Force GT 60 GB being very unreliable

In the past couple months, my Force GT 60GB has been acting very fickle. Windows boot times are about 3 times longer than they used to be, sometimes the computer freezes during boot, requiring me to do a hard reset to let it try to load Windows again.

If I get it to boot into Windows, it sometimes stalls on opening folders, and seems to temporarily freeze before coming back to life. Windows occasionally just freezes up on me.

I am a very experienced Windows user and know all the in's-and-out's of proper maintenance, etc. I have re-imaged this drive a few times with a brand new stock version of Windows 7 since this issue has started...and to no avail. This system has no malware, spyware, or viruses of any type.

I have followed guides on here to restore SSD performance using the Secure Erase function in Parted Magic, and that has done nothing to help. I have also updated the firmware to v5.02 and that has done nothing to remedy the issue.

Seeing as I purchased the drive on 9/12/2011, I am well within my 3 year warranty period to get this drive fully replaced.

While I still have the drive, is there anything else I can try to get it working properly again. The crashes, BSOD's, and lockups are becoming a nuisance...and I want this remedied.

I cool my CPU with a Corsair H100 and it does a fabulous job of keeping is cool and responsive.

EDIT: I recently replaced my ASUS Crosshair IV Formula with this Sabertooth Z77. I have had issues with the motherboard detecting my SSD's...so could it also be a chipset issue????

Hi Brandon,

You have a HW configuration that is very similar to mine, and I've been facing your very same issues.

As I wrote in other threads in the past days, since I've configured the SATA controller (the one embedded in the Z77 chipset) to operate in AHCI mode, *for me* the only remedy that worked was to *avoid* installing the Intel AHCI driver (aka Rapid Storage Technology). If you did install this driver for whatever reason, try to remove it and let Windows 7 restore its generic AHCI driver.

Since I did this, I got rid of BSODs and freezes.

I'm waiting for Intel to do something with this driver, even if it is not a fundamental thing to me (I could not notice relevant differences in performances with or without the RST driver).

Regards,

Filippo

Hi Brandon,

 

You have a HW configuration that is very similar to mine, and I've been facing your very same issues.

 

As I wrote in other threads in the past days, since I've configured the SATA controller (the one embedded in the Z77 chipset) to operate in AHCI mode, *for me* the only remedy that worked was to *avoid* installing the Intel AHCI driver (aka Rapid Storage Technology). If you did install this driver for whatever reason, try to remove it and let Windows 7 restore its generic AHCI driver.

 

Since I did this, I got rid of BSODs and freezes.

 

I'm waiting for Intel to do something with this driver, even if it is not a fundamental thing to me (I could not notice relevant differences in performances with or without the RST driver).

 

Regards,

Filippo

Hi Filippo, thank you for your response.

Let me also point out that this computer has frozen during Windows Setup also. These freezes/lockups/delays have been occurring regardless if I have installed the chipset drivers...or ANY drivers for that matter.

When I reinstalled Windows yet again yesterday, it froze after it booted and was "updating registry settings". I had to reset the machine and reboot a few times for it to finally get to the registry settings part of Windows Setup.

UPDATE: Due to previous issues with the regular onboard SATA controller detecting my drives, I had switched them over to the onboard Asmedia controller and that is when I started having issues. I just unplugged my other SSD and plugged my boot SSD (the Force GT) into the regular onboard controller (I think it is an Intel controller) and everything seems to be OK. Windows 7 now detects this drive just as "Corsair Force GT" and not "Corsair Force GT ATA Device" or "Corsair Force GT SCSI Device" which seems to be a sign that the drive is not at fault, but rather the Asmedia controller on the Sabertooth Z77 itself.

It will take a few days more of testing to make sure that everything is fixed and running properly. I will keep this thread updated with my findings.

Note to all...AVOID ASMEDIA SATA CONTROLLERS FOR SSD's.

Due to previous issues with the regular onboard SATA controller detecting my drives, I had switched them over to the onboard Asmedia controller and that is when I started having issues. I just unplugged my other SSD and plugged my boot SSD (the Force GT) into the regular onboard controller (I think it is an Intel controller) and everything seems to be OK.

Ah ok, in this case the picture is slightly different.

I also have an ASMedia controller on board, but since I experienced a number of issues in the past using on-board IDE/SATA controllers other than the one embedded in the motherboard chipset, by default I avoid to use them as long as I can.

And given your experience with this specific SATA controller, well, I will stay away from it even more :p:

Best regards,

Filippo

What happens if you connect the SSD to S-ATA Port 0 or 1 on the Chipset controller? I think you will find it much more stable and most likely faster.

The Intel SATA controllers I described are SATA 0 and SATA 1. I find it much more stable when they are in these primary connectors.

Hey

Eny news on this ? Got the same problem. I have fund that if you use standard Sata 2 ports insted of sata 3 ports, then it works like a cham. if you are using marvel 9182 controller i get the same problem as you have.