i7 X220 won't detect MyDigitalSSD SandForce based msata

I'm cross posting this from i7 X220 won't detect MyDigitalSSD SandForce based ... - Lenovo Community

I have a mydigitalssd msata card that I just got and it's not detected in my laptop. It's the smart series 256 gb with the sandforce controller. the laptop is model 4286cto with the i7 CPU and usb 3.0. I have worked with mydigitaldiscount and am continuing to work with them but in the mean time I want to see if anyone else has had a similar issue or has any ideas. I have thus far had good interactions with them and their support.

I have upgraded and downgraded the firmware various time, from 1.31 to 1.19 and i'm on 1.28 right now. I did this because i know the X220 with the i7 used to have issues with msata that was fixed in bios 1.18. the msata card has 2 led's on it, they both momentarily light up on boot, then one of them stays solid on blue after that. The bios does not seem to detect anything for this device. If i go to the diagnostic splash screen it does not detect it, if I hit f12 for the boot manager I don't see the msata ssd. If i go into windows device manager i don't see the ssd. If i do an lspci in linux I don't see the ssd, if i do an fdisk -l i don't see it, nor do i see it in the dmesg.

MyDigitalDiscount was great and cross shipped a replacement to me right away, they got my old one back and tested it and said it worked fine, the new one exhibits the exact same problem and they tested it before shipment.

I'm at my wit's end here. I'm down to thinking the ssd is incompatible with the laptop (bios/msata port although the tech support dude said his test rig was an x220), I have a bad msata slot, or I'm half retarded and missing something completely obvious.

I took a wwan card and plugged it into the laptop from my worklaptop and it detected it and came up as being on the blacklist (which is fine at least it detected something). I knwo this isn't definitive a working mpcie doesn't necessarily mean a working msata, but i think it's a good sign.

I've been doing IT for a long time and I like to think I'm pretty good at it, however I've never used an msata card before and admit I could be missing something, I just don't know what.


UPDATE: Resolved!

It was a bad motherboard. The msata ssd works perfectly now that I got the planar replaced.

 

Obviously another test would be to try a different mSATA brand and model.

Or try the mSATA drive you do have on another Sandy/Ivy Bridge based ThinkPad.

You might ping Les at The SSD Review. He may have some ideas what to do.

 

unfortunately I don't have access to another msata card. I do have other laptops but i'm not sure if they are msata compatible. I have a dell latitude e6410 i5, and an HP Elitebook 8540p (1st gen i7).

 

Thanks, I spoke with les one of this thoughts were that my msata port is bad, which has crossed my mind. I'll talk with mydigitaldiscount on Monday and see if they have any other thoughts... good thing i just upped the warranty on my lenovo before it expired, next business day on site, so hopefully they can send someone out with a new motherboard.

 

that points to the mSATA slot working but the card itself being incompatible.   try an mSATA SSD with a different controller or one from a different company to test compatibility.

please try a different SSD before wasting service on a new planar.   your card's on-board diagnostics are telling you that the card isn't compatible, as is the response in your thread from goretsky on the lenovo forum.

all signs point to the card so that's where you should start troubleshooting.   if you can't get a known-compatible SSD working, then you might need a different planar.   however, i'd be absolutely surprised if that were the case.

 

unfortunately i don't have access to another brand/type msata card and the engineer at mydigitalssd runs the exact same laptop as me and has tested this very card before shipping it out to me. On Monday i'll followup with him a bit more.

 

It's always possible the PCIe slot on you machine is bad. Considering a unit you have worked on another ThinkPad of the same model, it does start to point the finger that direction.

 

ask the engineer exactly what config he has including CPU and BIOS revision.   it's possible that your mSATA socket is bad but i tend to think that the coincidence of others with MDD mSATA SSD issues is too high to point immediately to the planar.   it would make more sense for MDD to ship you an SSD with a different controller to see if it's their product at fault.   it's certainly the least expensive part to replace.

also, please try BIOS 1.31 again and reset your BIOS to default settings (press F9 at the home BIOS screen).

 

I will contact the vendor in the morning and go through the bios settings, cpu, and other configurations.

With each version of the bios i tried i made sure to load default settings. I already am back on 1.31

I didn't think this would do anything as the bios does not detect the device, but if i have to contact lenovo i'm sure it's the first thing they will ask me to do, I have just finished a factory restore after creating an image of my disk to another hard drive and no difference as expected.

 

well I worked with the engineer and we're both stumped we're heavily leaning towards a bad msata slot. I just came up with an idea i'm looking for someone to help me test. I won't be able to get in touch with the mydigitaldiscount dude until Thursday.

I have a theory that may confirm a bad msata port. The msata port is just an mpcie slot with extra circuitry for the sata bus in it. It should accept any mcpie card. If I am correct this means that I should be able to take my wlan card out of the half height slot and put it into the full height, and it should be detected.

I did just that and the os did not detect the device at all.

Could someone else please try this and confirm? If someone else tries this and their os does detect the wlan card in the different slot I think I can confirm a bad msata port.

 

Send me your drive and I'll pop it into my T420 and tell you if it works there.

 

I appreciate the offer, but my concern isn't the drive being bad, it's my msata slot being bad, my system board not being msata compatible, or specifically compatible with this device.

I'm trying to determine if it's a bad socket on the system board in any way I can with out having access to another msata card. I don't want to have to pay for shipping back and fourth to vendor a dozen times. So if the wlan card is compatible with the slot, I would think testing it is a good start to identify a bad slot.

I found this pdf at support.lenovo.com
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/0a60739_04.pdf

on page 119 there is an 80 gb intel (fru 45N8259) msata card listed as being supported for (4286-cto), which is my machine type. I looked up at the sticker under the dimm socket for my motherboard (fru 04W3294), and it's listed on page 112 for 4286cto. This says to me that my system is compatible with msata.

 

I think all X220(i)s are compatible with mSATA SSDs as they all share the same Board.

 

UPDATE: Resolved!

It was a bad motherboard. The msata ssd works perfectly now that I got the planar replaced.