula mboard, flashed to the latest bios (1403). With the X25-M plugged in, if I set it to AHCI in the BIOS, it hangs while detecting the SATA port. If I set it to RAID, it doesn't even POST. If I unplug it and then POST and set it to IDE, plug it back in, then works just fine (Win7 x64).

I'd love to have it in AHCI mode so I can hot-plug my external SATA drive for backups.

Is this a drive/firmware issue or a mboard BIOS (ie Intel controller ROM)?

Are other people seeing this?

Connected to the SATA ports:

1 X25-M 80GB

1 150GB Raptor

1 WD 1TB Green

1 DVD burner

1 internal SATA drive cage for backups (normally unplugged)

1 eSATA for external usage (OCZ Throttle, etc)

So, I have a cable plugged into every slot, although only 4 are powered up at all times.

[idata]

After reading your post again, I'm curious about the "If the drive is blank, it is detected no problem." So, if I wipe the drive (yes, secure full erase, not just a simple reformat), do you think that might fix it?

[idata]

http://communities.intel.com/thread/8341?tstart=0

He even states that the bricked drive (option # 4) can be fixed by a secure wipe. Interesting...

[idata]

My drive is an 80GB G1 (I have a G2 on backorder but if it has the same issues I may cancel it).

In my case, by "blank" I just mean removing all partitions the usual way via FDISK or any other partition software. I haven't run HDDErase on this drive but it's an interesting idea. Since I have a working, activated Win7 installation on it right now though, I'm reluctant to mess with it, especially since there aren't a lot of good disk clone tools out there that work correctly with SSDs (i.e. that reproduce the sector offsets correctly).

The workaround I'm using is to plug my G1 into a Silicon Image Sil3132 PCIe controller, with my two mechanical drives remaining on the ICH10R. Seems pretty fast, but I doubt it would support TRIM even if my drive were capable of it.

[idata]

Well, the saga continues. I was able to plug it into several other high-end computers, and other were having problems POSTing with it too. They could plug it in hot in Win7 and see it right off, but not via booting. Same problems.

So, I RMAd it back to zipzoomfly. Today, they called me up and said that I returned them a bulk drive (based on the serial number) instead of a retail drive. They claim the serial number doesn't match the drive. (This has been the only SSD drive I have ever seen with my own eyes, so there's no way I could have swapped it with another one.)

I got a G2R5, which has the 2mm spacer + full retail box. As far as I could find on Intel's data sheet for these, they don't sell an OEM model with the 2mm spacer. So, my drive has to be a full retail model.

So, now, the question is, did their RMA department screw up and they are just trying to cover it up? I don't know, but I really didn't like their attitude on the phone.

They said they had to ship it to Intel for some reason now, and that will take at least 2 weeks.

What a disappointment!

Needless to say, I'm not sure if I will ever buy from zipzoomfly ever again!

[idata]

You didn't even bother to read the previous persons link.

Apparently if you install Win7 without setting AHCI in BIOS first, Win7 will not install the driver as it is not needed.

So I think if you did a fresh install with AHCI selected in BIOS first you would have fixed the issue.

But don't hold me to that, that is only what I understood from my brief skim through previous persons link.