SSD works great only sometimes

I have installed 3 SSD's in 3 different CF-19K machines without complete success. They all run XP SP3. The computers run fine with conventional hard drives. I used a FOG server (Free Open-Source Ghost) to create a sysprep image and re-install the XP image on all 3 machines with new SSD's in place. I have done this exact same thing with other Toughbook models with no problem, including CF-18's with a IDE to SATA adapter that I modified.

My problem lies in the fact that my computers will randomly hang, but they don't crash. They just sit there for a few minutes processing nothing. If I walk away and come back, "surprise", they come back from Disney land. They do not behave this way when the old HD's are installed.

They are Mushkin Callisto SSD Deluxe drives. I called Mushkin and they told me that the controller in those drives is newer and I could upgrade the firmware with the firmware of the Chronos series of drives. I successfully did that but that did not resolve my problem.

I also installed the latest and greatest RST drivers from Intel.

I did most of the major tweaks on a OCZ document floating around. Some registry tweaks and patches. Did not resolve my issues.

So now I am turning to you fine folks to see if there is something I missed. I read some folks disabling the AHCI driver and using the MS generic drivers but when I do that I get BSOD. Any ideas?

I could not find any BIOS updates for the CF-19K series.

Thank you

 

1) you have to install Win7/8 to use SSD. These OS's know about SSD's TRIM capability and work more carefully with them;
2) you can use Paragon alignment tool;
3) check whether caching is enabled in device manager for your drive;
4) I recommend to use Fancycache for SSD drive. Must have software

Anyway, it's not a toughbook problem

 

Thanks for the reply.

Win7/8 is not going to be an option for me. This fleet of Toughbooks is aging and I plan to run them into the ground with XP. They are only used in the field to run a proprietary program and access the web.

When you say "check to see if caching is enabled in device manager" are you saying it is best to have it enabled or disabled?

I will check out the other tools you suggested.

Thanks

 

I am running XP on my CF-19MK1 with no problems BUT I only use intel SSD's in all my Toughbooks. Mushkin SSD's have been having a lot of problems...I would check out the reviews and see if your problem is like others that have bought them.

 

No problem running XP on a SSD....you don't need Trim, you need garbage collection.

Check your Partition Alignment....if the starting offset is wrong it will run like a drunk donkey.:hi2:

You want AHCI....you do NOT want anything from OCZ....especially a load of crap about registry tweaks.

We have all got our own ideas....fresh install is the way to go. :thumbsup:

 

I too agree...most forums will tell you to do a fresh install when installing a SSD.

 

I don't care what anyone says here. I had a $500 256GB Crucial SSD crap out on my in my C1 because trim wasn't working correctly! I use Win 7 pro 32 bit too!!!!! If trim isn't working right, you'll have problems in the long run! PERIOD!

Long and short of it? Be SURE to run win 7! (Don't even consider XP, garbage collection alone is NOT NOT NOT enough!). Also be sure to have the LATEST AND GREATEST Intel SATA drivers!!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! I learned the HARD WAY!

 

^^^^It sounds like you are suggesting that every SSD used on XP or Raid Arrays craps out because of NO Trim support....NOT TRUE....infact, it's NOT, NOT, NOT True!

The power users (those needing 500MB/s seq) disable Trim support when using Win7....you may find that manual over provisioning & aggressive garbage collection work better than Trim.

Trim is NOT the dogs-do-dah's....that's my story & I'm sticking to it!

 

I tend to agree with orange-george.
The number of people who have successfully made this work outweighs the number who fail.

Is what I am doing the optimum solution? No.
Does it work on the rest on my Toughbooks? Yes.
Do I plan on having an aging fleet of toughbooks beyond the next two years? Definitely not.
I plan on running them all (along with those inexpensive SSD's) into the dirt.
Most of my proprietary app will be in the cloud by then and I will move to droid based tablets.
However since I have installed SSD's in the rest of my toughbooks I have had zero drive failures or corrupt OS files.
With conventional hard-drives I was imaging machines all the time because guys were just brutal on the hard drives (dropping, tossing onto car seats etc).

My immediate problems began only with these series of CF-19F's. The others models work fine, including my Frankenstein CF-18's that have ide to sata converters rigged into the caddy.

I don't care about the longevity of the drive. The drive will outlive the useful life of the laptop. The controller on the hardrive is supposed to spread the read and writes cycles over the entire drive to maximize its life right? The daily operations performed on my machines is so small that I will be surprised if I cycle through every useable memory cell on the drive more than a few hundred times.

What I would like to do is trace what operations are going on while the system is hanging. What is the best way to do this? Process explorer?

 

Why spend time fussing when the solution is obvious: Buy Intel SSDs, install, go home early.

 

^^^
While the Intel drives may be a solution, in my case it is not obvious. I have already purchased my drives. And Intel cannot be the only game on the block. Are you suggesting that no Intel SSD uses the "SandForce" chipset or newer chipsets? Of course they do. I like Intel and their products but even Intel can sometimes miss the mark as can be seen here:

AnandTech - Intel Discovers SandForce SF-2281 Controller Can't Do AES-256 Encryption, Offers Return Program

If I cannot resolve this issue then maybe I will cave in and try one of the Intel drives as a test to see if there is a difference even though their cost per gigabyte is higher than most. Until then I am just trying to gather as much objective information about how these drives work and how to tweak them to fit these square SSD pegs into these round SSD holes.

We all live by the brands that have served us well. I swear by Asus motherboards because I have built a LOT of machines with them but I can't say that Asus is the only game on the block.
I have a history with the Mushkin drives and memory. They have served me well in all of my other Toughbook applications. If this was my first attempt at fitting a SSD into a Toughbook then I might be inclined to believe I have a vendor specific problem but these drives are using the same chipsets fitted in many of the Intel line of SSD's. My goal is to fix what I have. My current SSD's make these 3 Toughbooks boot incredibly fast. If they were hanging during boot I would be able to see it. So I have to believe the problem lies in something that is happening after login. I am starting to think it may be some service that is having a hard time. And not every application hangs. This is why I need to identify tools that can help me see what is making calls to the hard drive at any given time. I don't think "Process Explorer" will give me that granular control I need.

 

If you need any other help with your SSD try the link in my sign....these guys are great. and they know these things inside and out

 

I've made up my mind. I am rolling with XP for now on my new CF-19. I will be using a normal spinning drive

Haters gonna hate on XP!

 

^^^^ XP AND a normal spinning drive....it's just SO COOL to be out of date.

 

Live large, have a triple boot XP,7 and Ubuntu.

 

@generatorlabs: had u looked in the event protocol of XP?

 

I'm gonna toss this out, cuz I remember it from my "bad old days" with the Runcore 32GB in my ASUS Netbook. Had CONSTANT issues with XP swapfile regurgitating and losing integrity, forcing a reboot unless I turned swapfile OFF. It did NOT have this issue running the OEM Ubuntu install. One of the Netbook forum members suggested nuking the partition table, then rebuilding partition table & formatting with a Windows 7 install disk to optimize the drive offset & cluster size, then interrupt the install to install XP.

After that, ran smooth as silk and never hiccuped; wife's li'l brother is STILL using it at school since it's so small he can take it anywhere.

mnem
Dumb looks are still free.

 

I did not. After some consideration I decided to walk away from XP and move back up to Vista. These three laptops were downgraded from Vista to XP by a refurbisher. Since they have legitimate licenses for Vista I just logged into my FOG server and dropped in a Vista image from a CF-19K machine. Some of the drivers had to be updated (ie Hotkey Driver and Pan Misc Driver) but it booted up fine and it does not exhibit the stalls I was getting with XP. So Vista is now fully patched and it seems to be running pretty good. I am in the process of dropping the same image on the other two and moving forward.

My gut feeling is some windows service was causing my initial problems. Dropping a Vista image on the machine was so much more quicker than trying to be a "process detective".

Thanks

 

You CAN streamline Vista so that it's only marginally more annoying than Win7. There are entire forums dedicated to it for those poor sods who have similar OEM licensure. I don't know how much time you have to spend on such development, but once you build a decent image you can work with, it would be a great timesaver for the next dozen such machines you come across. Or you could just get the Win8 UG for $40 after Oct 26th.

Remember to poke around in the corners of your screen!

mnem
WinL8