M17x R3 SSD Issue

I have windows running on an old 320gb mechanical drive. When I try to reinstall windows to my SSD, I can't install Intel RST, it BSOD me everytime about a minute into the computer running. On my mechanical I have it running and working fine, even trying to clone the drive over to the SSD it fails about aminute in. Is their any reason why Intel's RST won't work on my SSD, its a OCZ 120 GB Vertex 2.

Thanks
VA

 

I think the easiest way to install is to remove old 320gb hard drive do a clean installation on the ssd then replace mechanical hard drive?

You shouldn't be using the intel rst when your usin the ssd as the boot drive?

 

I do a clean install every time, yeah, for the most part I wouldn't care if I couldn't get it working but I want to use 30 gb of the SSD as a cache to speed up my spare mechanical drive to make that just as fast as the SSD, I don't need anything other than Windows on the boot drive and having all of my programs installed on my Data drive is easier because of the extra space.

 

could it be that it's not possible to accelerate the other drive while also using it as your primary drive? Just did a quick good search and couldn't find any info on how to use only part of an SSD as a cache drive.

 

Definitely remove the hard drive while trying to clean install Windows on your SSD. Have you been using this SSD a lot or did you just get it? One thing to do it to google "OCZ Vertex 2 SSD + Intel RST". I distinctly remember there were issues with older SSDs not playing nicely with the newer versions of Intel RST. The vertex 2 is definitely an older SSD so you should have a look-and-see if there are any compatibility issues with RST. Usually if there are, others will have figured out a workaround like using an older version of RST that works with the SSD in question.

 

Just curious why I need to remove the other HDD, I didn't do that and never have when reinstalling windows on other mechanical drives. Might try again and see if that helps.

Ive hade it for a while but havn't used in a couple months, got a bad virus/started getting filled. already had windows installed on another mechanical so I was up and running quick without having a windows install on a USB handy.

looking into that currently and seeing some thins about the OCZ toolbox not working with the Intel RST driver but no one saying they couldn't install the driver.

 

Have you followed THESE steps?

 

Not step by step per say, but the only thing that I can see that I didn't follow was installing the Drivers before optimizing for SSD, That and disabling the FreeFall sensor since I do have a mechanical drive as well.

I can't see why that would hinder me, but I don't know.

 

What SATA Operation do you have selected in the BIOS?

 

I have raid selected.

 

Try again a clean installation in AHCI and let's see what happens. Let me know please.

 

Definitely try with AHCI as Luis recommended. As far as removing the mechanical drive, I have had to do that when installing Windows on some machines (desktops and notebooks) because the Windows 7 installer will not recognize the SSD while a mechanical drive is still present. But that is more a BIOS issue. If you have been able to clean install Windows on your SSD while your old mechanical drive was still installed, then there shouldn't be any issues with that. Removing the mechanical drive just ensures that it isn't causing a conflict with your SSD during installation which could cause a faulty OS installation...ergo, errors and BSODs. If after all this the Intel RST still gives BSODs, try uninstalling it and running without it. As long as TRIM is enabled and SATA controller is using Windows' MSAHCI driver, then you should still be fine performance wise.

PS: if you plan to keep your mechanical drive installed as secondary drive, re-enable your freefall sensor.

 

I just tried reinstalling Windows under AHCI in the BIOS, install the driver fine get to the restart and it freezes still. Is their a way I can make a log of what its doing kind of like logging with a phone.

 

Two places you can check. One is under Event Viewer in the Administrative tools in Control Panels. Under Custom View, Administrative events, this list should show the error, warnings, and critical alerts for the system. Second spot is to go to Start Menu, in the search box type 'reliability' and the click view reliability history. The reliability history will show warnings and errors as well. Both methods list the alerts by date, then sorts them according to system, application, urgency, etc.

PS: have you checked you have the latest firmware for the Vertex 2? Just a thought. Maybe Intel RST triggered an underlying problem in the Vertex's firmware that is resolved by a newer firmware revision. Worth checking into.

 

I did look into that, and I think thats where my problem is, either I need to go to a newer version of the vertex 2 firmware or an older version of the RST driver, I used to have it installed no problem it was just when I tried re installing that it started messing up.

 

I was experiencing similar problems until I removed the hdd and left the vertex 4 by itself. No more freezing and BSOD.

 

Did you install windwos with the HDD still inside the computer or did you remove it before you installed windows.