Is OCZ Agility drive faulty???

[rkoenn]

I built a new machine for myself about 4 months ago. It is an Asus X58 motherboard, Intel I7 CPU, 6 GB memory, ATI Radeon 5700, two standard SATA data hard drives, and an OCZ Agility 120 GB SSD as the C drive. I installed Win 7 with no fundamental problems although I didn't get AHCI working. Later after a firmware upgrade of the SSD I converted to AHCI control. It ran good for about a month and then I started getting random lock ups. Whenever it did I would be in the middle of something and the machine would partially stall with some apps working but others, particularly Firefox becoming inoperative. I noticed in each instance the HDD access light would come on continuously and then about 15-30 seconds later I would have a blue screen crash. When the system started up again the SSD would not be recognized without a power down and power up, not even a reset would allow the SSD to be recognized without the power down. So 2 weeks ago I did a clean install with no problems. Fine for about a week and then this started repeating. I restored to a couple of days ago and then it seemed to be stable again but 2 days later I am having identical crashes again. They are random but today I have had about 4. I am doing nothing that is odd and not pushing the machine at all. It has crashed in various apps but most of the time I am using FF when it happens. However I am using FF about 80% of the machine usage. I have had it crash in other apps as well including IE. My thoughts are that it has something to do with the SSD. That maybe after putting some time of the machine and doing all that reading and writing the SSD getting messed up. The first time before the reinstall by the very end I was starting to develop other problems like boot and read problems and the system became unusable. So is their anyone with some expertise out there that might know if my thoughts are likely correct? I am getting quite frustrated after putting this much money and effort in a first class system only to find it becomes unreliable and then unusable. Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

 

[rkoenn]

Ok, a follow up to the previous post. I have been using this drive for about 4 months and had those spurious blue screen crashes where I noticed the hard disk activity light go solid for about 20 seconds and then a blue screen followed by the BIOS not recognizing the drive during a reboot without a power down. Well it did a similar thing last night but after a power down the machine would no longer recognize the drive at all. I tried it on another port with the same results. I reinstalled Win 7 on a WD Velociraptor 300GB and it is running sweetly. Of course the OCZ SSD is being RMA'd. I hope this is not indicative of the future but I am going to image my current install when I get the new SSD and keep it handy. And any blue screens under similar circumstances and I am going to RMA it right away. The thing was fast but this is not a good starting point after less than 4 months of use.

 

[Maverick6969]

Of course the OCZ SSD is being RMA'd. ...The thing was fast but this is not a good starting point after less than 4 months of use.

Can't believe that thing would die after only 4 months. There are no moving parts. Have you thought about the possibility that the interaction of your particular motherboard and that SSD caused the problems?

I recently helped a guy out in this thread, he has the same Asus X58 motherboard as you. I don't have any fondness for that particular MB.

 

[rkoenn]

Well I have read through reader reviews on Newegg of this drive and although everyone loves the speed, I have read of at least 4 people having dead drives within 6 months of using the drive. And also how would the motherboard actually "kill" the drive. It is no longer recognized by the BIOS. That either means a fundamental electrical failure of the drive or a corruption of the firmware. It is very unlikely that the firmware would become corrupted unless I was attempting an upgrade flash, which I have done on this drive two times successfully. And nothing else in my system seems to be having any problems. Over the next week I will be operating in the same configuration except using the WD Velicirpator as my C/boot drive until I get the replacement SSD from OCZ. I will post further on the system status and also of any crashes prior to reinstalling the replacement SSD, if any happen.

 

[lilzeus]

I built a new machine for myself about 4 months ago. It is an Asus X58 motherboard, Intel I7 CPU, 6 GB memory, ATI Radeon 5700, two standard SATA data hard drives, and an OCZ Agility 120 GB SSD as the C drive. I installed Win 7 with no fundamental problems although I didn't get AHCI working. Later after a firmware upgrade of the SSD I converted to AHCI control. It ran good for about a month and then I started getting random lock ups. Whenever it did I would be in the middle of something and the machine would partially stall with some apps working but others, particularly Firefox becoming inoperative. I noticed in each instance the HDD access light would come on continuously and then about 15-30 seconds later I would have a blue screen crash. When the system started up again the SSD would not be recognized without a power down and power up, not even a reset would allow the SSD to be recognized without the power down. So 2 weeks ago I did a clean install with no problems. Fine for about a week and then this started repeating. I restored to a couple of days ago and then it seemed to be stable again but 2 days later I am having identical crashes again. They are random but today I have had about 4. I am doing nothing that is odd and not pushing the machine at all. It has crashed in various apps but most of the time I am using FF when it happens. However I am using FF about 80% of the machine usage. I have had it crash in other apps as well including IE. My thoughts are that it has something to do with the SSD. That maybe after putting some time of the machine and doing all that reading and writing the SSD getting messed up. The first time before the reinstall by the very end I was starting to develop other problems like boot and read problems and the system became unusable. So is their anyone with some expertise out there that might know if my thoughts are likely correct? I am getting quite frustrated after putting this much money and effort in a first class system only to find it becomes unreliable and then unusable. Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

You can't get much more similar to my problem than that. Yesterday, the wife says her computer gave her the BSOD. Sure enough. Restart doesn't recognize the OCZ SSD. I could occasionally boot into windows but only for a short time before the HD LED shines solid and then it becomes unresponsive followed by BSOD. I tried it in another computer, same problem. I hot plugged it into another computer, it was recognized for a minute or two and then it was gone. I can't reinstall Windows because it won't stay recognized long enough. I have begun the RMA process.