CodeRookie Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Hi, Searching the net, looking for a fast SSD I stumbled across the X128. Quality has its price, I know. So I've been, let's say, disappointed finding out that this particular HD does not work as it should. I'm familiar with the system, I will not open a case and yelling BOOTCAMP around. Here the problem: Apple is using it's own EFI implementation 1.1 32bits only, so no chance for Windows native boot. Furthermore Apple has a built-in BIOS emulation called CSM (compatibility support module) which is having trouble to identify the disk. The result is a grey screen on startup when I try to boot anything relying on BIOS functionality. Of course you can go on and tell me also that this is an Apple issue. Due to the obedience of the forum laws I will not quote any companies here, but there ARE 128GB SSDs from competitors with INDILINX BareFoot controller that are not facing this issue. I'm not familiar with the firmware code, nor with the internals of Apple's CSM. But there has got to be a different solution than just buying me a different SSD. Would be nice if you'd investigate this issue, or at least could tell me whether or not this will be fixed with a firmware update (from what I understood different hard disks had the same issue but after update it's working with bootcamp). I know also that virtualization works fine, but I need performance, this is why I purchased this disk. Regards C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 19, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 19, 2009 There is no problem with this drive that I know of with Apple systems many people are using this drive and our P-series drives and not having a problem. But I will look into this and see if there is anything we can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 Hi, OS X is running fine, but as I mentioned, I need the CSM layer working correctly sometimes here referred as bootcamp (event though bootcamp is just a utility from apple to prep the partition and a set of drivers/utilities for windows). http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81706&highlight=bootcamp Is the same issue with an outcome I'd like to circumvent. regards C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted October 22, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted October 22, 2009 I have sent this to our engineering some time ago but I do not expect an answer, these things take time and as suggested in that previous post the best source of help would be with Apple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted October 28, 2009 Author Share Posted October 28, 2009 Hi, I will not state the full extend of being disappointed here. I mean this company presents itself as a market leader, from support I can't tell so far. RAM-GUY: You claim this is an apple issue. But look what I have discovered. Several people are experiencing problems with their X128 being not detected by their BIOS. I can only speculate why this would be, my first guess would be indeed firmware. So what I'm going to do is place my HDD in a conventional Notebook. If it will be not detected, then I'm facing the same issue like the other users, and of course I would like my X128 replaced then. I'm really looking forward to get a solution provided. C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 CodeRookie, Did you do a fresh install of MAC OSX or did you use the Disk Utility>Restore feature? Also can you provide the exact MB or MB Pro model? I'm actually doing an in depth compatibility tetsing at Infinite Loop today. To this point I have found Disk Utility>Restore to create Partition Table issues ATM. I have not found any issues with a fresh install. Testing was done on MB991 and MB985. We are trying to duplicate what users are experiencing. Any information provided would be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassano18 Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 I have a MacBook Pro 4.1 ("early 2008") and I'm facing the same problem ! The Windows Vista installation worked fine so far and finished, but if I try to reboot Vista nothing happened and the system freezed with grey screen ! I did an absolutely fresh install and now got Snow Leopard (10.6.1) running ! So I hope that I could help you with that information and I hope that you can also help me ! Please ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted October 30, 2009 Author Share Posted October 30, 2009 Hi, Just to clarify this issue: Installation has been made from scratch, Snow Leopard 10.6 but same effect also with Leopard 10.5.6. The issue is NOT OSX, it is working. But EVERYTHING invoking BIOS functionality (like booting Vista, W7, XP, Ubuntu what so ever...) freezes. So after seeing here different issues about HDD not detected by BIOS I assume the same issue. In this weekend I try to put this HDD into a 'normal' notebook, just to see whether it will be detected or not. The EFI from Apple handles the disk well, but I'd like to be able to use even other operating systems. Again, this is NOT an APPLE issue, when I connect my 320GB 7.200RPM internal HDD Vista boots. So it is definetily linked to this HDD. As in my specification, I am a proud owner of a MacBook Pro 17'', 8400GM, MBP 3.1 Regards C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Please provide the following information: 1. When installing OSX and 2nd OS via boot camp, what is the partition size set for OSX and 2nd OS? 2. Where does the issue occur: Installation of 2nd OS does not finish final completion. Or Finished installation but unable to see 2nd OS as a bootable option. Or Finished installation, able to see second OS partition but unable to boot to OS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassano18 Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 1. I tried different partition sizes: 32GB, 30 GB and 35 GB for 2nd OS (Vista Home Premium), so OS X is 128GB minus "one of the above". 2. Finished installation, able to see second OS partition but unable to boot to OS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Hi, @Legend: There is NO partition size for second OS because I am not able to boot ANY OS except OSX which is, as i thoroughly explained, EFI based. Every time the Apple CSM (BIOS emulation) kicks in, the computer just freezes. This is my issue, I am very familiar with installing operating systems and partitioning, event switching from GPT scheme to MBR and back. However this knowledge does me no good if my brand new performance hdd does not allow me to boot any OS except OSX.... cheers C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Hi @ll, In order to rule out any partitioning scheme issue I wiped the whole partition table, so there was no partition, again trying to boot anything like windows or linux: no luck. suspect firmware issue. Regards C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted November 4, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted November 4, 2009 Can you test the drive in another system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted November 5, 2009 Author Share Posted November 5, 2009 Hi RAM Guy, Apparently I'm not getting my hands on a normal notebook to borrow for testing. And I'm not able to purchase one just for testing, all notebooks I have access so far are IDE so no good for testing. I'm trying Parallels 5 for now, and consider an upgrade if performance boosts as promised, so I might work with that for a while, but it is definitely not a solution. I will try getting my hdd to test, but as for now I'm not able to. Regards C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted November 6, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted November 6, 2009 How about a desktop system with Windows on it? Maybe a friend can let you use one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joemorel Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 I tried to use the drive in a unibody MacBook Pro 13" and had the same issues both in OS X and Windows 7. There is an incompatibility between the drive and the MacBook's firmware--not any operating system. I then put the drive into an older MacBook Pro 15" (2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo) and it works like a charm. This is Apple's problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted November 6, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted November 6, 2009 It does seem to be, but if you like you can call in and ask for me we can try to come up with another solution if you like 800-205-7657. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 ...good luck for RAM GUY. I put the HDD in a HP laptop and it has been detected. Do I just know either to by another SSD or to by another laptop. None of these ideas pleases me. Thats life. Maybe there will be a firmware update, and at SOME TIME I will resolve this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted November 6, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted November 6, 2009 If you like you can call in and we can go over a few things and maybe we can get this worked out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share Posted November 7, 2009 Hi RAM GUY, I appreciate your offer, just in case you have not noticed of my bad english, I'm actually from Germany and therefore a very different timezone. If you could just send me an email when you are ready then I will call. Will it be necessary for me to backup all data? Regards C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted November 9, 2009 Corsair Employees Share Posted November 9, 2009 Please send me an email with your contact information and I will have someone from our European office contact you and try to help you work this out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeRookie Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 Hi, The issue is just related when a CD or DVD is put in the drive. I even managed to install Windows7 from within a virtual machine (Parallels). However this problem really gets disturbing. Now I searched for firmware update, and find people demanding TRIM support for X-Series. Fired up Crystal Disk Info, and what do I get? TRIM support. So it looks like to me that I've got a drive with an unofficial firmware version. Firmware version is reported with 1.0. Please clarify, screenshot attached. Regards C0deR00kie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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