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Unable to use CMFSSD-64D1 on Aopen XC Cube EZ482


RoyS

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Hi!

 

I would like to know whether the CMFSSD-64D1 is supposed work on the Aopen XC Cube EZ482 or not. And if so I would like know how to get it working.

 

Yesterday I got my Corsair SSD Extreme X64. I plugged it in my XC Cube EZ482 and saw that the BIOS seems to recognize the disk just fine. However, I have been unable to install both Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7 on the disk. I can get into more details about the problems if necessary, but the short story is that I typically am able to start the installation process on the disk, but at some point after copying lots of files to the disk it seem to have problems with (reading?) the disk.

 

I thought I was dealing with a DOA, but I installed the disk into another computer and installed Windows 7 just fine. When I took the disk back to the EZ482 it's still unable start booting from it.

 

Any thoughts? Maybe the hardware just doesn't support this disk?

 

I have attached a few screenshots from the BIOS:

Startup

Standard CMOS Features

IDE Channel 5 Master

Integrated Peripherals

South OnChip PCI Device

01-statup-IMG_1438.jpg.0a6e6b190931af4950b171c2c0c8a63e.jpg

02-standard_cmos_features-IMG_1427.jpg.808e67c4630e414f5aa866a6250f0a4a.jpg

03-ide_channel_5_master-IMG_1428.jpg.5704f2a722edc6ed18545bde29f3d8eb.jpg

05-integrated_peripherals-IMG_1431.jpg.cb51057a5ff8c901ef1ee398abdcffc2.jpg

06-south_onchip_pci_device-IMG_1432.jpg.69283a1e8c1e18be3465dc32a2a25f5a.jpg

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Try putting the SSD on the first channel and then everything else should be on the last channel working backwards. Try this first and if still no go come back. In the meantime I'll do a little hunting around and see what the score is with this machine and the Bios version.
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Try putting the SSD on the first channel and then everything else should be on the last channel working backwards. Try this first and if still no go come back. In the meantime I'll do a little hunting around and see what the score is with this machine and the Bios version.

 

Thank you for responding and thank you for your time. :) I tried that now, still the same results. (I also did some testing enabling/disabling the different channels.)

 

For the record, after I installed Windows 7 on the SSD from the other machine I am fully able to read and use the disk when I boot in Windows XP SP3 on the old IDE drive on the EZ482 in question. And I'm using the same SATA cable.

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OK I've found out a few things none of them good so far:

 

Apparantly there are some issues with the Southbridge and the Phoenix bios, not all of the issues are related solely to SSDs, I won't go into all the nitty gritty details of the issues as they are lengthy and sporadic at best; if you Google the names you will find out what they are.

 

However, getting back to SSDs there was one problem that was specific to the problem and the given solution (though even this is not guaranteed to work) is to do a hard reset of the Bios; that is remove the battery from the motherboard, move the jumper to the bios reset position and hold the power button in for 2 mins. Reset the jumper to the normal position, reinstall the battery and then remove all other drives except your CD drive from the sata connectors. When you restart your computer go straight into the Bios and set it to the default settings and then try installing your OS.

 

Remember to put the SSD on port one and everything else on the ports working backwards from the last port. Of course before you try all of this make sure that you have the latest version of the Phoenix Bios.

 

If this doesn't work then I would suggest that you get in touch with Aopen and see if they have a solution to offer as it is obviously not a drive fault or you would not be able to use it on another system.

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Thank you for all of your research.

 

I have a question: Is clearing the CMOS 'by the book' the same as a hard reset? That is; off with the AC power and ATX power cable and then shorting the BIOS jumper. Or is this maybe a bit 'softer' than the way you suggest?

 

'cause I tried that method twice now. It did reset the CMOS and I did follow the rest of your instructions, but with the same results as always. :sigh!:

 

After the Windows XP SP3 setup CD quick formatted my SSD, copied the first files and restarted the machine I get the good ol'

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.

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Yes clearing the CMOS by the book is basically hard resetting the m/b bios.

 

Before you installed windows xp did you align the drive using Diskpart.exe? Windows XP is notorious for NOT correctly aligning drives before or during installation. If you haven't got it download it from HERE.

 

You need to run Diskpart from a command prompt and not inside of Windows unless you have Windows on a separate partition and your SSD looks like an additional drive.

 

LIST DISK

 

Look at the number next to the disk that represents your SSD

 

Type:

 

SELECT DISK X (X=the number next to your SSD)

 

This will make this the active disk that Diskpart will work on

 

Type:

 

CLEAN

 

This deletes all partitions and data on the disk

 

Type:

 

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY ALIGN 64

 

Now Type:

 

ACTIVE

 

Now Type:

 

FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK

 

Now Type:

 

EXIT

 

The other thing is that the error you are getting is generally associated with a corrupt registry. You can try to fix it by inserting your XP disk and go through the motions of installing until you come to the part where it detects an installed OS and gives you the option to repair Press "R" scenario.

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Okay.. here are the events of yesterday:

 

I followed your link and downloaded and installed DiskPart on the EZ482 (using the Windows XP SP3 installed on my IDE drive). However, it seems like DiskPart only is built for Windows 2000..?

 

Anyways, this is what I typed:

Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3553

Copyright © 1999-2001 Microsoft Corporation.

On computer: HTPC

 

DISKPART> list disk

 

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

Disk 0 Online 60 GB 0 B

Disk 1 Online 43 GB 0 B

 

DISKPART> select disk 0

 

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

 

DISKPART> clean

 

DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

 

DISKPART> create partition primary align 64

 

The arguments you specified for this command are not valid.

 

I quickly understood that you probably meant *align=64*, but..

 

DISKPART> create partition primary align=64

 

The arguments you specified for this command are not valid.

 

That version of DiskPart didn't seem to have the align possibility.. So I continued without aligning (which I guess was your point with doing this)..

 

DISKPART> create partition primary

 

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

 

DISKPART> active

 

DiskPart marked the current partition as active.

 

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

 

Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3553

 

ADD - Add a mirror to a simple volume.

ACTIVE - Activates the current basic partition.

ASSIGN - Assign a drive letter or mount point to the selected volume.

BREAK - Break a mirror set.

CLEAN - Clear the configuration information, or all information, off the

disk.

CONVERT - Converts between different disk formats.

CREATE - Create a volume or partition.

DELETE - Delete an object.

DETAIL - Provide details about an object.

EXIT - Exit DiskPart

EXTEND - Extend a volume.

HELP - Prints a list of commands.

IMPORT - Imports a disk group.

LIST - Prints out a list of objects.

ONLINE - Online a disk that is currently marked as offline.

REM - Does nothing. Used to comment scripts.

REMOVE - Remove a drive letter or mount point assignment.

RESCAN - Rescan the computer looking for disks and volumes.

RETAIN - Place a retainer partition under a simple volume.

SELECT - Move the focus to an object.

 

The DiskPart version doesn't have format..?

 

Should I try with another application/version(/or maybe OS)?

 

Later on yesterday I booted with a Mythbuntu 8.04 live cd and installed it on the SSD on the EZ482 without problems! Then I tried with Mythbuntu 9.04 (just to see if this could be an alternative to my current installation of MediaPortal @ Win XP), and everything went well until it in the end tried to install the boot loader Grub. I haven't googled that to see what could be the reasons.

 

Then I gave it a try to install XP SP3 after I formatted the disk in the other computer that I successfully installed Win7 on. The result was the same; if I boot directly to the SSD I only get a blank screen and if I boot via the Windows boot loader on the IDE I get the missing/corrupt file message I pasted earlier..

 

I just don't want to give up.. The successful Mythbuntu installation gave me hope. I really want to be able to install XP on the SSD in the EZ482.

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Are you doing this with another HDD Connected? If so try the install with the other drives not conencted.

Yes, with an IDE drive connected. I think I've tried installing once without the disk connected, but I'll try it once more just to be sure.

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Diskpart only comes in one flavour .... it should work on every system that can access a command prompt. This unexpected behaviour suggests something else is afoot within your system. Try as RAM GUY suggested and if you still have no luck I would suggest you contact Aopen and see if they can shed some light.

 

BTW I admire your tenacity and resolve to get to the bottom of this

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One more thing you can try - install XP onto a free partition on your HDD and image it once you know its working OK. Transfer the image to your SSD using Acronis imaging software and see what happens (assuming you haven't already tried this). If you get the same errors occuring then it must be something conflicting with the SSD within your system.
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Are you doing this with another HDD Connected? If so try the install with the other drives not conencted.

Yes, with an IDE drive connected. I think I've tried installing once without the disk connected, but I'll try it once more just to be sure.

 

Nope, same behavior as always. Nothing after it skips the cd-rom booting.

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Diskpart only comes in one flavour .... it should work on every system that can access a command prompt. This unexpected behaviour suggests something else is afoot within your system.

 

What? Are you saying that the message The arguments you specified for this command are not valid. is a result of something else is wrong? No, that is the application/version alone. I can take a look and see if I can find a newer version at microsoft.com.

 

Try as RAM GUY suggested and if you still have no luck I would suggest you contact Aopen and see if they can shed some light.

I will contact them. But I must say I got scared when I saw the hopeless answers they gave in some cases. Seems like they just read the same docs as the users have and try to use common sense without any other expertize to offer.

 

BTW I admire your tenacity and resolve to get to the bottom of this

Thanks. :)

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One more thing you can try - install XP onto a free partition on your HDD and image it once you know its working OK. Transfer the image to your SSD using Acronis imaging software and see what happens (assuming you haven't already tried this). If you get the same errors occuring then it must be something conflicting with the SSD within your system.

 

Good one. I'll try this as well. :)

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I went through MS downloads and only one version of Diskpart came to light - I also found out that it is "supposed" to come with XP, but I can't actually verify that as I haven't used XP in over a year. I do know that if you have Vista or Windows 7 it comes with that. Just pop the install disk into the CD drive and run it as if you were going to install the OS and when you get to the point past the language selection screen at the bottom left of the screen you can select "Repair My Computer" - from the next screen select "Command Prompt" and you can run Diskpart from there.

 

As for Aopen, I'm not surprised at their lack of enthusiasm for support - with the exception of a very few companies most cannnot fire up any enthusiasm for customer support once they have flogged their wares ..... that's one of the reasons I chose Corsair because they do try and help as best they can.

 

That's an aside, however, and doesn't get to the root of your problem .... we are chipping away though and somewhere along the line something will give :-)

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Today I used DiskPart from a Vista computer on my SSD. Worked very well:

 

Microsoft DiskPart versjon 6.0.6000

Copyright © 1999-2007 Microsoft Corporation.

På datamaskin: VIKING

 

DISKPART> list disk

 

Disknr. Status Str. Ledig Dyn GPT

-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---

Disk 0 Tilkoblet 112 G byte 32 K byte

Disk 1 Tilkoblet 298 G byte 9 M byte

Disk 2 Tilkoblet 60 G byte 4741 K byte

 

DISKPART> select disk 2

 

Disk 2 er nå den valgte disken.

 

DISKPART> clean

 

DiskPart lyktes med å rense disken.

 

DISKPART> create partition primary align 64

 

DiskPart lyktes med å opprette den angitte partisjonen.

 

DISKPART> active

 

DiskPart merket den gjeldende partisjonen som aktiv.

 

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

 

100 prosent fullført

 

DiskPart har formatert volumet.

 

DISKPART>

 

Pardon the Norwegian messages, but they're all confirmation on successful operations.

 

After that I took the disk to the EZ482 and installed Win XP as usual (of course without changing anything about the disk). The install process ended where it always ends, when the computer restarted and it tried to boot from the SSD, the screen went blank.

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One more thing you can try - install XP onto a free partition on your HDD and image it once you know its working OK. Transfer the image to your SSD using Acronis imaging software and see what happens (assuming you haven't already tried this). If you get the same errors occuring then it must be something conflicting with the SSD within your system.
Good one. I'll try this as well. :)

 

Last night I tired this. Must say I was pleased with the quality and the feeling of using Acronis' software. And I also got the most positive experience since Mythbutnu was successfully installed; I created an image of the current XP installation, recovered it successfully into the SSD and restarted.

 

And guess what! It actually worked! The SSD booted XP and started and everything seemed okay at first. I expected that XP might'd be a bit 'confused' being on another drive..and I saw that every second or so the the cursor changed to the wait cursor. Soon after I got lots of dialog boxes telling me that there was some hardware error and Windows shut down. After that I wasn't able to boot the disk. When I booted XP @ the IDE afterwards the disk was unreadable.

 

..and I have this feeling the only reason the SSD managed to boot was that I did it via the boot loader menu at the IDE drive that had the SSD from an earlier failed XP installation.

 

Today I did a quick format from XP @ IDE which always seem to turn out okay. I did another recovery from the XP image, only this time just with the files. I saw that the files was added to the disk and everything seemed okay, but suddenly the Acronis software complained that it was unable to recover more files (let's say it got 50-60%). The SSD was now unreadable.. :sigh!:

 

I just don't know what to think anymore!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, got a new disk from komplett.no today. I carefully installed into my computer before I started it and saw that the BIOS recognized it just fine. Then I started the install of Win XP SP3, chose the disk and quick format. Windows seemed to install the first part just fine as always. Then it rebooted as it should, but after it tried to access the disk the screen just went blank. :[pouts:

 

So everything's just like normal. Should I just give up? Is it Corsair's product that doesn't support a system that it supposedly should? Or is it Aopen that has poor quality hardware/firmware? Or is it Microsoft that has inadequate drivers?

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  • Corsair Employee

I noticed in the Pic's you posted that you had the SSD connected to one of the last S-ATA ports, is that still the case and have you tried moving it to S-ATA 1?

And did you still have the other IDE Drive connected?

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I noticed in the Pic's you posted that you had the SSD connected to one of the last S-ATA ports, is that still the case and have you tried moving it to S-ATA 1?

And did you still have the other IDE Drive connected?

Yes, today I used the first S-ATA port. I've also tried the first one at least once on the other disk I returned.

 

I did have the other IDE drive connected this time. I'm pretty sure I've tried both ways earlier, but I can't assure that this was the case at the same time as I used the first S-ATA port.

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  • Corsair Employee
I would try the install on another HDD and if it works connect the SSD as a second HDD and format the drive with the Quick option and test it with ATTO then use Accronis to image the install to the SSD and see if it works.
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  • 2 weeks later...
I would try the install on another HDD and if it works connect the SSD as a second HDD and format the drive with the Quick option and test it with ATTO then use Accronis to image the install to the SSD and see if it works.

 

I did this today, and guess what! Success! It just worked. and it still works. Unlike when I tried that earlier.

 

Anyways, now my start time for my htpc is less than half of what it used to be. Great feeling. :D:

 

Thank you for all of your time and help! :-D

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