intel 330 SSDs, SandForce issues or bad SSD?

[idata]

I picked up an Intel 330 60gb SSD but it has been quite unstable. I have installed both Ubuntu 12.10 and Windows 7 to it and both operating systems are unstable, with random crashes etc. Both operating systems run fine on a regular HD.

Are there any known issues that could be fixed in a firmware update, or have I simply received a bad unit?

The hardware is a HP CQ5202fr, Athlon II X2 215, nForce 430 chip set.ff

[idata]

adfad666,

I can only suggest that you check for the problem I had with my 330 SSDs. If it exists, there does not seem to be any resolution short of returning the SSD or selling it on the 'Bay.

Under Win 7, open the disk manager console and assign the drive letter S to the system reserved partition. Then restart, and confirm that under the disk management console you have a system reserved volume labeled S (also marked active) and a boot volume labeled C:.

Then open a command prompt with administrative privileges and type diskpart at the prompt. You can do this under Windows and don't need to bother with a restart from the rescue disk. After diskpart starts, type the command list volume. Note that it's volume, not volumes.

What you SHOULD see is a list that conforms to the information that you just saw under the disk management console. Volume 0 will probably be your optical drive. Volume 1 will be a small volume with the drive letter assigned to S; with the label stating "system reserved"; and with the info column stating "system". Volume 2 will state "boot" in the info column; with the drive letter assigned to C; showing the correct size of your C: drive; and displaying your choice of label.

What you DO NOT WANT TO SEE under diskpart is that the small system reserved volume has been assigned drive letter C and that the Windows boot volume has been assigned drive letter D. In other words, a huge, major discrepancy between the assigned drive letters as reported simultaneously under diskpart versus the disk management console. The disk management console shows that the letter S has been assigned to the system reserved partition at the very same time that diskpart reports drive letter C for the same volume.

Someone feel free to correct me, but my understanding is that diskpart is reporting the 16 bit DOS volume label while the disk management console is reporting the 64 bit label of the operating system.

Many attempts to make a clean install of Win7 Pro 64bit to my Intel 330 SSD from a Microsoft retail DVD always produced this discrepancy, with constant BSOD error 0x00000f4, which is a critical file not found. Little wonder, given the mismatch in volume assignments. Fixing the error under diskpart didn't help, as the mislabeling always reoccurred after restart. So I RMA'd the Intel 330 and had the same issues with the replacement.

Then I cannibalized an M4 out of my desktop, which worked properly. Diskpart and the disk management console were always in agreement, with no effort required from me. So I returned the Intel 330 for credit and bought a 256 GB M4, which is working flawlessly as I type this.

Of course, your issue may be totally unrelated to mine. I'm only offering this report as something that is easily checked. Should you find this issue, there isn't any cure.