m18xR2 - msata won't boot half the time

weird issue not sure what the problem is the SSD is brand new, when my computer crashes - half the time i have to click it on and off several times before the msata boots...the drive itself seems perfectly fine...any ideas? once its booted there are no issues with how windows runs off the msata

im ready to migrate windows to my main SSD because of it but id rather not

 

I had these kind of problem with my old desktop. I tried numerous stuff. But eventually at the end CHIP-SET driver did the work. Maybe it will help you...Try reinstalling chip-set driver and give it a go...

 

try reseating the msata cable, it's near the memory slots if memory servers me right xD no pun intended

 

i don't see any cable the mSATA socket looks soldered to the motherboard

http://i45.tinypic.com/4uihbl.jpg

in any case i did a full clone today and im running windows off my 2.5" SSD now...i THINK the problem may only have started when I upgraded the mSATA drive to the 850 EVO

 

Checked the pic on the internet since i'm not at my M18x to check...

That slot is not soldered to motherboard lol, its mounted on the case and connected with a cable... the cable plugs just next to where the CMOS battery connects to the motherboard... between the ram slots, cmos battery and the laptop battery.

 

since moving windows from msata to 2.5" ssd i haven't had any issue booting ...just following up if anyone else has that issue

 

the mSATA 850 EVO 1TB has completely failed, won't even show up in BIOS anymore, BUT still works when put into an external mSATA>USB3 enclosure

the drive pretty much had issues from day one maybe i got a defective unit, i put my old mSATA back in and it works fine

EDIT: i dont know about other people but looking at the max temps that the mstata ssd ever reached in my alienware its almost 90C (i force fans to full while gaming)...i think the placement of the slot is going to contribute to failure...with fans forced the temps obviously stay lower so im guessing when the fans aren't forced the temps in the msata go to critical levels

 

Edit:

Sorry, I confused your issue with SATA. I didn't even know mSATA was available on the R2 lol!

Just came across your post, I think we might be experiencing the same thing.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...d-now-boot-drive-not-detected-by-bios.793614/

To sum up, I believe I had a boot drive failure (the original 256GB SSD that came with the unit in 2012) and replaced it with an 500GB 850 Evo and reinstalled the OS. Upon reinstalling, the secondary pre-existing 850 Evo was no longer seen in RAID, so I thought I could temporarily switch from RAID to AHCI with the boot drive removed to see if the secondary drive would at least appear in BIOS. I then reverted to RAID and then put the boot drive back in and then, to my chagrin, it wouldn't boot! So I had to reinstall the OS twice in a row, after making hours worth of changes, installing programs and downloading all of the updates mind you.

But, now that I am in AHCI, the secondary drive is present but not exactly completely accounted for.

In Samsung Magician, it is showing as being connected to a SATA 1 port and it's read and write speeds are a measly 130 MBPS. I am currently simply using it as a storage drive as I look into what kind of warranty, if any, it has. The paperwork that came with the new 850 Evo indicates a 90 day warranty (lol). So I might be out of luck here.

I am tempted to purchase a large capacity external drive, pull all of the data off of it, and then re-format it to see if it is the drive. If it isn't the drive then it might be the SATA connector or worse, maybe the motherboard.

On a positive note, now that I am on ACHI I've gained access to the primary 850 Evo's "RAPID" mode and I'm seeing 6 GBPS read and write speed! It is really fast.

Snapshot showing secondary drive SATA 1 "bug?" and CrystalDiskMark with RAPID mode on primary. This is with Chrome and about 30 tabs and GTA 5 launcher open with about 87% of the disk full.

When the disk was empty and no programs running it hit 6 GBPS read/write.

 

the mSATA 1TB drive is IMO a good product because ive never had an issue with one in my thinkpad BUT for the specific application of the m18xr2 i think that you should avoid using msata because the heat causes failure and dismounting because of the location of the mSATA slot

im warrantying the drive and if it fails again i will either give it to my friend or use it in an external usb3 or 2.5" adapter shell

the 2.5" drives don't suffer from these issues because they are on the opposite side of the computer where heat is not an issue

if i could go back i would have bought another 2TB evo ssd

 

I wonder how much the 1 and 2TB 850 Evo's are going for now that the 4TB version is out. I should have considered more capacity but I wasn't expecting my secondary 850 Evo to suddenly have issue.

I've updated my post above with my CrystalDiskMark scores with RAPID enabled and the secondary drive's error displayed in Samsung Magician. Also visible are my drive temps with the unit simply elevated, no cooler to speak of. Yeah 90C is INSANE, I have no idea how your drive hit those temps. I would consider a 2.5" 850 Evo as replacement and switching to AHCI to enable RAPID mode.

 

my CPU runs at 90C that's why it hits those temps...because its next to the CPU and has no fan over it

i run 5 drives and all of them in AHCI...i don't run RAID

 

90C? It's either time for a repaste and / or youre running too much Flex VID. CLU doesn't last forever!

I have Flex set to 12 in BIOS with an additional 4 via Throttle Stop at 4.2GHz and an additional 6 at 4.3GHz.

I just did a repaste with Gelid GC Extreme and my temps don't get out of the high 70's even under sustained load with the fans set to 3700 RPM via Hwinfo64. Oh and elevate!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/the-ultimate-cooling-mod-to-end-all-cooling-mods.586490/

 

everyone needs a different amount of voltage for stability, that's a basic rule of overclocking

as a followup, my msata slot itself appears to have failed