SSD - Huge problems, cannot do anything, format, install xp

Hi,

I am at my wits end with this new sandisk sata ssd 32gb laptop drive I have bought.

I installed XP and it worked perfectly

Then, while installing the sp2 there was an error.

PC rebooted and gives me "unmountable_boot_volume" with a BSOD

I have tried every single tool I can think of to try and access this drive.

DOS

win 98 dos tools - gives me full access to the drive, lets me do anything I want. Then I reload the drive and nothing has changed. I tried formatting etc and it was successful, but when i load up the HD, windows is still on there

xp recovery - examines HD, but cannot partition, delete partition or new install. - also cannot use fdisk, format, fixmbr, fixboot etc.


In Windows

Whenever I attach the SSD drive my whole PC slows down. I can barely do anything. I managed to see where the drive should be in the disk management in xp, however, it says there is a problem seeing the disk.


All this seem kind of strange, as its a fairly new SSD and I doubt its just failing. It must be something to do with the XP install I did, because I havent been able to rescue it since. I think it may have been caused by a Virus.

If anyone has any thoughts I would really apppreciate them.

I am going to try Active Kill Disk now, however I am not holding out much hope!

 

Actually, it does sound like its a bad disk. You may have gotten a lemon.

 

strange thing is it was working fine until blimmin service pack 2 screwed it up.

Is there any way to low leve format a ssd drive, completely wipe it etc?

 

It sounds to me like you neglected to slipstream the AHCI driver on installation of XP. Is that possible? I ask because it is the sole reason your drive is unmountable as it is not recognized without the Hard Disk manager (AHCI driver)

 

I will check this AHCI thing out because I dont know much about it. Thanks for the tip.

Its strange, when I load the drive with winxp it loads fine but dies half way through with "unmountable_boot_volume" error.

If I try to do a fresh xp install, the xp OS that is on there isnt recognised (usually I can see C:\windows) and xp setup just takes me straight to the partition . I try to delete and it gives me an error and only leaves me with f3 option to quit.

 

Yes... I am not an xp fan but know that it has to be installed prior to the XP installation for the ssd to be recognized. Perhaps one with this specific knowledge could jump in.

 

Does this also mean that I can format the SSD SATA drive using a USB extended SATA hard drive enclosure?

Its weird, its like I dont have any write access to the drive, I can read it, but cannot format, write to it etc. Partition Manager shows the drive, but contains errors on all the functions.

Some software like Active Kill Disk can work over a USB - might this work?

 

I cannot answer that as I have not done so. The ssd is no diffferent than a normal harddrive that requires AHCI to be recognized and function properly.

I am sure if you search the threads you will find proper direction on this.

My advice...dump XP. (eheheh)

 

A usual way to install XP on any sata drive (ssd, hdd, whatever) is to set the bios to compatibility (or ide) mode, install xp, install sata drivers, then set the bios to ahci (or sata) mode. Otherwise, xp can exhibit the problems you describe.

 

I have changed my bios to AHCI and still not working.

There is a raid driver for my mboard, however no sata driver. As far as I know on my laptop "Clevo D901C" SATA drivers are not needed.

On this Clevo I dont have a floppy so I have no idea how to install the Raid drivers, should I need to use them, let alone the sata drivers on the winxp f6 bit.

The HD booted up fine 3 times at the beginning with a fresh install of winxp. I installed the service packs 1 and 2. Then I find I have the error "unmountable_boot_volumes" with the BSOD. If this is the case, how can AHCI help me, if it was working already with the bios set to normal rather than AHCI?

At first is appeared the HD had become read only. I could see files/folders but not delete, install over them. However, now it has turned into a full blown "cannot find the disk" situation.

recovery takes me to c:/ and i run check disk and it tells me "no valid drives found"

Tried win98 setup tools, to fdisk the drive, doesnt work either

tried partition manager doesnt work, finds a ton of errors.

I thought SSD drives were supposed to be unbreakable, this one is only a few weeks old.

 

Well, it looks like you drive is a lemon.
I would return the drive to the manufacturer, stating its problems, they should be able to give you a new one, without any questions asked.

K-TRON

 

I don't believe its broken. I believe you have to install the AHCI driver and it has to be installed properly in order for the volume to be recognized.

I am not familiar with any ssds that work in ATA mode given exception to the IDE ssds in use. As far as SATA though, I only know of their use with AHCI.

This was an early problem with Sony compatability which was corrected.

I cannot help with XP whatsoever as it is (sorry personal comment coming here as the XP complaints recur...) antiquated and would suggest a clean install with Vista to see if it works.

EDIT! With respect to the Sandisk drive, I hope you are aware of the background that seems to be still occuring, this being extremely slow write speeds and pausing at times which freezes the systam and forces a reboot. This doesn't mix with the volume (ssd) not being recognized however.

 

Thanks for all your help.

ok - i have tried all these things and its still not working.

I dont think its a lemon, I just think XP has done something to the disk to cause it to freeze due to the partitioning.

I have tried installing vista with scsi drivers for my mboard - this doesnt work and is stuck on "collecting information" during the install process.

XP - does pretty much the same, i load the scsi drivers and then after examining the hard drive is stuck on "examining setup information"

I have tried all the dos boot systems I can think of. Partition Magic, Gparted. All result in different errors.

I am at a loss to explain this and reckon I have invested a lot more time in trying to fix it then the drive is worth. Maybe if thats what is defined as a lemon, that is what I got.

I really dont see why this happened in the first place as for the first 3 times xp booted beautifully - without any additional drivers whatsoever. The only problem occured once SP2 was installed.

There is also a sandisk utility for their USB drives, u reckon this might work if I buy a sataII external HD case? - http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1354

The HD light is blinking on/off each 30 seconds.

Should I just leave the "collecting information" part running on Vista for hours ?
Could it be that the drive is just really slow to respond?
Does "collecting information" mean that Vista is formatting the drive?

Cheers for all your help so far

 

ok tried vista recovery and ran chkdsk. I am getting cannot check disk becuase volume is "write protected" not sure what this means

 

Just a thought, but can you try to "Boot using last known good configuration" and see if it makes any difference?

 

yep tried that quite a few times, doesnt work in safe mode either