Intel SSD 530 problem after OS Shutdown

[TTay]

Hi kford-Intel,

My motherboard is ASUS Z87-Pro and the BIOS version is 1504

Intel 530 SSD 240GB SSDSC2BW240A401(Received through RMA by Intel)

Windows 8 Pro 64bit

i7 4770K (stock)

G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 2133 16GB

After cloning the replacement SSD through the Intel SSD Toolbox, was prompt that I can start using it. On restart the SSD was missing in BIOS and Windows too.

I had to unplug the power cord and also all USB devices and leave it for half an hour and reconnect all the USB devices and power on the PC. At start-up BIOS detected the Intel SSD, double click my "Computer" the Intel SSD was present.

To test if BIOS and Windows would detect my Intel SSD after doing a "restart"; yes it was detected during three "restarts".

To see what happens when I have the PC shutdown for 5 minutes and power on again, this time both, BIOS and Windows could not detect the Intel SSD but my Samsung EVO 120GB where I installed my Windows 8 Pro is always detected by BIOS and Windows.

If I want BIOS and Windows to detect the Intel 530 SSD ( which is still connected in my PC ) ;- waiting for some miracle to happen, I will have to unplug the power cord and everything mentioned earlier, and leave it for 30 minutes then power up the PC and it will be recognized by BIOS and Windows.

Hope you can come up with a solution.

Seems like the Intel SSD couldn't wake up or lock up after PC power off.

BTW I have my motherboard replaced (new same model) and also changed a new Corsair RM650 PSU yet nothing seems to work.

Hope this helps you in your quest for a new firmware to solve all this problem.

Thank you.

[JYeap]

All this leads us to be fairly certain that the real culprit here is cables with pin-20 improperly wired.

Hopefully this helps. Let us know if you have any success with different cables.

oh yea? i used my back up ssd intel 320 80gb and booted with the same display port cable, no problem at all.

I think maybe the chief engineer for 530 series, he/she needs to consult your 320/520 series chief engineer/designer.

or why not samsung ssd engineer? I'm pretty sure think they can provide some solution to you all, because

the root of the problem doesn't lies in my "poor" / "lousy" display port cable as I can boot from my 320 ssd

Thanks and Best Regards

[PRich5]

I'm taking a different approach to this. I'm beginning to think the problem is related to high startup current of the large 530 series SSDs that are near the limit (or slightly above) of the SATA specification.

The reason I say this is that continuing the investigation I started in , I looked at the internals of the enclosure that caused the 480Gb 530 to work with the internal cables of my Dell laptop. Note that my configuration does not include a display port cable, yet the drive will not start. Other than a few capacitors on the power supply rails all of the connections are passive straight-through between the SATA connector and the drive connector.

I hypothesize that the proximity of these capacitors (both bypass and electrolytic) are providing enough current for the drive to start properly even with the current surge.

To test this hypothesis I'm going to modify the internal SATA cable to have a set of buffering capacitors soldered directly across the power supply rail pins on the drive SATA connector. Probably this weekend.

The assertion from ken-intel is consistent with the power supply theory (although the his conclusion may be more coincidental rather than causal) if the display port cable is drawing on the computer supply enough to bring the reserve capacity of the power supply below the threshold of the SSD start up current.

If the additional capacitors solve the problem and indeed start up current is the problem, perhaps a firmware change can be made to sequence startup of internal components of the SSD to reduce the initial start-up current.

[KenF_Intel]

Hi SurfaceLover,

It's absolutely true that the 530 is more sensitive to this condition than our other drives. We are looking into the design differences that contribute to the sensitivity. In the meantime, you can solve your problem by obtaining a cable with pin 20 not wired.

Do a search on "Displayport pin 20 problem" and you'll find reports of problems with more than just SSD's.

[KenF_Intel]

Hi PaulR,

Your problem might be different than the other problems reported on this thread.

The report that started this thread (and most of the subsequent posts) are in relation to drives that are seen and work just fine until you shutdown the OS.

It looks like your drive is never seen if you are connected directly to the SATA port.

If I have that correct, then I will move your post to a new thread.

[JYeap]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the advise, will do and get a dvi cable instead.

Thanks and have a nice day