Running Toolbox Optimize on 240GB Intel SSD 520 Results In BSOD

[DWund]

I've been using a 240GB Intel SSD 520 as my boot drive for about three weeks (Intel RSTe v3.5.1.1009). I have not had any problems with day to day operations and the AS SSD benchmark for the drive is about what I would expect it to be. Yesterday I attempted to optimize the drive using Intel SSD Toolbox v3.1.2. At 85% I got a BSOD that completely froze the system. I did a hard reboot and the system came up without an issue. All of the trim files created by SSD Toolbox were still on the drive. I deleted them manually and attempted to optimize the drive again. The result was the same. Except this time when I restarted the system the SSD boot drive could not be found. The second time I tried to turn the computer on the SSD drive was found and the system booted. I ran SSD Toolbox quick and full diagnostic scans and neither found a problem with the drive. I also ran optimize on an X25-M SSD drive I also have in my system and it completed without a problem.

Although the drive seems to be working fine, the fact that running optimize crashes the system has me concerned with its long-term reliability. Any suggestions for further troubleshooting the problem (or fixing it) would be greatly appreciated.

[RCram]

Ebombzor,

My 180 GB 520 SSD does exactly what you describe in your post. So is this expected behavior of the 520 model?

[KenF_Intel]

Ebombzor/Need4Speed,

I'd like to keep the topic for this thread limited to BSOD issues with the 520. Would you mind starting a new thread for the issue of your system hanging for a short period after running optimizer?

Thanks.

[idata]

I spoke too soon. Just deleted several GB of data and ran optimizer and my system hung.

I also updated the drivers to 12.6.0.1028

[idata]

Let's think about the ICH9R; When it was released, the RAID/AHCI driver was the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. That was before IRST existed. The Matrix Storage driver was a version 8 or 9, with a corresponding Intel Option ROM in the BIOS. But who knows what version Dell used. Option ROMs, which are part of the SATA interface, have versions corresponding to the SATA drivers, my Z77 board had IRST 11 series drivers released for it, and it has an 11 series Option ROM. It's possible to use IRST drivers that are newer than the Option ROM, but there are limits to that. Option ROM updates are done via a BIOS update, and are the responsibility of the mother board manufacture or supplier.

Things have changed since the time of the ICH Southbridge chips, multiple changes to the SATA standard, not including the change from SATA 3Gb/s to SATA 6Gb/s. New features have been added with the newer chipsets, such as SSD caching. At some point, older hardware becomes left behind, at some point supporting the older hardware literally compromises the new hardware. I'm surprised the IRST drivers have retained support for chipsets that are four or more generations behind the current chips. Windows 8 is also a transition point, requiring IRST versions 11.6 or greater.

My Z77 mother board released with Ivy Bridge CPUs in mid 2012, has had multiple BIOS/UEFI updates to accommodate Windows 8, including an Option ROM update for true UEFI firmware OS booting. There are mother boards made by the same manufacture, of the previous generation or two chipsets, which don't have Windows 8 support. Anyone attempting to use Windows 8 and Windows 8 compatible versions of IRST (IRST 12 was released for the new 8 series chipsets) on pre-IRST hardware with old BIOS and Option ROMs, and other new hardware like SSDs, is basically on their own. If the mother board or PC manufacture does not support their product for new hardware and software, how is that the fault of those new products?

[idata]

Well, I don't know if the motherboard has 'full' support, but Dell did update the BIOS to UEFI for Win8 compatibility with A07, the option rom is at 3.5.x.x while the Dell provided windows driver for the C600 is at 3.5.0.1096 (I guess current is 3.6 something...)

Everything works except the optimizer...