Need help installing Win7 to my new SSD (win7 reboot loop)

[fatpat268]

So I recently bought a Crucial M4 128gb, and everyone has told me that this would be a headache free SSD... which is why I spent the extra money for it. So far, it's been nothing but a headache.

So my motherboard is a gigabyte mobo with a p55 chipset. Doesn't have intel sata3, but instead has a marvell sata3 controller. I've tried multiple installs on every possible configuration (on the marvell controller and the intel controller with ahci on and off), and every time I get a reboot loop.

A little digging on the ssd (plugged it in with a usb cord), and the windows installation files are all still there, but the registry files (in Windows\system32\config\RegBack) are all 0kb files. Some research shows that this may be a common problem for new installs that boot loop.

At any rate, the more I type, the less I'm convinced that it's an SSD problem. The thing is, I've never had an issue installing Win7 before, until now. I've installed Win7 on this system config (minus the SSD of course) and have never encountered this. Is there something I might be doing wrong?

I've also made sure that only the SSD was plugged in while installing windows to avoid any conflicts.

 

[fatpat268]

An update to my situation:

Turns out that it appears that my motherboard is the culprit. I took the SSD with the half completed installation and plugged it into my laptop, and it worked like a charm. Hell, I even put the SSD back into my PC after it completed installing on the laptop... and it would work but then it eventually exhibited the same problems. Still works flawlessly on the laptop.

Perhaps this is as good of an excuse as any to upgrade to sandy bridge, I guess.

 

[ViviTheMage]

My guess is the Marvell chipset...what chipset is on that laptop?

 

[fatpat268]

My guess is the Marvell chipset...what chipset is on that laptop?

Not sure. It's a recent sony vaio (with a core i3), so it's probably an intel chipset.

The thing is, is that I get the same problems regardless if i'm on the intel chipset or the marvell chipset. Honestly, I think the mobo is just flaking out on me. I've been ripping my hair out for the better part of two days, and I was about to RMA the m4, but then I got the idea of putting it into the laptop and it worked like a charm.

Regardless, I just spent nearly $400 to have a Asus z68 mobo and core i5 2500k to be overnighted from amazon (love prime). I've been having the itchy trigger finger on that upgrade for a while anyway. :whiste: And if that doesn't fix it, then I dunno.

 

[lopri]

In the BIOS, try disabling marvel controller when installing the OS. You can't have 2 AHCI controller active at the time of OS installation on many boards for whatever reasons.

 

[fatpat268]

In the BIOS, try disabling marvel controller when installing the OS. You can't have 2 AHCI controller active at the time of OS installation on many boards for whatever reasons.

Yea, I even thought that might have been the problem too, so I always had the marvell controller disabled when I attempted to install on the intel controller. Didn't work.

You can see why I was practically pulling my hair. Hell I even thought it might have been a ram issue since I recently upgraded that... put in one stick of my old ram, and it didn't make a change. I've even installed Windows from a USB stick because I though perhaps my DVD drive was going bad, and still the same issue. I've tested just about every config I could do, and I didn't get anywhere, that's why I think it's a mobo problem. I even upgraded my BIOS to help.

Can't wait to try out this SSD on my gaming pc because my laptop is blazing fast right now. :biggrin:

I appreciate the help though, guys.