UX32VD - Can't see ISSD instead of that I've got "Sandisk Milpitas SSD"

Hi,
I've got such problem. I have Asus Zenbook UX32vd, and I've got problem with iSSD. I bouth it as 2 weeks old computer from my friend, he tried to format disk before selling and he has deleted all partitions. When I've got it, I restore partitions on iSSD, and installed Windows 8. Wverything works fine, I've had only one problem. Boots time was killing me (5-6 minutes). Yesterdey I've decided to change 500g harddrive to 120GB Kingstone V300 SSD drive. When I was preparing laptop to disk replacement I've seend in boot options "Sandisk Milpitas SSD" instead of iSSD device. I thought that, during installation windows on the new hard drive I will be able to format issd and use it as extra disk space. Unfortunatly "Sandisk Milpitas SSD" has only 16Kib space and I can't format it or make a new partition on the device. I've tried us partition magic, ubuntu partition manager and diskpart on windows (in diskpart I see hard drive with 0mb disk space and "no media" comment".

Is it any way to restore factory issd state and use it normally? I can't send laptop to RMA because it is my only computer and I need it to work. System knows that there is such disk in the system but I don't have any access to it. I've got all the newest drivers from Asus site.

Kind regards,
Sebastian Krystosik

 

Maybe an incompatibility? Try flashing the BIOS. You can also try putting the old drive back in to see if it picks up the iSSD. If it does, that Kingston might not work with the iSSD (although I've never heard of this happening - it would be a first).

 

I've tried to go back to the previous configuration, I've also tried to flash bios (all versions available). Nothing change. This issue was before I replace hd.



I see something like that in one of the disk info programs.

EDIT:
Asus service told me that they don't know how it has happend. They told me that they think I have some software problems, not hardware (because I see in boot menu this issd disk. The problem is, how to repair the filesystem or partition table to get into it. I still have only 16kib space (I checked in partition magic). If I can format it and make it NTFS I will be happy. I don't really need express cache, but I want use it.

 

When you've tried reformatting it with the programs you've mentioned, what happened (even though they didn't work, what results did you get)? And did Asus offer any solution for recovering the iSSD?

 

Asus told me that they don't know what's going on and they send request to producer. I can't format issd because there is no partition on in, also no volume. I see it no space drive. I can't create partition or volume on it.

Here is image from parted magic:

Screenshot partagé sur ZimageZ par skrystos

 

You should be able to remove the iSSD. Try running the computer without the iSSD, along with a fresh install. I recently toyed around with changing/modifying the iSSD in my laptop. The original iSSD is a GPT partition that has a lock that prevents people from modifying the volumes/partitions. From my other thread:

 

Cool, but according to my computer there is no partition on iSSD. Next thing is that I don't see now iSSD on diskpart. But there is "Sandisk Milpitas SSD" on boot list and cristal disk info. If it can be helpful I also don't see the issd in hardware manager (from the beginning of this problem)

"DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 111 GB 0 B
* Disk 1 No Media 0 B 0 B

DISKPART> list partition

There are no partitions on this disk to show.

DISKPART>"

As you can see I've made issd visible using parted magic, but I can't do anything with this disk.

Edit:

Ok first of all, my system see SSD disk as Generic Ultra HS-SD/MMC USB Device. I don't know why but I'm shure that is my SSD drive. (card reader is other device in system). When I tried several Times to delete and add this device to system, I've got one more deisk device. This is unknown device. With no space, no partiton but it is online.

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 111 GB 0 B
Disk 1 No Media 0 B 0 B
Disk 2 Online 0 B 0 B

DISKPART> select disk 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

There are no partitions on this disk to show.

In device manager I can see that it is Ata disk so it is my SSD. But I don't know how to do something with it. I don't see it on parted magic or any other linux distro.

 

Does the lock hide/mask the partition, as the OP is experiencing?

 

Nah, the the lock only prevents a GPT partition from being modified. Looking at his diskpart, it looks like op's iSSD has bad firmware. Even without any volumes or partitions, diskpart would still report the correct size of a disk. In his case, it's showing as 0, which definitely isn't normal and makes me think that either the disk itself is bad (firmware), the alignment on the iSSD somehow got messed up, or a combination of the two.

Best thing for him to do at this point is to physically remove the iSSD drive so he has at least a working computer; this is assuming that it's a problem with the drive, and not the mSATA controller on the motherboard itself (unlikely). I'm not sure if op has an mSATA adapter + external SATA hard drive dock that connects over USB, but if he does it'll be easier to diagnose and adress with the iSSD connected to that, to rule out the controller. It'll also make it easier to run any SanDisk firmware update tools or utilities, if they offer them.

 

I thought that ISSD is a part of motherboard. Is it any option to remove it and connect to any adapter? I saw sandisk issd on motherboard and it looks like normal chip.



According to my knowledge after looking at motherboard ISSD chip is under black tape in the left middle of this photo. I don't see the way how to disconnect it. It is not Sandisk U100 (on msata) but Sandisk I100.

http://www.sandisk.com/products/embedded/issd/

I'm thinking about buying "onsite" warranty option, and call for guy to replace my motherboard. But I'm afraid that they will tell me it is my fault, becaus I changed hard drive from stock hitachi 500GB to kingston v300 SSD. This issd issue I've got before replacing the disk, and going back to it changes nothing... I don't know what to do. It's 4 weekd computer, not the cheap one and such problems. Ofcourse I can work without ISSD, becaus laptop works normally, but I want have everything working fine on new machine....

 

Yeah that's definitely it to the right of the CPU in that pic. It doesn't look like it is removable, but it's still worth a look, since it's a problem part in your laptop. In my laptop (S56) it's a removable mSATA card.

EDIT: I just looked into it, your laptop uses microSSD BGA form factor, which is a chip, soldered onto the mobo

 

It's mounted to the motherboard. If I can I would buy a new chip and replace it, but I can't I think only one I can do now is Asus service... But for know they don't want to replace motherboard because they are trying to make an idiot from me and told me it's drivers fault. There are some posts with simmular problem (issd not showing on device manager), and they havetheir motherboard replaced.

 

I do believe that the iSSD is soldered to the board, so I'm not sure how practical it would be to remove it. And if the firmware on the iSSD is indeed bad, they BETTER not give you any flack. Replacing a hard drive should not cause firmware corruption on the iSSD, so it seems unreasonable for them to point the finger at you.

 

I know that, so I will try to call for service guy and we'll see...

 

Sorry to bring up this post again, but it is really urgent.

How did this end up?

I bought a Readycache drive to try to put into my Sony S13 using an ODD->HDD bay. The SSD is only seen as Sandisk Milpitas SSD EXCEPT when I try connecting it to my pc using a eHDD usb cable.

 

Hello,

I have the same issue on my ultrabook device (NP530).
In diskpart, the iSSD disk is displayed as an empty device (or only 16Kb) instead of 20GB.
How can I restore it ?

Best Regards,