SOLVED: help w/ intel ssd320 as boot drive in dell e521

[magreen]

Edit: WOO HOO! PROBLEM SOLVED!! (see below)

Hi everyone

I'm having trouble getting an intel ssd320 80GB to work as the boot drive on a dell e521 (edit: nForce430/410 southbridge) with Vista Home Premium 32-bit.

Executive summary of the problem: the machine will not boot off the SSD once I tell it to use the plain-vanilla-Microsoft storage controller drivers that (I believe) are necessary to get the Intel SSD Toolbox and TRIM working.

Edit: more detail: it's a BSOD with stop error 7B/C0000034.

Here are the details:

nvidia chipsets have problems running SSDs. If I use the nForce4 SATA controller drivers, the SSD often (though not always, depending on which nvidia SATA driver I choose) shows up as a SCSI device. You read that correctly -- SCSI. I have about four options of SATA controller drivers from nvidia. None of them allow the Intel SSD Toolbox to run TRIM on the drive. I've read that the solution to this is to switch the storage controller drivers back to the Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller, as described here: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1383853&mpage=1&print=true
better link: http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=174966

What I want to do is use the SSD as a boot drive. Currently, the hard drive still has Vista installed on it too, so it's a dual boot system. When I boot off the hard drive, I can go and set the storage controller driver for the second channel (that's the SATA port my SSD is plugged into) back to the Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller. I reboot, and the Intel SSD Toolbox can optimize the drive, run TRIM, everything is perfect. I can run the CrystalDiskMark bench and the SSD is operating perfectly.

I can boot off the SSD with the nvidia drivers. But then TRIM won't run, and I can't even complete a CrystalDiskMark bench without the machine hanging. (It usually hangs on the QD32 test). So I want to set the drivers to be the Microsoft ones.

But when I've booted off of the SSD and set the storage controller driver (one or both, no difference) to the Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller and reboot, it won't boot. I'll see the Microsoft Windows spalsh screen for about 3 seconds and then just black. Sometimes it kicks me out to the BIOS splash screen and sometimes it just hangs black forever.

Can someone help me diagnose why it won't boot using the Microsoft storage controller drivers? Thanks!

 

[kbp]

Same problem on my wife's HP. Nvidea chipset. SO, no trim will not work.
Best you can do is over-provision the drive and install windows. "Log off" and let it run idle when not in use for short periods of time. Let GC do it's thing.
You will only get sata 1.5 speeds too. If you find a workaround let me know !!

 

[magreen]

That's very strange. She has the exact same problem, that it can be used as a secondary drive using the plain Microsoft SATA drivers but not as the boot drive?

It's a strange problem -- why would it work as a secondary drive but not as the boot drive?

I can boot from it using the nvidia drivers (though it can't pass a CrystalDiskMark run), or I can use it as a secondary drive using the vanilla Microsoft SATA drivers and TRIM works and it is fast and CrystalDiskMark works. Why won't it boot with the MS drivers? (If it's any clue, when in recovery mode it can read the SSD disk fine).

 

[magreen]

Same problem on my wife's HP. Nvidea chipset. SO, no trim will not work.
Best you can do is over-provision the drive and install windows. "Log off" and let it run idle when not in use for short periods of time. Let GC do it's thing.
You will only get sata 1.5 speeds too. If you find a workaround let me know !!

Problem Solved!!! Many thanks to Fernando 1 over at nForcersHQ! Link: http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/can-t-boot-off-intel-ssd320-in-dell-e521-nforce4-t75157-20.html

Fernando 1 wrote:

After having thought about your problem again, I got another idea:
Is it possible, that you have set the SATA Controller to "RAID mode", when you tried to get Vista installed the first time onto your SSD?
If yes, your SSD now has a Master Boot Record for the "RAID mode" and not for the "IDE mode". That might be the reason why you get a BSOD, if you choose the "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller" (a NVIDIA nForce RAID absolutely needs the NVIDIA nForce SATA driver, otherwise it doesn't work).

This would be the solution:
1. Unplug the HDD.
2. Make sure, that the SATA Controllers have been set to "IDE" mode.
3. Boot off the Vista DVD.
4. Use the "Repair" option of the OS DVD and let Setup build a new boot sector (MBR and bootloader).
5. Reboot and retry the complete a fresh Vista installation.

If this should not work, I recommend to safely erase the SSD by using a tool like PartedMagic or HDDErase. This will erase even the hidden track Zero of the SSD, where the partition table is stored.

magreen wrote:

YOU'RE A GENIUS!!!

Now that you mention that there could be a partition table that's incompatible with my Dell, I realize that makes sense because I bought this SSD second-hand, and already formatted. So somebody else had installed with this SSD and put a partition table on there in the past.

I did a secure erase of the ssd using the Intel SSD Toolbox (after booting from the hdd -- remember, the Toolbox worked fine when the ssd was the secondary drive).

Then I unplugged the HDD, reinstalled Vista with no special drivers or anything. And when I got to the desktop, I switched to the Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller on both SATA controllers. And this time, for the first time, the magic ATA Channel 0 and ATA Channel 1 installing bubble popped up in the lower right! And when I rebooted, no BSOD!

All is well now. I can boot from the SSD and run the Intel SSD Toolbox Optimize function and it can read the firmware. And I can run CrystalDiskMark and the drive works fast and reliably. Everything is as it should be.

Thank you so, so much Fernando 1. You are a real lifesaver!