Vaio VGN FE21B - Freezing with new SSD in CD/DVD Caddy adapater (IDE)

Hello.

This is my story: I have this old notebook (like 8 years of life), never a problem, only a NON working external battery and CMOS battery.

But like last week I have discovered that the internal 5400 rpm HD was clicking, only the time to backup and the HDD stopped working.

So ok, I have buyed a new SDD (Kingston v300 now 120gb), connected to sata port, works!
So you can say... whats the problem? Here...
Because I have found a Bios mod for my notebook, that allows me to install a powerful CPU. So I have buyed a T2600 cpu. My notebook comes with T2300e CPU. same 32bit.

So ok, flashed bios, opened PC, installed new cpu, boot! But no SSD detected!

And here comes the problem, tried to reflash original bios, getting back the original cpu, but still no ssd detected. I think that by opening and reopening I have damaged the sata controller or ports (but no visible damage)

So idea -> buyed a Caddy 12.7 MM for CD/DVD ports ( ide connection), installed the SSD, removed the cd/dvd reader and replaced with the caddy, ok works!

Installed again the operating system, boots perfect, but when it finished the installation I have noticed that it LAGS or FREEZE every 5-15 seconds, sometimes the mouse also stop moving, like 1 minute to open firefox, hours and hours to install update... I have noticed that my SSD was running in UDMA 2 MODE (locked 30mb/s read and write speed)

So starting searching on google and I have found this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/vaio-tz-guide-for-ssd-install-or-upgrade.534634/

Ok, followed the guide, using Bar-edit and setted the same valor for offset 54 ( 00000011 ) --> and write speed comes from 30mb/s to 70 mb/s.
So time for HDPARM, setted UDMA 5/6 mode (supported udma 6) but immadietly noticed that after 3 to 10 seconds it drops again to UDMA 2.

To bypass this problem I have maked a batch file to repeat the command for HDPARM every 10 seconds, and in this ways seems that UDMA 5/6 is stable.

But the freezing problem remains!! It's less then in UDMA 2 and no fix, but it is really hard to do with.

I have made a video to explain the situation, you can see how the performance drops, freeze and lags, you can also notice the HUGE VARIATION of Response Time (ms from 1 to 10000+ ms)

(first drop at 1:45)

No idea on what to do now, maybe an external battery can fix the problem?
Need a software solution to make permanent the UDMA 5/6 settings?

Thanks in advance

@sugarkang

P.s. Noticed that in another old pc with and HDD in udma 2 mode there is no lags, or freeze, ok it's not the fastest pc but no lags.

P.s.2 tried other udma mode but it drops again in udma 2 mode in the same way.

 

I feel sorry for your poor laptop.

 

Thanks You, but I don't need compassion.

Waiting for any suggestion

 

IDE or SATA? If IDE, how is the SSD connected?

 

The caddy has an internal Sata connection for the SSD or HD.
The external Connection of the Caddy is IDE, because this notebook has an IDE connection for CD/DVD, and SATA for HD (but as said stopped working, in any case doesen't detect HD/SSD in bios)


http://www.amazon.co.uk/12-7mm-Optical-Second-CD-ROM-laptop/dp/B00GJ8RBP4

 

Sorry, double post while editing. Internet acting funny again.

 

Thanks for the explanation. Never encountered such a thing before.

All I can think of is that some of the commands needed by the SATA SSD are being lost while traversing the IDE interface.

Or it could be a settings issue. Try playing with the settings of the IDE controller - turn off all power saving features, etc. If there are spin up and spin down settings in there, disable them or set the spin up to the minimum value and the spin down to maximum or never - those settings are for CD drives, not for HDDs.

 

Ok, I'm looking in the bios for some settings (I have the unlocked bios, in the original there's no setting), but from here there's any option related to the IDE Controller (in Bar-Edit it is Device 31, Function 1 for ICH7-M family). Here some screenshot.

First The Initial Menu


The ICH Menu


The ICH Sub Menu


Note: If I set Compatible Mode, I will not see in Bar-Edit the Device 31, Function 1 (Ide Controller) Like it will be disabled in this mode. (AHCI enabled is for windows xp, and nothing change, raleted to original sata ports maybe)

In the thread I have linked in the first post (about installing SSD on Vaio TZ) they have my same problem, same fix used to speed up from UDMA2 to UDMA5/6 for read speed (with HDPARM) and to increase write speed with Bar Edit (settings on Dev 31, Func. 1 Offset 54 = 00000033 or 00000011). They also have installed an SSD in the caddy.

From Windows I don't know how to modifiy the settings about Ide Controller.... even with Bar-Edit? Don't know what to change.

The PC runs well, it's like a request problem. For example running firefox is a hell experience, 1 minute to start, downloading files then freeze, opening new tab freeze, input search freeze. But for example if I run a game, in the first 5 minutes it will freeze, but after not (or very rare)... Like when he have nothing to read from SSD/HDD no freeze...

Sorry for my bad english

 

Do you think the freeze is related to inactivity? If nothing is accessing the HDD, is it spinning down, then when the next access is made, it spins up, causing the apparent freeze? Can you run a movie in the background (so that the HDD is always being accessed) and then see if the freeze happens with other tasks?

 

Test done.

Used a 720p film, started with VLC and after 4 second --> freeze everything.
(Looking at Task manager no activity from disk).
Alter 10 second of freeze the film runned smoothly, no problem. At task manager constant activity like 1mb/s and 10ms response time.

Ok so launched firefox, looking speeded up to 70/mbs from task manager then everything freeze! Impossible to use as always. (Film stopped, Firefox not responding, mouse pointer freezed)

I think the problem si relative to I/O request when trying to access new data??

P.s. Same results in UDMA2 or in UDMA 5 with batch running for HDPARM

 

After 10 seconds of freeze, did the film run smoothly from then on? For how long?
While the film was running smoothly in the background, did launching and using other apps like Firefox work normally?

You can run a low res film if you like - the whole idea is to keep the HDD from going to sleep, so a low res film will use less resources.

 

To give you the best explaination I will register a Video and upload to YouTube.

I will reply again in the next hour!

Thanks again for Help

 

As promised, watch this video.


Again sorry for my poor english, I'm trying to do my best

 

@anytimer Have you watched the video? any ideas?

 

Yes, I did. A bit over my head, I'm sorry to say. It seems like the IDE controller (or the IDE to SATA interface in the caddy) is freezing.

Can you plug in an external HDD and see if accesses to that are any better? Also, install process explorer from sysinternals and see which process is causing the lockup.

I would always recommend a Windows clean install after any major hardware change. You seem to have made several without reinstalling, so you have a number of settings in your system that are optimised for the old hardware, which could be causing your new hardware to misbehave. It will a real pain backing up your data with the HDD behaving like it is, though.

Btw. have you tried restarting in safe mode? Does this freezing thing happen then also?

 

hi.Where did you find the unlocked bios version?