£1200/($2000) High-End Workstation upgrade

[schmutz06]

thanks. You are correct it is not possible to move the location of System restore files although it can be decreased. The Page file size afaik matches your RAM by default, in my case this would take 16GB of precious SSD memory. Fortunately I've also found that the size can be significantly reduced.

I think I am all set to get everything up and running tomorrow just as long as nothing arrives dead haha

What is the go-to tool for monitoring SSD performance? I can post some screens on here tomorrow when everything is set up

 

[mfenn]

thanks. You are correct it is not possible to move the location of System restore files although it can be decreased. The Page file size afaik matches your RAM by default, in my case this would take 16GB of precious SSD memory. Fortunately I've also found that the size can be significantly reduced.

I think I am all set to get everything up and running tomorrow just as long as nothing arrives dead haha

What is the go-to tool for monitoring SSD performance? I can post some screens on here tomorrow when everything is set up

Overall, your plan looks good to me, though you will need to plug in your optical drive in order to install Windows!

You can also move it to another drive if you wish. You can even have multiple page files, one small one on the SSD and a bigger one one an HDD.

Disabling hibernation is definitely a must. That's a 16GB of SSD space used for nothing. I'm not sure why it is enabled by default on desktops to be honest.

As for SSD benchmarks, Crystal Disk Mark, AS SSD, and ATTO are good ones.

 

[schmutz06]

I am happy to report everything is up and running. Not without a few significant problems:

1) ThermalRight Silver Arrow CPU cooler --> too big to close my Coolermaster 690 II Advanced case! I am surprised since it is a popular/highly recommended cooling fan and my case is definately not the smallest one out there. I need to address this ASAP. It is likely I'll sell the silver arrow (if it can't be returned) and buy another cooler. It can not be adjusted to fit, simply too big!

2) I can't find a way to use my PCI-E sound card (ASUS Xonar DX) while using my 2x 560ti GPU's. I believe this is a PCI-e bandwidth issue? I am using my GPU's in slots #2 & #4 as advised in the manual. The sound card was installed to the bottom PCI-e slot and at one point everything worked together, now I can't start my computer without removing the sound card (hangs on first screen). Are there any BIOS settings I should look into to allow use of all three PCI-e components?

3) GPU's are running in PCI-E 8x instead of 16x. Could this be related to issue #2?

4) I thought the SSD would be listed under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers in device manager...

Here are the BIOS settings I adjusted before installing Windows 7

Well these are the issues I found yesterday after actively pushing the computer in all directions. Hopefully they can be resolved. I am very happy there aren't any random BSODs/significant performance issues to be reported.

 

[schmutz06]

Update: I left the computer on unattended for 1-2 hrs and upon returning to use it, it was on "startup repair". It must have crashed/restarted and automatically launched into this from rebooting.

The start up repair could not resolve/fix anything so I restarted, only for it to launch into start up repair again. When I tried booting into my new Windows 7 installation, I got a BSOD right after the Windows Logo screen.

I was completely unable to resolve this after 2hrs and beginning to think that the SSD drive or one of my new components was faulty. The only information I can give on the BSOD's/broken installation is as follows:

Problem event name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: unknown
Problem Signature 04: 21200468
Problem Signature 05:AutoFailover
Problem Signature 06: -
Problem Signature 07: Corrupt file

This information is taken from the "view information" link in startup repair.

To determine whether this was a hardware issue I had to reformat (thankfully, only losing a days work...)

I have just formatted the SSD/reinstalled Windows 7 and I'm up and running again. I am now reluctant to proceed with anything until I can resolve the cause of this issue. I installed a million drivers yesterday including most of the software on the Motherboard disk such as overclocking utilities/instant boot/usb speedup etc. I have a gut feeling one of these may be the culprit.

1) I reduced my "system restore" space to a few GB. This mean't that recovering my OS installation from system restore was impossible, there were no restore points to select from :/ I wonder if that would have allowed me to resolve the issue without reformatting. I've left it at it's default size this time around, do you think it will work correctly this time if I get the same problem again? Is there a way I can save a snapshot of my SSD drive onto one of my other drives? That would be useful. If I encountered the problem again I would like to be able to reinstall windows 7 and then patch a "drive image" to the OS installation, is this possible? Would give me some peace of mind if I am not able to define the cause of the problem.

2) For whatever reason on the new installation the Sound Card and 560ti's are playing nicely together, again... I wonder if it is a matter of time before I cannot get past the first boot screen again? Sigh.

3) When I went to reinstall windows 7 I saw two partitions on the SSD. One was around 119GB and the other was 100MB. I pushed "delete" on the 100MB partition and it didn't appear to remove it, I then formatted/installed windows 7 on the 119GB partition. In windows I now have a 100MB "H:" drive which "cannot be accessed until formatted" is there any way to remove this and reclaim it on my SSD 119GB main partition?

4) Device manager appears to list my components correctly this time:

hah. I was prepared for some headaches but this is the most bumpy new computer build I've ever done and I've been building for 10 years! I do not expect anybody to address every issue I have listed but it will be much appreciated if you can answer any of them off the top of your head

Thanks

 

[mfenn]

I am happy to report everything is up and running. Not without a few significant problems:

1) ThermalRight Silver Arrow CPU cooler --> too big to close my Coolermaster 690 II Advanced case! I am surprised since it is a popular/highly recommended cooling fan and my case is definately not the smallest one out there. I need to address this ASAP. It is likely I'll sell the silver arrow (if it can't be returned) and buy another cooler. It can not be adjusted to fit, simply too big!

Well, that sucks.

2) I can't find a way to use my PCI-E sound card (ASUS Xonar DX) while using my 2x 560ti GPU's. I believe this is a PCI-e bandwidth issue? I am using my GPU's in slots #2 & #4 as advised in the manual. The sound card was installed to the bottom PCI-e slot and at one point everything worked together, now I can't start my computer without removing the sound card (hangs on first screen). Are there any BIOS settings I should look into to allow use of all three PCI-e components?

PCIe 2 and 4 for the GPU and PCIe 5 for the sound card are how you want to do it. Z68 is a new platform, so make sure you update the UEFI firmware to the latest version (it's not a BIOS anymore).

3) GPU's are running in PCI-E 8x instead of 16x. Could this be related to issue #2?

That is how it's supposed to work.

4) I thought the SSD would be listed under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers in device manager...

Here are the BIOS settings I adjusted before installing Windows 7

Your SSD is right there under disk drives where it should be. It will never appear under the disk controllers menu. The controllers looks fine as well (it's what should appear if you install the Intel INF Update).

The UEFI settings look correct, though you can safely disable aggressive link power management.

Update: I left the computer on unattended for 1-2 hrs and upon returning to use it, it was on "startup repair". It must have crashed/restarted and automatically launched into this from rebooting.

The start up repair could not resolve/fix anything so I restarted, only for it to launch into start up repair again. When I tried booting into my new Windows 7 installation, I got a BSOD right after the Windows Logo screen.

I was completely unable to resolve this after 2hrs and beginning to think that the SSD drive or one of my new components was faulty. The only information I can give on the BSOD's/broken installation is as follows:

Problem event name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: unknown
Problem Signature 04: 21200468
Problem Signature 05:AutoFailover
Problem Signature 06: -
Problem Signature 07: Corrupt file

This information is taken from the "view information" link in startup repair.

To determine whether this was a hardware issue I had to reformat (thankfully, only losing a days work...)

I have just formatted the SSD/reinstalled Windows 7 and I'm up and running again. I am now reluctant to proceed with anything until I can resolve the cause of this issue. I installed a million drivers yesterday including most of the software on the Motherboard disk such as overclocking utilities/instant boot/usb speedup etc. I have a gut feeling one of these may be the culprit.

I never install the shit (pardon my French) that comes on the mobo CD, so I can't help you there. My advice is: just say no to crappy "utilities"!

1) I reduced my "system restore" space to a few GB. This mean't that recovering my OS installation from system restore was impossible, there were no restore points to select from :/ I wonder if that would have allowed me to resolve the issue without reformatting. I've left it at it's default size this time around, do you think it will work correctly this time if I get the same problem again? Is there a way I can save a snapshot of my SSD drive onto one of my other drives? That would be useful. If I encountered the problem again I would like to be able to reinstall windows 7 and then patch a "drive image" to the OS installation, is this possible? Would give me some peace of mind if I am not able to define the cause of the problem.

System Restore is not a full backup and you should never rely on it as such. Luckily, there is real backup software out there that does exactly what you want to do. Check out Macrium Reflect; there is a free version, but I think that the paid one is worth it. With the paid version, you can just set it up to do an incremental backup every day/night, a full backup every 2 weeks or so, and keep backups for maybe a month. That way, you'll be able to restore the complete state of your OS if you have trouble.

2) For whatever reason on the new installation the Sound Card and 560ti's are playing nicely together, again... I wonder if it is a matter of time before I cannot get past the first boot screen again? Sigh.

Keep on top of your UEFI updates.

3) When I went to reinstall windows 7 I saw two partitions on the SSD. One was around 119GB and the other was 100MB. I pushed "delete" on the 100MB partition and it didn't appear to remove it, I then formatted/installed windows 7 on the 119GB partition. In windows I now have a 100MB "H:" drive which "cannot be accessed until formatted" is there any way to remove this and reclaim it on my SSD 119GB main partition?

The 100MB System Reserved partition is a normal way that Windows 7 installs. The essential boot files are placed there so that they are less likely to be corrupted. There can be multiple, but the one that is active is hidden from the OS. So, if you look at disk management, you'll probably see that you now have two 100MB partitions as well as your main partition. You can safely delete the one that is mounted as H: and extend the main partition to take up the rest of the space (again from disk management).

4) Device manager appears to list my components correctly this time:

That list looks pretty much the same as the previous list to me, except that you're using the generic AHCI drivers instead of the Intel ones (either is fine IMHO.

hah. I was prepared for some headaches but this is the most bumpy new computer build I've ever done and I've been building for 10 years! I do not expect anybody to address every issue I have listed but it will be much appreciated if you can answer any of them off the top of your head

Thanks

I think I covered them all! :awe:

 

[stahlhart]

1) ThermalRight Silver Arrow CPU cooler --> too big to close my Coolermaster 690 II Advanced case! I am surprised since it is a popular/highly recommended cooling fan and my case is definately not the smallest one out there. I need to address this ASAP. It is likely I'll sell the silver arrow (if it can't be returned) and buy another cooler. It can not be adjusted to fit, simply too big!

The Silver Arrow will fit in the 690 II with the panel on, just barely, if your RAM doesn't have heat spreaders.

I'm sorry for missing this thread earlier -- I would have warned you about that before you ordered. I'm using the earlier generation of Sniper sticks, the ones with the pictures of the woods on the covers; this was just before they started putting those silly guns on them.

You might try seeing if you can remove the heat spreaders on yours -- you have RipjawsX? If you're running them at 1.5V, they're probably not doing all that much anyway.

 

[schmutz06]

mfenn, you rock! great advice thank you so much for answering everything. I have actually been resolving some issues via another thread I set up on tomshardware.

Check it out! http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/270728-14-questions-build-tomorrow

Random BSOD :

In the past 30 minutes I have experienced my first random BSOD which is worrying. It happened while browsing the web with firefox and installing a game from a .ISO file if that is of any significance. Upon restarting the computer I saw "windows did not shut down properly - check for solutions"... it never seemed to show anything which was strange as it usually states technical information regarding the cause of the BSOD. Do you know where the crash information is stored on my computer?

690 II + Thermalright Silver Arrow:

@ stahlhart, I went with smaller kingston hyperx blu 1333mhz memory. But I do not see how I can get it to fit with the silver arrow. The fans are my problem.

The middle fan extrudes beyond the side panel and it is as low as it can get. I think the fan is as low as the "bolt"/pressure vault thing will let it go. :hmm:

 

[schmutz06]

oh, with regards to backup I have created a system image using the windows 7 feature. This has created an 80gb file on my 2TB drive which afaik can be used to restore my installation if I get an unrecoverable problem.

Is this a good alternative to using Macrium Reflect? I guess I am missing out on scheduled incremental backups only using the windows utility but it's functionality should be the same.

also to fill you in on some other details:

Motherboard drivers:

Yep, I've learned now motherboard driver CD's don't get much love! All of my drivers are from http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme4&o=Win764 and, for the intel RST driver, I updated to the "required BIOS" from the link provided. I believe this is the most up to date version.

100MB System Partition:

fixed! reinstalled OS properly.

BSOD's/Game crashes:

I am about to connect a molex connector to my motherboards "SLI/Xfire power connector and I hope the BSOD's will be resolved. I had overlooked it in the manual (because there is no mention in the SLI setup) but it is required when using two GPU's.

 

[mfenn]

mfenn, you rock! great advice thank you so much for answering everything. I have actually been resolving some issues via another thread I set up on tomshardware.

Check it out! http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/270728-14-questions-build-tomorrow

The suggestion there to try plugging a molex into the mobo's power connector above the PCIe 2 slot is a good one. Crashing under load is a definite symptom of not getting enough power.

Random BSOD :

In the past 30 minutes I have experienced my first random BSOD which is worrying. It happened while browsing the web with firefox and installing a game from a .ISO file if that is of any significance. Upon restarting the computer I saw "windows did not shut down properly - check for solutions"... it never seemed to show anything which was strange as it usually states technical information regarding the cause of the BSOD. Do you know where the crash information is stored on my computer?

It's stored in a dump file in Windows\System32 IIRC. It honestly isn't very useful to most people though (including me). The best place to check is in the event viewer and look up the BCC (bug check code) of your BSOD as well as what module it crashed in. If it consistently crashing in the Nvidia driver, you should probably suspect something to do with your GPUs.

In more general terms, here are the things to try:
1. Remove your sound card, 2nd GPU, and all but one stick of memory.
2. If it still crashes, swap the memory for a different stick.
3. If it still crashes, swap the GPU for the other one.
4. If it doesn't crash anymore, one of the components that you removed is most likely causing the problem. Add them back in until it starts crashing again.

 

[stahlhart]

I went with smaller kingston hyperx blu 1333mhz memory. But I do not see how I can get it to fit with the silver arrow. The fans are my problem.

The middle fan extrudes beyond the side panel and it is as low as it can get. I think the fan is as low as the "bolt"/pressure vault thing will let it go. :hmm:

I see what you're saying -- the middle fan will rest on that screw, but it should still be more or less the same height as the fan over the RAM. It looks like they're both about 2-3mm above the posts over the fins here.

I'll post a couple of photos later tonight.

Another option -- the mounting centers on the TR fans are the same as they are for 120mm fans -- you could probably use something like a Scythe Gentle Typhoon in place of the TR fans.

 

[schmutz06]

thanks. I have just plugged in the molex, now you mention it, it makes so much sense that the GPU's were not getting enough power and shutting down. Hopefully things will be stable now.
Also... (drum roll) I managed to fit the cpu cooler INSIDE my case by rotating the giant fans 90 degrees. Woohoo. I am running Prime95 at 3.4Ghz and the CPU is hovering around 50C @100% load on all cores for 2 minutes. Idle temperature is 30-35C. Seems good. Thank you stahlhart you inspired me to have another tinker around!

I'll be sure to strip it down and use a process of elimination if I continue to experience BSOD problems.

 

[stahlhart]

That's good to hear -- I hadn't even considered the tower orientation until you mentioned it...

Here's a shot of mine, still under construction (sorry for the sloppy wiring; the power supply is going to get sleeved and properly managed at some point, it's just been too nice outside for indoor projects lately ). The side panel clears the fans by about 1/8"-3/16", and what's neat is that there's still room to mount a 120mm on the panel at the lower opening, where it sits right over the GPUs.

 

[schmutz06]

stahlhart, yup, get that wiring tidied up so your GPU's have room to do their thing

As a fellow gamer with a similar spec I would like to compare performance in some games. Crysis 2 in DX11 crashes my computer into an unrecoverable state (until I restart) after 30minutes --> 1hour. This is not related to overheating. This is a software problem as far as I know. I am wondering if you are experiencing crashes in DX11 too? Apparently underclocking the GPU or increasing the voltage will resolve the problem although I am still in the process of getting my computer stable at default clock settings so I will not be trying this yet.

Startup repair infinite loop

for the third time, I have returned to my computer to find it in a "startup repair infinite loop". Thankfully I was able to boot back into windows using bootrec /fixmbr & bootrec /fixboot commands from the windows recovery environment. This is the same repair action I took last time I got stuck.

Three times now, no good! I believe the problem is caused by a damaged/corrupt boot sector. There is no specific driver/application/windows update I can isolate as the cause of this problem.

Unfortunately, all three occurances have been when I am not at the computer. I will assume that it is crashing/BSOD while idle, restarting, and then going into startup repair. It is quite frustrating that by coincidence it has not happened while I am actually using it.

On a brighter note

The additional molex power into the motherboard has almost certainely resolved my BSOD's in GPU intensive applications. I ran Crysis for around 3 hours without any problems.

 

[stahlhart]

stahlhart, yup, get that wiring tidied up so your GPU's have room to do their thing

I got about 80% of the way through the build and got lazy, and have just been running it with the guts hanging out for a while now. :whiste: I had a problem getting the SATA cables in place, as the mobo is E-ATX and as a result there is very little room to work with between the ports and the drive bays. But I found the right cables to fix that, and it's all good now.

As a fellow gamer with a similar spec I would like to compare performance in some games. Crysis 2 in DX11 crashes my computer into an unrecoverable state (until I restart) after 30minutes --> 1hour. This is not related to overheating. This is a software problem as far as I know. I am wondering if you are experiencing crashes in DX11 too? Apparently underclocking the GPU or increasing the voltage will resolve the problem although I am still in the process of getting my computer stable at default clock settings so I will not be trying this yet.

Just as a hunch, have you tried disabling motion blur? I had a problem with Just Cause 2 crashing anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes into the game, and that turned out to be the fix for me -- that might be a SLI-specific fix, though (edit: just noticed that you are in fact running SLI).

I don't have Crysis 2 yet -- I'm not sure if it will be of any help, but I suppose I could run Metro for an hour or so to see if anything bad happens; I think that's the only DX11 title I've got installed at the moment.

Have you tried looping the Heaven Benchmark to see if that will crash it?

 

[schmutz06]

I am confident the crash is exclusive to Crysis 2 and will be resolved with new drivers from nvidia/crytek. Forums are flooded with reports as such although it seems to vary between people crashing to desktop and crashing entirely (forcing a restart). Also, the Heaven benchmark runs fine! So I am happy to rule out DX11 as the culprit. With Just Cause, did the entire computer stop responding or was it a crash to desktop?

 

[schmutz06]

STARTUP REPAIR INFINITE LOOP - possible answers?

I may be narrowing down on this problem. It does appear that my "master boot record" is becoming corrupt frequently. After googling "windows 7 master boot record keeps corrupt" I am finding some promising results (as to isolating the cause of the problem)

http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/939726-computer-keeps-loosing-corrupting-its.html

a lot to consider here. Failing CMOS battery/motherboard components/SSD/bad PSU all appear to have potential to "corrupt" my MBR data when restarting the computer... any thoughts on this? Since the PSU has served me well for the past few months and the problem has only started this week I want to narrow it down to either the SSD or the motherboard.

http://superuser.com/questions/283476/ssd-and-corrupted-master-boot-record

seems to point fingers at the SSD

I can install windows onto one of my HDD's and see how it goes for a week, if there are no problems then it's the SSD losing the MBR data. If I continue to get problems, then I can assume my motherboard is the culprit.

Good action plan? I am reluctant to do this since it will mean messing around with new installations and not making any progress rebuilding my applications/preferences/games library and so on. But, it seems to be the only way I'll be able to troubleshoot the cause of this "startup repair" problem. It doesn't seem to be a very common problem going by the few number of threads I have been able to find on it (I have searched quite intensively)

 

[stahlhart]

With Just Cause, did the entire computer stop responding or was it a crash to desktop?

Here are the details: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2165748

 

[mfenn]

I can install windows onto one of my HDD's and see how it goes for a week, if there are no problems then it's the SSD losing the MBR data. If I continue to get problems, then I can assume my motherboard is the culprit.

Good action plan? I am reluctant to do this since it will mean messing around with new installations and not making any progress rebuilding my applications/preferences/games library and so on. But, it seems to be the only way I'll be able to troubleshoot the cause of this "startup repair" problem. It doesn't seem to be a very common problem going by the few number of threads I have been able to find on it (I have searched quite intensively)

That seems like a good plan to me. The same issue happened to me when my original Agility was dying. Corrupted textures in ME2, then no boot.

Another thing that can cause all sorts of data corruption issues is the RAM. IMHO, it's important to get things sorted out in the first 30 days because it's usually easier to get a refund/exchange from the retailer than relying on warranty.

 

[schmutz06]

That seems like a good plan to me. The same issue happened to me when my original Agility was dying. Corrupted textures in ME2, then no boot.

Another thing that can cause all sorts of data corruption issues is the RAM. IMHO, it's important to get things sorted out in the first 30 days because it's usually easier to get a refund/exchange from the retailer than relying on warranty.

For clarification, were you getting the same corrupt MBR data problem and having to use bootrec /fixmbr command in the recovery environment? And it turned out to be the SSD?

If it does turn out that my SSD is the culprit, will I be able to use a full system backup image to save all the work I have done configuring programs/settings over the past few days? Will cloning a drive arrange & partition files in an optimal way like they would be arranged in a standard OS installation/setup?

Update regarding frequent MBR data corruption:

I have just returned to my computer for the forth time to find it on "startup repair". It happened again while idle/when I wasn't at the computer (gRRRr...)

Worth noting:

It has seemingly forgotten some events ever happened after restarting...

EDIT: Upon further inspection I would like to say that ALL events that took place during the previous boot cycle (which crashed/restarted into startup repair loop) have seemingly been lost. It is as if I have used system restore, but I have not. I have only rebuilt the mbr using "bootrec /fixmbr" and as far as I know it should not have this effect. Definately an SSD issue?

ALSO, Virus which causes my problem:

Damage due to CIH virus

In this case, the virus dumps random data in the first 2048 sectors of the hard disk. MBR which is located in the first sector of the hard disk also gets corrupted in this process as a result, none of the partition is detected and accessed by the OS.

Is there any chance that on two consecutive OS installations on my new SSD, I am doing something which is causing me to get hit by this virus? Should I bother looking into this?

 

[mfenn]

In my case, the problem didn't manifest in exactly the say way, but it was indeed a bad SSD. You could create an image of your current system drive (using something like Macrium) and restore it later on, but if it does turn out that the data is corrupt, you would really just be making a copy of potentially corrupt data. This could bite you in the ass later on.

Given your symptom (all data being reset), I'm going to say that it is very likely an SSD issue. It could of course be done by a virus, but I doubt it as long as you are behind a decent firewall and use a good browser. I'd definitely do a test install on a spare HDD at this point.

 

[schmutz06]

yep, it has just for the 5th time went into an unrecoverable "startup repair" loop. Also it is as if all activities from the previous power cycle never happened. I don't even understand how this would be possible, it keeps restoring to a previous state even though there is no backup that I know of.

I am reluctant to make a new installation on a spare HDD to narrow it down between the SSD + motherboard... I could take a while to test this way, since I cannot actively recreate the crash. All five times it has happened have been while I am not at the computer so I am yet to see what actually happens. This is frustrating as I have been at the computer ~90% of the time it has been on and it has managed to crash five times in the ~10% of time I'm away. This led me to go through power options with a fine comb (suggesting the crash may be caused by hibernating/sleeping) but there is nothing to report, all hibernation/sleep/hdd power off are set to never/0.

Disk Image:
Will the Windows 7 "system image" function be sufficient for a full restoration? Since I have already become familiar with how it works it would be a lot easier than using Macrium. On the basis that my SSD is corrupting the MBR data, I don't think cloning the SSD data will be a problem once it goes on a healthy replacement SSD. If it is caused by a virus, then yes there is a chance I'll be copying over some nasty files. In this event though, I would then reformat/start from scratch.

Do I have enough evidence to assume my SSD is causing the problem? As it stands it seems 90% likely that getting the SSD replaced will solve my problem.

 

[mfenn]

yep, it has just for the 5th time went into an unrecoverable "startup repair" loop. Also it is as if all activities from the previous power cycle never happened. I don't even understand how this would be possible, it keeps restoring to a previous state even though there is no backup that I know of.

This behavior is due to the way that flash memory and filesystems work. What is most likely happening is that the SSD is acknowledging writes back to the OS without actually erasing and programming a block. The write is cached in memory at the OS and filesystem level, so nothing appears amiss until something needs to be evicted from cache and reread from the SSD. At that point, it would of course reread the original value, which is quite wrong, forcing the OS to halt. When you boot, none of that old state got written to the SSD anyway, so you've essentially revert anything that had changed during the previous session.

Disk Image:
Will the Windows 7 "system image" function be sufficient for a full restoration? Since I have already become familiar with how it works it would be a lot easier than using Macrium.

If it works correctly, sure. In my own (very painful) experience, the built in system imaging functionality is extremely temperamental about what devices it'll deign to restore to. It left me high and dry with a useless backup twice before I stopped using it completely.

On the basis that my SSD is corrupting the MBR data, I don't think cloning the SSD data will be a problem once it goes on a healthy replacement SSD. If it is caused by a virus, then yes there is a chance I'll be copying over some nasty files. In this event though, I would then reformat/start from scratch.

This is bad logic, and let me explain why: the SSD isn't corrupting MBR data, it's corrupting data. Right now, you just happen to notice the problem because the MBR is one place where flipping even a single bit will cause the system to crash. We have no way of knowing that the corruption is limited to the MBR (it's probably not).

Do I have enough evidence to assume my SSD is causing the problem? As it stands it seems 90% likely that getting the SSD replaced will solve my problem.

In my opinion, yes.

 

[schmutz06]

Thanks. To be 100% sure I have took my Crucial M4 out of the equation and made a new OS installation on a spare 1TB HDD. I can give it the weekend and if I do not get any "startup repair" infinite loops via mbr corruption then I will get the SSD replaced. I will be extremely frustrated if this SATA HDD gets a corrupt MBR but in that case I will try to get the motherboard replaced.

This has been such a pain and set me back a good few weeks with regards to rebuilding my computer!

I actually tried to restore my SSD image on this 1tb hdd, and didn't get anywhere. It failed. Oh well... I think I'll feel better reinstalling a new OS on a replacement SSD.

How does a backup image work?:

like this?:

correct partitions --> OS/files installation --> files carefully arranged

--> make backup

--> restore from backup --> files get thrown onto new hard drive in no particular order

--> performance loss/random problems like missing icons/messed up registry data

or:

correct partitions --> OS/files installation --> files carefully arranged

--> make backup

--> restore from backup --> computer behaves/operates 100% like it did with the previous drive, files are arranged in exactly the same way (i.e. mbr data at the front of the drive)

I will assume one of these is true? just curious. Currently I am slightly intimidated by the thought of using a backup image.

 

[schmutz06]

ok I have done research on disk cloning and I'm feeling more confident about it.

My weapon of choice is Macrium Reflect (free)

I have had my computer running all day with the 1TB HDD and I haven't had any instances of the mbr corruption/startup repair so it is almost definately the SSD causing the problem. Just to cover everything, is there any chance the intel SATA 3 controller on my mobo or the SATA cable could be the culprit? My motherboard/SSD isolation test isn't accounting for factors like this.

Anyway... my plan is to do the following:

Clone 128GB SSD --> 1TB HDD

Get 128GB SSD REPLACED --> Use 1TB in the meantime

Clone 1TB --> NEW SSD

I am concerned about one thing: "Partition Alignment"

If I don't get it right, it seems like I can suck a lot of performance out of the SSD. Is this true, is this easy to work around? According to this calculator and assuming my Crucial M4 has a NAND Erase Block Size of 512kBytes, NAND Page size of 4kBytes. It will be aligned by default...

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/157

(for SATA drive, Partition offset = 135266304 file allocation unit size = 4096)

_______________________________________________

Alternatively I can reinstall everything in a week or two when I get a replacement SSD. I really do not want to wait this long before I can start using my computer again. Also, should the replacement SSD also be faulty (not ruling anything out!) I would be set back even further. I need a solid backup/imaging practice that I can rely on

I so desperately want to get on with rebuilding my programs/settings/favourites/desktop/toolbars/plugins without the thought that everything is temporary.:thumbsdown: Besides the headache of "mbr corruption" I am content with the performance and stability of my new build. Any other issues have been identified, evaluated and resolved in the past week. My components operate at low temperatures and run fast as hell! I just need to get this data corruption sorted and then I'll finally be able to start using my computer properly.

 

[mfenn]

I will assume one of these is true? just curious. Currently I am slightly intimidated by the thought of using a backup image.

The image is a literal block for block copy of the drive, so the latter is the experience that you should have.