Vertex 3 SSD issues on VPCZ11

Hi.

Did anyone manage to use Vertex 3 drive on new vaio z?

I have an HDD model and used Intel x25-m successfully.
Yesterday received new Vertex 3 ssd (240GB) and so far had 2 days of nightmare.

I does work only in RAID mode. In AHCI i got BSOD on startup. Registry hack did not help to detect it.

But even on RAID I have constant system reboots when do a lot of files copy.
Those known hangs fixed by registry but still issues on MS and Intel drivers.
I see my files got corrupted sometimes. I cannot install SP1 on my Windows 7 x64. etc ... as well as performance index is 7.6 only.

In general this drive seems to be halfbaked product (as any other OCZ drive) but would like to know if this is also something sony specific since I had similar issues on old vaio z 2 years ago with OCZ vertex1.

-Sergey

 

I don't think the Vaio Z can run anything in AHCI... you have to run the thing in RAID/JBOD.

 

That's the way I ran it. RAID with one drive.
Just want to know if anyone running drives on those sandforce conktrollers successfully and this is my hardware issue or I just need to get other drive like intel 320 or C300.

 

Hack the BIOS and switch to AHCI mode and see if that helps.

 

That's a fantastic drive, but it's kinda overkill isn't it? A SATA III drive in a SATA II machine.

Pop some benchmarks. I'd like to see what it scores

 

Mine is running AHCI so that I can dual boot Windows 7 and something else. I did the BIOS hack.

 

I do have a BIOS hack. But when I switch to AHCI it does not find a drive.

ComputerCowboy, which ssd drive do you run on AHCI?

 

I know, my sony is limited in 3Gbs and some other drive like C300 gives me more on this sata II but I'm looking to upgrade laptop soon so got drive with newer features

 

have you did a clean install of windows when you got the drive? that is one of the things that leads to a BSOD at start up.

this is something that people experienced with the sandforce SF 1200 controllers, I do experience it, so I limit myself when doing some intensive read and write, the controller lacks the necessary cache for the operation so it hangs.

and this could be the indication of a lemon, that the controller is not doing the job correctly, however you should also see if the file wasnt corrupted before

 

Well, it seems that it is not a drive at the end. Trying to do more tests.
What I see is that now even on my intel x25-m I have same issues.
Mostly I have CRC errors all over the place.
Now tried to download windows 7 iso from internet - have to do it 7 times (3GB each attempt) and then copied to another drive 10 times until I got CRC matching.

I do remember that recently saw a lot of images on my screen with corrupted lines of pixels. So this is something systematic.

I hope it is only my drive but seems more like a mobo itself. Very pity since it is only 2 weeks wen I got it back from warranty (was replacing screen and some refurbishing)

Any idea how I can find faulty component? I do not want to contact sony ahead of time.

 

Buh, that's not fun at all.

Reflash the latest BIOS, check the SATA cable to make sure it is well attached and not knicked.

Other than that, you have a sillicon problem somewhere. Hopefully it is memory, but a more likely cause is on the mainboard.

You might try swapping the RAM. Find a retailer that doesn't charge a restocking fee and try a fresh SODIMM. Shouldn't need more than a 2GB stick to test.

Good luck

 

Stock Toshiba Drives.

I will get some Intel drives some day. Right now I am more concerned with dual monitors a stuff like that.

 

I can confirm the intel drives work fine with BIOS @ AHCI. I'd try reseating your cables

 

I do run 2 monitors.
I on hdmi and another on DisplyLink card. it is not that fast but works well for my activities.

 

I did quick memory tests. It is wired.
The one that comes with windows by default says no errors. (Well my lap rebooted couple times on the tests probably because of overheat)

the Memtest86+ finds a lot of errors. On every single test.
I tried each ram module in each bank separately - all is pass.
But in dual channel mode all is failed....

Will do more tests around that and try another RAM also.
I wish it'd be RAM only failure. Otherwise already looking at lenovo x220 though its a downgrade at some points from my vaio. Bad timing now there are no good laptops on the market

 

stick to 1 dimm so far with 4GB. Will test on other ram pair on monday.
regarding benchmark, here's what I got with 2 runs:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 247.073 MB/s
Sequential Write : 218.294 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 228.027 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 207.622 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 19.420 MB/s [ 4741.1 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 27.945 MB/s [ 6822.6 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 162.498 MB/s [ 39672.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 171.462 MB/s [ 41860.7 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 18.5% (41.4/223.5 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2011/04/23 22:14:31
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)



-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 247.160 MB/s
Sequential Write : 218.317 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 229.501 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 210.655 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 19.170 MB/s [ 4680.1 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 27.911 MB/s [ 6814.2 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 147.449 MB/s [ 35998.2 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 167.058 MB/s [ 40785.7 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 18.5% (41.4/223.5 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2011/04/23 22:20:15
OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

 

Thanks everyone for participation.
I got a new set of memory 4+4 from G.SKILL
Works fine in dual channel.
So seem that it was an issue with previous RAM.

Vertex itself works fine. Though for vaio vpcz1 specifically I would recommend Intel 320 SSD. For same price you can get 300GB which is about $1.7 per gig. so much cheaper than other recent ssd alternatives. And it is created to run on SATA 3GB effectively.
But the main reason you want to get Intel - is that they put a lot of space for redundancy. Intel 320 drive was created extremely redundant!