Jump to content
Corsair Community

Corsair Nova Series 2 60 GB slow multitasking


bojzi

Recommended Posts

Hello everyone,

 

I've recently brought a dead Corsair Nova 64GB to the shop and got a Corsair Nova Series 2 60GB as a replacement.

 

The (now dead) 64GB model worked flawlessly for 2 months and then died and now I've reinstalled Windows on this new model.

 

This is where my problems started. The drive seems unable to cope with any multitasking whatsoever.

If I'm installing anything, everything else slows down to a crawl (even trying to open Task Manager, Computer properties, Firefox, whatever).

I can reproduce this error by just having a large file copied to the SSD and the system basically comes non-responsive.

It seems as I'm not the only one with this problem:

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=97202

http://forum.corsair.com/v2/showthread.php?t=97342

 

What I've done until now to try and remedy it:

- reinstalled (with Secure Erasing it every time) 5 times

- install Intel's RST drivers and apply the LPM regedit

- image the disk, Secure Erase and then put the image back

- follow the guide for SSD optimization from this forum

- replace SATA ports, try and use the JMicron port instead of the usual Intel one

 

The drive works great while it's not multitasking, and my ATTO scores seem to prove it (http://i.imgur.com/X1KiI.png).

AHCI and TRIM are enabled (Windows installed normally with AHCI enabled).

Also, the previous drive worked flawlessly and no hardware change was introduced in the meantime.

 

My system specs:

Motherboard: Asus P5B

CPU: Intel Core2 DUO E6650 @ 2.33GhZ

Memory: 4GB DDR2 667

2 other HDDs: Hitachi and Seagate 7200 platters

GFX: Ati Radeon HD4350

OS: Windows 7 64bit

 

I'd really like to see if there is any way to remedy this, of course other than having to bring it back to the shop again and reinstall my system every few days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 66
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Just joined to say that I also have the same exact problem. It also seems sluggish when installing directx files and C++ files. For most other things it works great. My sequential times are around 240 Read and 80 Write. Not really what was advertised but I would be cool with it if multi-tasking was better. HELP!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I'm on the verge of a remedy here. :)

 

I've already tried switching the SATA cables with the other drives but now I've got a brand new SATA cable that came with another computer and that SATA cable has an inscription saying 6Gb/s. And, what do you know - after switching for the new cable, it seems like the system's behaving better.

 

The only problem now is that I've already installed everything to the platter drives and moved my Users folder and Firefox profile to those platter drives. So, now I'll have to try uninstalling and reinstalling programs to the SDD and see if the problem really did go away.

 

EDIT:

Nope, unfortunately it didn't help. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

 

Exactly the same problem, disk do not seem to be capable of multitasking, what a shame in 2011. I bought a ssd to improve performance and gain some time, and i'm thinking of reinstalling the OS on an SATA drive and return this @@@@ to shop where i bought it.

 

I tried almost everything, ACHI on/off, driver update, change port, change cable, nothing seems to work.

 

so if anyone has an idea, it would be very nice to share it.

 

Thanks

(sorry for my bad english)

 

Config:

Gigabyte EP45T ds3R

4 Go Corsair xms3

core 2 duo

1 To Western Digital

W7 64 bits intégrale

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, that's what strikes me as odd too. Why didn't the Nova series get any firmware update ever?

 

Well, until Yellowbeard or someone gets to us, these are the steps that I've done to at least get a decent functioning system (that would probably function as good as this while on a 2 HDD system, but oh well). Notice that HDD refers to my second drive, a platter:

- moved the temp folders to the HDD (http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/change-location-of-temp-files-folder-to-another/19f13330-dde1-404c-aa27-a76c0b450818)

- installed all aplications on the HDD

- moved mi Windows profile folder to the other drive by using junctions (http://www.starkeith.net/coredump/2009/05/18/how-to-move-your-windows-user-profile-to-another-drive/)

- moved my pagefile to the HDD

 

Actually, to sum it all up - I keep only the bare minimum on the SSD, not even my user profile folder (where My Documents, My Music etc. are stored) is on the SSD. That way I lose all the benefits of faster launching applications but get back normal system behaviour because the SSD is pretty much used only for reading data.

I know that it's not a good solution seeing as I would LOVE to start my applications from the SSD and have everything start up in a second or two but I still hope that someone will notice this topic and give us at least some advice? Yellowbeard? :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok thanks bojzi, i was thinking the same but i tried another method. I re-install my OS on SATA normal drive and i use the ssd for gaming. Obviously no increasing perf for my OS but it's quite good for gaming. I think (not sure) that's a great gain of performance because it allow me to play in HD on deus ex and i couldn't do that before.

 

So yes if there is a solution i'm quite interesting in it, but for now i'm ok (obviously i'd preferred to use my SSD for my OS but i think it's impossible in my case ... for now;)

 

It's probably due to the controller and a firmware update would be nice, if we can know what it is exactly.

 

I always was an happy customer with corsair, but red flag on this one, because it's not fair to sell something without telling what's in it, and secondly a disk that cannot do multitasking better than a sata 1 drive is a complete waste of money in 2011.

 

So i keep this config for now but i'm very disapointed in this case because it has been 10 years since i bought a computer part that doesn't work.

 

Bye

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reporting in for three reasons:

 

1. I wrote to Corsairs customer support service via their website - I'll let you know when, and if, they get back to me.

 

2. After leaving the computer running while logged off for a couple of nights, my ATTO scores keep getting better: http://i.imgur.com/dil2S.png

I think that that should be proof that TRIM is working and I hit the advertised speeds. The only problem still is it's inability to cope with multiple writes and/or reads.

 

3. To BUMP this up a little bit. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope sorry still doing fine by putting the OS on another drive, i agree it's not the best solution but i haven't many time to deal whith that. I hope you found (or maybe corsair itself) a solution to that but i doubt it without any controller update.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i to am having this problem.

 

1st nova2 60gb i got was doa.

 

Now this one wont write above 50mbps. been looking all over for a solution but feel the best bet for me would be to return the heap of junk and go get a ssd with a sandforce controller maybe?

 

Really NOT happy with corsair or this ssd!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is there normally an admin or corsair tech that will pop on these boards and answer questions from time to time? Finding any information on these drives is near impossible. If you go to the product page it does mention indilinx barefoot but I'm not sure if it is talking about series 1 or series 2.

 

I just want this thing to stop stalling. Sometimes it performs like my previous ssd which was blazing fasting. Other times it stalls out while opening a window or closing a window. And it still can't multitask- same thing, stalling! Help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Would someone from corsair please just come on to the forum and acknowledge the problem and explain whether it can be corrected with firmware or something else? I am willing to keep the drive if I can be assured it will be fixed in the future.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I may have found a solution! I read in a Newegg review that somebody was having Windows go really slow after installing updates so he created an image, wiped the drive, and reinstalled Windows and that solved it. I tried it too and it does appear to work (at least temporarily). What you need to do is (I am using Windows 7 with only my SSD and no other hard drives):

 

1. Go in to Control Panel -> Backup and Restore -> Create System Image (On Left)

 

2. Create the image somewhere. I used an external hard drive.

 

3. Download and burn the DBAN .iso using imgburn or some other burning software.

 

BACKUP ALL YOUR FILES JUST IN CASE SOMETHING GOES WRONG OR DOESN'T GET BACKED UP

 

4. Boot your PC with the DBAN cd/dvd in and run DBAN. Use the interactive menu (I believe you just hit 'ENTER' to get there. All of the current settings are the top and to change the options check the bottom of the screen.) I used the 1 pass wipe. Took probably around 20 minutes.

 

5. Take the disc out, reboot, and reinstall Windows 7.

 

6. Once it's installed reboot the computer and boot from your install disc. Enter the recovery options. Select "Restore your computer using a system image you created earlier" option.

 

7. Recover from your system image. (Had to click 'retry' to find my external HD. It was probably still booting up.)

 

8. Boot back in to Windows and all your files should be there and everything should be running quickly.

 

I am using my PC as an HTPC with XBMC and have noticed a huge improvement in speeds. I'm not sure if the DBAN parts are necessary or if you can just skip it and reinstall Windows. I just did this tonight so I don't know if the speed will stay long term.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IIRC 1 pass DBAN is just writing all zeros. Same in this regard as doing a secure wipe.

 

Yep, it is just writing all zeros. I think creating the image and restoring to it is what solves the problem though. I'm not sure if that's what everyone was doing. I figured they were just starting from a clean install and reinstalling everything. I guess it's worth a shot if you haven't tried it though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...would like to hear someone elses feedback. When you do a restore img, do all of your programs work upon restore?

 

Yes, it should. Everything was restored on mine. All my settings were restored too so it was like nothing ever happened.

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/What-is-a-system-image

 

Like I said, I'm not 100% sure if this is the solution but it's definitely worth a shot if you've got the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you happen to have before and after R/W times? I'm not sure even if you did have them if it will tell if you the thing was fixed. I just thought I'd ask. I probably will do this when I have some time. I just don't want to have to redownload all my games and stuff from steam and other annoying things you do on a reinstall.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you happen to have before and after R/W times? I'm not sure even if you did have them if it will tell if you the thing was fixed. I just thought I'd ask. I probably will do this when I have some time. I just don't want to have to redownload all my games and stuff from steam and other annoying things you do on a reinstall.

 

No, sorry I never did any tests. I just noticed how it was ridiculously slow then started searching and seeing it was a problem. If you do create an image it should keep everything intact. All my games, programs, and settings are still there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...