How to confirm if an SSD is dead?

I have had an OCZ Vertex 2 for about a month. I used it as the primary drive (boot drive) in my laptop coupled with an hdd. Just recently, the computer would hang on boot, wouldn't finish POST.

I removed the SSD, and the machine made it through POST and then obviously said no operating system found.

I plugged the SSD into my desktop (yes after shutdown) SATA port, booted into windows, and it wasn't detected in disk management at all.

Should I just consider it dead and RMA? Or is there something else I can do to determine, or a way to resurrect it?

 

Thanks for the post.

I received a Vertex 2 60GB from Newegg yesterday.

I tried installing Windows 7, but it froze @ 64%. So, tried again, but this time it froze @ 95%. So, I tried again, but it froze @ 64% again. And then, I tried one more time and finally finished installing.

After that, I installed some necessary drivers. Everything went fine but the disk driver. It says no disk detected.

Anyway, my laptop seems to be working, so I tried AS SSD. The first run was OK, but the sequential read and write were lower than my Kingston SSD.

And then, I tried AS SSD Copy-Benchmark. The total score was 221 which seems to be low for the Vertex 2.

So, I tried a few more times, but I got BSOD each time.

Also, my T9900 temp went up high like 62C @ idle. After I put my Kingston SSD back in, the temp went back to normal like 33~36C.

I'm thinking about putting a Vertex 2 into a secondary drive bay as a data drive, but maybe it's not worth trying.

 

I forgot to mention one thing. I updated the firmware also. Initially, the firmware update application didn't see my Vertex 2. So, I ran as administrator and it detected my Vertex 2 and I was able to update the FW. But, my laptop was still running hot and I got BSOD every time when I tried AS SSD.

As Phil mentioned, I shouldn't run AS SSD so often though.

 

Sorry to hear about your SSD. My advice: Create a thread on the OCZ forum and you will get probably quick help from people in the know.

 

The FS might also be damaged. Try running CHDSK -f on the drive to check that the FS isn't corrupted.

 

The problem is, I can't boot with it, and it isn't seen in Windows, or even detected in Windows Disk Manager. So there's no way to scan anything.

As many problems as I've had with SSD's I'm really ready to just sell them all and go back to traditional hard drives. I will probably partition my Momentus XT in my laptop for now and use 60GB for boot and rest for data until I can get this sorted out.

 

I put my Vertex 2 in the second bay, but I didn't see it during POST. Windows 7 didn't see the dive either of course.

And then, I tried restarting my laptop, but it won't even boot anymore. So, I removed the drive and all went back to normal.

I was so excited about getting a Vertex 2 as I have heard lots of great things about it. I even used the overnight shipping. I'm very disappointed. Oh well I'm going to return this thing.

 

HRK have you tried posting on the OCZ forum? That's where the expertise is.

 

I don't have a V2, I have an Inferno (same controllers basically) and can say that if you do need the performance of an SSD, it is worth exchanging until you find one that is not DOA.

The SandForce based SSD's are simply the best we have right now (for notebooks) and all others that I've tried do not compare when maximum performance is the goal.

If you can wait till sometime in early 2011, I would - but if you can put the purchase to good use now, keep trying to get a copy that is glitch free (in your system).

Just know that if it is your system and not the drive, don't spend too much time with it. (Search user Pirx for his troubles). But if an exchange or two brings the results you originally hoped for - you shouldn't be disappointed in the end.

Good luck.

 

Sure Phil, I'm going to. This incident just happened so quickly... Thanks for all your advice so far. I truly appreciate it.

 

Thanks very much for your advice. I'll check Pirx's post.

 

I am seriously considering just selling the SSD's I have except for my netbook, and use the momentus xt in my laptop until I get a new machine when Sandy Bridge comes along.

 

I saw your post @ OCZ forum. Good luck!

Well, mine is going back to Newegg. I mean mine is obviously defective (OS installation failed 4 times to begin with).

Hope the new one works perfectly.

 

No replies yet. I guess you might as well start the RMA process.

 

Yeah, I submitted for an RMA. I'm just disappointed in general. Between this and the trouble I've had with my Intel 80GB it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth considering the cost of these things. Warranty or not, with an MTBF of 2 million hours, drives dying are happening all too often.

Not to mention the ridiculously high power consumption of the Kingston V-series. I am really ready to sell that too just to get more battery life.

At this point, I may just put the RMA Vertex 2 in my netbook (seems like a waste), sell the two V-series SSD's I have and the 80GB and 40GB Intel's I have and wait a while before I go with another SSD.

 

Best of Luck! Anyways , i contribute this song to ur now dead SSD!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLO_4TakRiw