Problem with Crucial C300 SSD and Asus P8Z68 Deluxe MB

[manderson]

This has been going on for a while now, and I have worked with Crucial support. I am going to call them again tomorrow, but thought I'd run it by the forum to see if anyone has some thoughts.

The SSD is used for OS and apps only, running Windows 7 Ultimate. I have SATA set to RAID with the SSD on Intel controller port 1, and it IS NOT part of a RAID group. My data HDD RAID 1 volume is on ports 3 and 4, and my DVD burner is on port 4. The Marvel controller is disabled. I have 8GB of RAM, and page file set to custom 1024-16384. Indexing is on, but the index file is configured on one of my data HDD partitions. With this configuration, nothing should be written to the SSD other than Temporary Internet Files, which is set at 250MB, and any temporary files the OS and apps create while functioning.

My 128GB C300 intermittently "hangs" all the time. By this I mean at times there is no response for up to 45 seconds or more, and then suddenly it takes off with the expected response of an SSD. For example, I am using Office 2010, and sometimes Outlook opens in a flash of a second, but more than not it will take a very long time to load, and I have disabled every com add-in within Outlook. If I click on "Add To Favorites" for an internet site, the entire system will hang up for up to 45 seconds, and sometimes it seems even longer. Sometimes I will merely open my favorites, and the area is blank white while the computer is hung up, then within about 45 seconds or so, my favorites appear in a flash. Only once, I was on Youtube, clicked to watch a video, and received a blue screen with memory dump. Windows recovered fine by selecting "Normal Startup".

This problem is intermittent but very consistent.

I have updated the C300 to current firmware 007.

Crucial support had me run a benchmark program and the stats were fine, which I would expect, being an intermittent issue.

At the suggestion of Crucial support, I moved the SSD to the Marvel controller. This did nothing. In fact, I believe the problem was a bit worse, unless it was my imagination. So I disabled the Marvel controller and moved the SSD back to Intel controller port 1.

Another Crucial support suggestion was to disconnect the SATA data cable from the SSD, but leave the power connected; turn the computer on and let it set for at least 20 minutes; power down the computer; unplug the power cord for 30 seconds; then turn the computer on again and let it set for another 20 minutes, once again with the SATA data cable disconnected. After performing this operation twice, reconnect the data cable and turn the computer on. This will supposedly set the SSD back to some factory default configuration, and also give garbage collector time to perform its function.

After performing the last operation suggested by Crucial support, the computer seemed to work much better, but it quickly began to deteriorate. On a whim, I reloaded Windows and apps from the image I created. Once again, it worked great for a short period of time, but quickly deteriorated.

Crucial support started pointing toward the fact the controller is set to RAID rather than AHCI mode, but I have not read anything that would indicate this would be the issue. However, they were quick to state they do not recommend or support the drive being in RAID mode, even if it is still a single drive and not part of a volume.

At this point, the only thing I have not done is a secure erase, and a complete reinstallation of Windows 7 Ultimate and applications.

I am beginning to think there could be a problem with the SSD, and I will contact Crucial support again.

I know this is a lot to digest, but if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, it will be appreciated.

Thanks

Mark A.

 

[MobiusPizza]

I've had my C300 for 6 months now and it's even a 2nd hand one. I have almost the same configurations as yours and I do not experience your problem.

Have you ran chkdsk c: /r ?
Also, update chipset and Intel storage drivers and do all those registry tricks regarding LPM states, etc

 

[manderson]

I've had my C300 for 6 months now and it's even a 2nd hand one. I have almost the same configurations as yours and I do not experience your problem.

Have you ran chkdsk c: /r ?
Also, update chipset and Intel storage drivers and do all those registry tricks regarding LPM states, etc

All drivers are completely up to date.

The LPM state is a registry edit I had not run across, so I will try it. I did perform most (if not all) of suggested registry edits I found on the internet when I first noticed the problem. I was in fact leery with some of these edits, being this is my first SSD, and I sort of held with the recommendation in the "sticky" post which indicates you should not need to do much other than "don't defrag", which is a no brainer if you know anything about electronics.

Yes, I did run a chkdsk /r, and it froze the entire computer. It absolutely would not boot. In my original post I stated that I restored my computer from an image "on a whim", but this was not correct. The fact is, I had to restore from the image because running the chkdsk /r ruined it completely. I had forgotten, and this should have been mentioned in the original post.

However, after restoring my image, I did download the "SSD Tweaker" utility and paid the extra ten bucks for the additional features, trim optimization, etc. At this point, I used the "Auto Tweak Settings" the utility provides. Not sure if this effects the LPM state, so I will do it manually right now.

The computer is horrible this morning. Cursor is lagging terribly with the arrow keys as I type this post.

 

[manderson]

Annihilatorx,

Thanks very much. The LPM registry edit may have done the trick. I just opened Outlook about 20 times, and each time is lightning fast. Should have posted about this a month ago, but you know how it is. Like to try digging into things on our own a little before asking for help.

Thanks! I'll follow up to let you know if it is a permanent fix.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Good to hear it seems ok now.
Before I never believed LPM registry is necessary but I applied them anyway.

 

[manderson]

Good to hear it seems ok now.
Before I never believed LPM registry is necessary but I applied them anyway.

Unfortunately, looks like this did not fix it. Outlook is opening slow again, first about 5 seconds, now 20 seconds. I know it will continue to get worse. I just deleted an old "favorites" web link and it took about twenty seconds to delete, and the mouse was completely erratic until it did delete.

I'll call Crucial again this afternoon.

Wondering if you think I should try the secure erase and a complete fresh installation.

Also, is it absolutely okay to run a chkdsk /r on an SSD? I know this has been asked before, but it really concerned me when it apparently locked up my whole drive and I had to load the image.

 

[Old Hippie]

do all those registry tricks regarding LPM states, etc

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Would you mind posting a link?


OP, I'd be sending that drive back.

Good Luck!

 

[groberts101]

Intel has known issues with power mgmt(yes.. even on non-Sandforce controlled drives) and has revised many drivers so far due to these issues. IME revisions in particular have helped many out so far due to the CMOS corruption/ACPI tabling issues they can cause.

LPM hack originated(AFAIK) on the Crucial forums when issues with power mgmt started to come to light after release of these newer platforms. As seen here.
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-S...eze-ups-in-Windows-7-solved-for-me/td-p/38766

 

[Old Hippie]

LPM hack originated(AFAIK) on the Crucial forums when issues with power mgmt started to come to light after release of these newer platforms. As seen here.
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-St...-me/td-p/38766

Nice.

Thanks Groberts! :thumbsup:

 

[MobiusPizza]

Unfortunately, looks like this did not fix it. Outlook is opening slow again, first about 5 seconds, now 20 seconds. I know it will continue to get worse. I just deleted an old "favorites" web link and it took about twenty seconds to delete, and the mouse was completely erratic until it did delete.

I'll call Crucial again this afternoon.

Wondering if you think I should try the secure erase and a complete fresh installation.

Also, is it absolutely okay to run a chkdsk /r on an SSD? I know this has been asked before, but it really concerned me when it apparently locked up my whole drive and I had to load the image.

Have you also tried disabling power down of HDD in Windows Power options advanced settings?
There is also a field for Link State Power Management which you can disable

chkdsk /r can take several hours to run even though it seems it's doing nothing.

It will tell you if there are bad sectors, etc. For example, I had a sandforce SSD with problems I only confirmed after running chkdsk /r not chkdsk /f which gave me error message unable to allocate spare sectors to repair bad sector.

I don't see why it would lock up the drive and make it unbootable. However I cannot guarantee C300 is compatible with chkdsk as I never tried it myself on a C300.
An alternative is to download trials of Acronis and make backup first. On a sandforce SSD Acronis locked up during backup giving me CRC error, another sign the SSD may be broken.

 

[Burner27]

Go into your BIOS and set the port your SSD is hooked up to 'Hot Swap Enabled' and see if that cures your issues.

 

[manderson]

Responding to the last two posts:

I just turned off the Link State Power Management in the PCI Express power option, so we'll see if this helps. Think I may have already done this with LPM registry edit I ended up applying for all ports.

As far as disabling power down for the HDD's, I have always had this and "Put the computer to sleep" set to two hours. If your recommendation is intened to allow time for GC and TRIM to perform their functions, I think two hours should be plenty. Please correct me if you had something else in mind.

Burner27 - Set the SSD's port to "Hot Swap Enabled" as you suggested.

So far the system is responding perfectly, but it's only been about 1/2 hour, so let's see what happens over the next few days.

One thing which might be interesting to note, when I first applied the LPM registry edit I did it for port 0 only, and the system seemed to respond very well. It was right after running the SSD Tweaker Pro Trim Optimization utility that the system seemed to immediately degrade, and I did log out for the recommended 1/2 hour (in fact, longer). I don't think I will be using this utility again.

Once again, thanks for the support.

 

[manderson]

chkdsk /r can take several hours to run even though it seems it's doing nothing.

It will tell you if there are bad sectors, etc. For example, I had a sandforce SSD with problems I only confirmed after running chkdsk /r not chkdsk /f which gave me error message unable to allocate spare sectors to repair bad sector.

I don't see why it would lock up the drive and make it unbootable. However I cannot guarantee C300 is compatible with chkdsk as I never tried it myself on a C300.
An alternative is to download trials of Acronis and make backup first. On a sandforce SSD Acronis locked up during backup giving me CRC error, another sign the SSD may be broken.

I wonder if the chkdsk I ran was in fact running, but there was nothing visible on the screen like there would be with a standard HDD. Maybe I should have let it sit with the blinking cursor for a while.

I own a copy of Acronis 2011. I use it to backup data files. It does well with an image. I've found that I prefer Windows 7 Backup for imaging, but it is pretty worthless for daily or weekly data backups.

 

[Burner27]

Also, if what i suggested doesn't resolve your issue, (leave it set to hot swap enabled) try disabling C3 and C6 reporting in your BIOS. You should find it under Advanced options.

 

[groberts101]

yep.. Burner is right on target here(although I would NOT set hotswap to enabled since that allows the drives to power transition as if they are external devices and your SSD/OS volume may not thank you for it).

C3/C6 states has great impact on these platforms nowadays and even causes bus/speed throttling issues as well. Worth disabling them even if only to test in the short-term.

 

[Burner27]

yep.. Burner is right on target here(although I would NOT set hotswap to enabled since that allows the drives to power transition as if they are external devices and your SSD/OS volume may not thank you for it).

Could you clarify/expand on the Power transition comment? I would like to know more of what you are talking about.

 

[manderson]

My C300 is working perfectly after turning off the Link State Power Management and setting the BIOS for the SSD Sata port to 'hot swap enabled'. I'll probably forward this information to Crucial because they certainly should have been able to isolate this issue with my first support call.

Thanks to both AnnihilatorX and Burner27 for the excellent support.

 

[Burner27]

Awesome!! I am glad we all could help you!

Edit: I didn't have to turn off LPM or use the registry hack for LPM.

 

[manderson]

Edit: I didn't have to turn off LPM or use the registry hack for LPM.

Cool... I've taken some sketchy notes all along and planned to isolate the exact fix. I'll turn on LPM for a while and see what happens. Maybe enabling hot swap is all there is to it. Thx again.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Cool... I've taken some sketchy notes all along and planned to isolate the exact fix. I'll turn on LPM for a while and see what happens. Maybe enabling hot swap is all there is to it. Thx again.

Glad it finally solved the problem. C300 is a very good SSD in my opinion more of a value than m4.

Hmm not sure about hotswap being exact fix, I have never turned on hot swap for my C300. But I did disable link state power management and used LPM registry. Then again though I remember having erratic behavior on my C300 when I first installed Windows, it wasn't very serious, like long-lit HDD light, and I wonder it was just my imagination.

 

[Burner27]

Glad it finally solved the problem. C300 is a very good SSD in my opinion more of a value than m4.

Hmm not sure about hotswap being exact fix, I have never turned on hot swap for my C300. But I did disable link state power management and used LPM registry. Then again though I remember having erratic behavior on my C300 when I first installed Windows, it wasn't very serious, like long-lit HDD light, and I wonder it was just my imagination.

I agree. This is why I selected the C300 over the M4 or any of the newest Intel or SF-based drives. I wanted a drive that was mature, reliable and quick. Me and Old Hippie had many discussions on which drives to get. I think between us, we have tested about 30 SSDs from many manufacturers and I took his advice and got the C300s. Don't get me wrong, I have used (and still do use) Intel G2 SSDs in my machine because they too are very reliable. But I wanted a SATA III drive for my new build and take advantage of the SATA III ports on my board. You should be very happy with your purchase and now that you fixed the issues you were having -- you can start enjoying it.

 

[Googer]

An alternative is to download trials of Acronis and make backup first. On a sandforce SSD Acronis locked up during backup giving me CRC error, another sign the SSD may be broken.

If you have a HDD with your SSD, then do what I do: Keep two copies of windows installed on both drives. The 2nd copy acts as an emergency boot disc (Floppy) for repair and offline backup of the primary drive.

It seems like you have issues with large transfers. Selectively do a small incremental manual backup of your critical files like MP3,Pictures, and documents while ignoring the OS and program files.