Intel SSD 520 Series Disconnecting/Reconnecting, what to do?

[ENeto]

Abount an year ago I bought an ASUS Zenbook UX32VD with an Intel SSD 520 Series 480GB.

I got rid of Windows 8 (that ended up inside Virtualbox) and installed Linux, that time was Linux Mint 14 Nadia and now I have Linux Mint 17 Qiana, since the beginning I noticed occasional crashes that the logs ended pointing out the culprid was the SSD drive.

The kernel keeps logging that several times a day:

kernel: [15833.344939] ata1: exception Emask 0x50 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x4090800 action 0xe frozen

kernel: [15833.344952] ata1: irq_stat 0x00400040, connection status changed

kernel: [15833.344971] ata1: SError: { HostInt PHYRdyChg 10B8B DevExch }

kernel: [15833.344975] ata1: hard resetting link

kernel: [15834.068392] ata1: SATA link up 6.0 Gbps (SStatus 133 SControl 300)

kernel: [15834.079528] ata1.00: ACPI cmd f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out

kernel: [15834.079606] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:06:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) succeeded

kernel: [15834.079615] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out

kernel: [15834.099770] ata1.00: ACPI cmd f5/00:00:00:00:00:a0 (SECURITY FREEZE LOCK) filtered out

kernel: [15834.099825] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:06:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) succeeded

kernel: [15834.099837] ata1.00: ACPI cmd ef/10:03:00:00:00:a0 (SET FEATURES) filtered out

kernel: [15834.109697] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133

kernel: [15834.124335] ata1: EH complete

It says it needed to hard reset the sata link.

Occasionally it keeps doing that, downgrading the link speed to 3.0 Gbps then try with 1.5 Gbps, never stops and the system crashes.

I readed a ton of claims of people with the same problem principally with lenovo computers and the solution is always the same "I ended up exchanging my Intel 520 SSD for a Samsung 840 Pro" and now I don't have any problem.

I have a Samsung 840 Pro SSD with 512 GB that doesn't do that. Another interesting thing that happens with my Intel 520 and not with my Samsung 840 Pro is that if I put them in an external USB 3.0 case (I tested with a 2.0 USB case of another brand too), the Samsung works fine, but the Intel SSD keeps disconnecting and reconnecting all the time at a point to be impossible to use it, no matter what the computer/system I connect it to, Windows/Linux.

Is that normal? An Intel 520 Series 480GB SSD be unusable through USB, and only be usable because the kernel can handle its disconnections when connected through the SATA connector, and still ocassionally crashing?

I was considering buy another Samsung 840 Pro as the Intel 520 one will not serve me even as a backup drive.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

We would like to get as much information from your system as possible in order to investigate the disconnect issue. Kindly provide the motherboard model, processor, BIOS version, memory specifications.

In regards of the "Sound Devices" thread, that was a custom firmware released to solve compatibility issues with their products.

[ENeto]

$ sudo LANG=en lshw

zenbook-ux32vd

description: Notebook

product: UX32VD (ASUS-NotebookSKU)

vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

version: 1.0

serial: CAN0AS54035743B

width: 64 bits

capabilities: smbios-2.7 dmi-2.7 vsyscall32

configuration: boot=normal chassis=notebook family=UX sku=ASUS-NotebookSKU uuid=71F8E803-25EC-4AAD-A70D-50465DE1F0AB

*-core

description: Motherboard

product: UX32VD

vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

physical id: 0

version: 1.0

serial: BSN12345678901234567

slot: MIDDLE

*-firmware

description: BIOS

vendor: American Megatrends Inc.

physical id: 0

version: UX32VD.214

date: 01/29/2013

size: 64KiB

capacity: 6080KiB

capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer acpi usb smartbattery biosbootspecification uefi

*-cache:0

description: L2 cache

physical id: 8

slot: CPU Internal L2

size: 512KiB

capacity: 512KiB

capabilities: internal write-through unified

*-cache:1

description: L1 cache

physical id: 9

slot: CPU Internal L1

size: 128KiB

capacity: 128KiB

capabilities: internal write-through data

*-cache:2

description: L3 cache

physical id: a

slot: CPU Internal L3

size: 4MiB

capacity: 4MiB

capabilities: internal write-back unified

*-memory

description: System Memory

physical id: b

slot: System board or motherboard

size: 10GiB

*-bank:0

description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)

product: 99U5428-053.A00LF

vendor: Kingston

physical id: 0

serial: 162894E5

slot: ChannelA-DIMM0

size: 8GiB

width: 64 bits

clock: 1600MHz (0.6ns)

*-bank:1

description: DIMM [empty]

product: [Empty]

vendor: [Empty]

physical id: 1

serial: [Empty]

slot: ChannelA-DIMM1

*-bank:2

description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)

product: HMT325S6CFR8C-PB

vendor: Hynix/Hyundai

physical id: 2

serial: 00000000

slot: ChannelB-DIMM0

size: 2GiB

width: 64 bits

clock: 1600MHz (0.6ns)

*-bank:3

description: DIMM [empty]

product: [Empty]

vendor: [Empty]

physical id: 3

serial: [Empty]

slot: ChannelB-DIMM1

*-cpu

description: CPU

product: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3517U CPU @ 1.90GHz

vendor: Intel Corp.

physical id: c

bus info: cpu@0

version: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3517U CPU @ 1.90GHz

slot: SOCKET 0

size: 800MHz

capacity: 3800MHz

width: 64 bits

clock: 100MHz

capabilities: x86-64 fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm ida arat epb xsaveopt pln pts dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase smep erms cpufreq

configuration: cores=2 enabledcores=2 threads=4

*-pci

description: Host bridge

product: 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller

vendor: Intel Corporation

physical id: 100

bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0

version: 09

width: 32 bits

clock: 33MHz

*-pci:0

description: PCI bridge

product: Xeon E3-1200 v2/3rd Gen Core processor PCI Express Root Port

vendor: Intel Corporation

physical id: 1

bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0

version: 09

width: 32 bits

clock: 33MHz

capabilities: pci pm msi pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list

configuration: driver=pcieport

resources: irq:42 ioport:e000(size=4096) memory:f6000000-f70fffff ioport:e0000000(size=301989888)

*-display UNCLAIMED

description: 3D controller

product: GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/820M / GT 620M/625M/630M/720M]

vendor: NVIDIA Corporation

physical id: 0

bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0

version: a1

width: 64 bits

clock: 33MHz

capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list

configuration: latency=0

resources: memory:f6000000-f6ffffff memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:f0000000-f1ffffff ioport:e000(size=128) memory:f7000000-f707ffff

*-display

description: VGA compatible controller

product: 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller

vendor: Intel Corporation

physical id: 2

bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0

version: 09

width: 64 bits

clock: 33MHz

capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom

configuration: driver=i915 latency=0

resources: irq:45 memory:f7400000-f77fffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:f000(size=64)

*-generic:0 UNCLAIMED

description: Signal processing controller

product: 3rd Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem

vendor: Intel Corporation

physical id: 4

bus info: pci@0000:00:04.0

version: 09

width: 64 bits

clock: 33MHz

capabilities: msi pm bus_master cap_list

configuration: latency=0

resources: memory:cfe08000-cfe0ffff

*-usb:0

description: USB controller

product: 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller

vendor: Intel Corporation

physical id: 14

...

[Jose_H_Intel1]

What is the USB case/adapter model your are using with the Intel® SSD?

Did you try a different one by any chance?

[ENeto]

Yes, tried 3 different cases, one from IT-CEO USB 3, one from IT-CEO USB 2 and one from Western Digital USB 2.

[ENeto]

Nothing left to do. Intel allowed to issue a RMA. Sending it today.