Precision M4500 BSOD on wake-up

Title says it: My M4500 reliably crashes, every time after I wake it up from sleep. I have it set to be locked on wake-up, so I do get the Welcome screen to log-on after it wakes up, but when I try to log-on it crashes immediately after entering the password. Slightly annoying, one might say...

This machine runs Win7 Ultimate 64bit, and I replaced the original hard drive with a Crucial C300 onto which I copied the original factory image the Dell came with. Anybody have any advice what could be done to fix this? Something about sleep states for the SSD maybe? Thanks in advance!

 

I'm going to say video drivers? What is the BSOD code?

 

I doubt it. It's an F4 code (critical object termination, X64_0xF4_IOERR_C000000E_IMAGE_hardware_disk, type 0) associated with being temporarily unable to read the disk. I am almost certain it has to do with the SSD.

 

Ahh. Mmk. I'm interested to see where this goes now. I don't know much about SSD's, but this is interesting.

 

Yeah... Found another guy with the exact same problem, on a Sony VAIO. In his case he had a BIOS option to set a different sleep state, which fixed it for him. I don't have these options in my BIOS. Other options seem to be SATA mode settings. I tried both AHCI and Raid On (IRRT), both lead to crashes. I could try ATA mode, I suppose, but that would lead to reduced functionality. I'll keep looking...

Update: Checked some more, and am pretty much convinced by now it's an SSD problem. Lots of people seem to be having sleep issues with SSDs. Bleeding edge crap, those SSDs. I am going to check tomorrow by putting in the previous hard drive, and restoring my disk image on it. If this one doesn't crash, then I am going to dump that POS SSD, and install a Seagate Momentus XT.

 

Pirx,

What you might try if you haven't already is use all the different Power modes in Windows and see if one allows you to resume without crashing.

Good luck.

 

Which power modes do you mean?

 

In the control panel, under power settings it gives you "Balanced", "Power Saver", and "High Performance".

Try Balanced. (If that's not what it already is. Windows ships standard on Balanced.)

 

And please don't hesitate to let us know when and if you get a resolution. If there's problem with SSDs, I think we'd all like to know.

Incidentally, I know it may be too soon for anything definitive yet, but since you've already stated the problems exists outside of Dell, do you suspect it would occur with all SSDs or just specific brands/models/generations?

 

Hard to tell, but I saw a couple of posts on Crucial's forum that implicated my specific model of SSD (C300). On the other hand, I am fairly sure that this SSD will probably work fine at least with some models and configurations of laptops. Like you said, I cannot say anything definite that's more general than my particular SSD, on my particular M4500.

Oh, one thing I noticed, it looks like more often than not, the machines having sleep issues are running 64-bit Windows 7, and for that OS Microsoft offers a hotfix for what looks like a similar issue. I installed the hotfix, but it didn't help.

 

H.A.L. 9000 guessed right Pirx.

Have you had a chance to try them yet?

I am guessing that the High Performance power mode might fix it. (I don't know why - just do).

Oh, and when you're testing with the new modes - do a reboot at least twice to see if it stays on the power mode you selected.

 

Alright, here's my results: Tried high-performance, and a couple of other modes for good measure. None of them help in any way: After waking up, the laptop displays the Welcome Screen, and then, after I type in the password, it hangs for maybe ten seconds or so with the spinning circle, saying "Welcome", and then BSOD.

I then copied the image on the SSD over to a regular hard drive and ran the machine off of that drive. Result: No problems with wake-up from sleep.

My conclusion: This SSD does not work properly in my M4500. I am going to dump it and get a Seagate XT. I'm done with SSDs for a while. I'll give it another try maybe when the next-generation Intels come out, sometime next year. It may well be that any other SSD would work just fine in this laptop, and it might also be that this C300 will work just fine in any other laptop, but I just don't have the time to waste on this cr@p. Once they start selling SSDs that actually work, I'll consider them again.

 

Pirx,

Too bad it didn't help. I have to agree with you though about SSD's... They're still toys in my eyes (too small, not enough speed difference from my reference systems and still too inconsistent/undependable in a production setting.

I am still using my Inferno 100GB because it is 'shake/drop' proof in my 'digital notebook' i3 based system - but that doesn't stop me from eyeing the 500GB XT's that are on sale for a mere third of the cost and 5 times the capacity.

The way it is working on the i3 based system (vs. an identically clocked (2.26Ghz) VAIO P8400 system with an 500GB XT) I would never be able to get the same work done if the Inferno was in the VAIO.


I too am looking to Intel to take the performance, dependability and compatibility lead once more.

 

Yes, looks like we see things eye-to-eye on this topic. In particular regarding real-world speed difference. Regardless of all the hype around SSDs, yes, they are faster, but disk speed is only one part of the picture for many people. Plus, comparing my M4500 with SSD to my main workstation, an M6400 with dual Seagate XTs in RAID0/RAID1, the difference is non-existent for all practical intents and purposes. Actually, the M6400 sometimes (when it has the file(s) I work with in its cache, I suppose) feels snappier, despite the nominally slower processor and mechanical drives. RAID definitely helps there, of course. Finally, I really don't feel like wasting my time worrying about what bits get erased how on the drive, and how much wear/performance deterioration I might incur by using my disk. The fact that people do, and have to think about stuff like that is a prime indicator for me that SSDs really aren't quite there yet.

 

Pirx,

I thought I would never find someone to agree with me about (current) SSD's!

Looks like we both know how to setup our 'old tech' mechanical systems with maximum performance for our specific needs.

I still look forward to end of 2010/early 2011 SSD offerings though (to test).

 

I agree with both of you. The only SSD that I have bought and not given another thought about is the one in my Viliv S5. It runs over ZIF PATA so it doesn't support TRIM, or anything extravagant, and it's controller is very basic, but it's still faster than a 4200RPM 1.8" mech disk. When I don't have to worry about wear leveling and TRIM and whether or not it's actually performing TRIM and all the firmware updates for the controllers, then I might start buying into them again. The one I have in my E6400 is SLC Intel Extreme and it's been good to me so far, even through a bad car accident, but I still question it's price-to-performance ratio quite a bit.

 

And then there were three...

H.A.L. 9000,

I can easily agree that almost any SSD (even the 'early' ones) is faster than a 4200 RPM HD - especially one that is 1.8"!

I had a few 1" IBM Micro Drive's @ 340MB and 1GB capacity for my Nikon D1. Even spinning at 4500 RPM, they were still ridiculously slow (5-6 MB/s?), but still amazing technology over a decade ago.

 

Two weeks ago, I installed an Intel 510 256GB SSD into my M4500. It works without any problems incl. wakeup from sleep. The price of an Intel SSD is a little bit higher and Intel no longer wins the performance crown, but Intel is my preferred choice for the trouble free operation.

 

This is the kind of problem that why I keep on saying get Intel if possible.