[Coecoo]

So a while ago I bought my first SSD. An Samsung 840 EVO. Being absolutely terrified at first as I've only handled the occassional HDD before, I tried to use the "magician migration software" that came with it to port my operating system over, but It didn't work and I ended up not bothering with it that much as I booted up on my old HDD, went through the process of allocating it and all that along with Installing windows 7 on it and went with the "dual operative system" route and everything seemed to be working fine. Now recently after getting a faster Internet connection, I noticed that my download speeds were extremely bottle-necked because my SSD was getting busy real easily when writing so I bench-marked It and these results came up: http://puu.sh/9Y46h/9223644070.png (Read speed at 300 mb/s and Write speeds at 39-40 mb/s)

 

Needless to say, not very optimal. I searched the Internet for answers and soon I came across bits and pieces of information with people tossing out words like SATA, IDE and AHCI like they were verbs and pieced together some information that my SSD apparently needed to be set to an AHCI mode in my BIOS and have the OS be reinstalled. So now after reinstalling my operative system and changing some AHCI stuff in my BIOS, I booted back up fresh, went into the same magician software and It told me that I apparently did not have AHCI on and that It couldn't find a SATA interface:

 

http://puu.sh/9ZV2t/d22ea5a706.png

 

Being absolutely confused and disoriented at this point, I went back into my bios, double-checked around a bit for more AHCI stuff, restarted my computer a couple of times and tried the "Magican software" optimization mumbo jumbo and I got these benchmark results:

 

http://puu.sh/9Zy2g/6b61bc93dd.png

 

Write-speeds of over 3000 mb/s and read speeds of 3500 mb/s. Knowing that something is definitely wrong at this point, I also started getting really large freezes whenever I was in the browser or even doing small downloads and so I did some more research and found out that I also made the mistake of giving my new SSD the volume name of B:

 

http://puu.sh/9ZVAe/433f1abc3f.png

 

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

 

So that's really where I am right now. The computer refuses to boot off my SSD If I make it a primary hard drive, insisting that It is not a valid startup device, Windows refuses to let me change my Drive letter so I can't even install ATI's graphic drivers directly on it (specifices invalid folder in setup) and everywhere I look, It's either people saying that the drivers are wrong for the SSD or that I should run some really dangerous and potentially registry damaging automatic install files mcgiffens that have more than 5 A4 pages of instructions. My motherboard is a Rampage III GENE and the only "AHCI" configurations page I can get my hands on in my BIOS tells me that they can't detect anything: http://puu.sh/9ZW7M/bdec8dc2c5.png

 

 

Some tips or even help with this massive mess would be appreciated.

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Gday Coecoo,   ,

If you had both drives connected when installing the OS???, or setting up Dual booting, Windows may have spread files over both drives, happens often with the Boot Loader.

What type of OS disc do you have, Boxed Retail, unbranded OEM, Dell/HP branded, downloaded from the Net?  Ver. XP/Vista/7/8/8.1, 32/64 bit?

We could attempt a repair, but is likely to be long and complicated.   Best solutions would be a clean install.  

Have you important Data you need to backup?

Will the computer boot into any mode?

What Brand/model is the old HDD?

[iammykyl]

Gday Coecoo,   ,

If you had both drives connected when installing the OS???, or setting up Dual booting, Windows may have spread files over both drives, happens often with the Boot Loader.

What type of OS disc do you have, Boxed Retail, unbranded OEM, Dell/HP branded, downloaded from the Net?  Ver. XP/Vista/7/8/8.1, 32/64 bit?

We could attempt a repair, but is likely to be long and complicated.   Best solutions would be a clean install.  

Have you important Data you need to backup?

Will the computer boot into any mode?

What Brand/model is the old HDD?

[Coecoo]

Gday Coecoo,   ,

If you had both drives connected when installing the OS???, or setting up Dual booting, Windows may have spread files over both drives, happens often with the Boot Loader.

What type of OS disc do you have, Boxed Retail, unbranded OEM, Dell/HP branded, downloaded from the Net?  Ver. XP/Vista/7/8/8.1, 32/64 bit?

We could attempt a repair, but is likely to be long and complicated.   Best solutions would be a clean install.  

Have you important Data you need to backup?

Will the computer boot into any mode?

What Brand/model is the old HDD?

 

Hello and thanks for the quick reply.

 

i'm using a Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit SP1 .ISO file as my CD burner/reader is broken on this chassi I'm using and I don't have any important data that I haven't backed up.

 

The computer will currently only boot with my HDD being the main driver device (and It's a Samsung HD204UI) but It will boot in different modes, presuming you mean safemode, etc.

Edited by Coecoo, 07 July 2014 - 04:43 AM.

[iammykyl]

Thanks for the info.

If you do not have a working CD ROM, how will you install the MB drivers/utilities and the video drivers?

As you have installed the OS, I take it you can boot from a USB stick,??

[iammykyl]

Gday. 

 

If you have not got your MB manual, download, > http://www.asus.com/..._GENE/HelpDesk/

 

We need to make sure your BIOS is set to defaults and do some preparations before installing the OS.   So, when you are ready to start, please perform the following.

 

Power down, switch off the PSU, > disconnect everything from the computer except, PSU, Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse.  >  Remove the side panel.

Briefly touch a bare metal part of the computer case, this to discharge any static from your body.

> Disconnect HDD SATA cable at the MB end, > disconnect the HDD power plug. 

> Check, the SSD SATA cable is plugged into the red SATA 6G port #1.

> Connect the Optical drive to SATA 3G Gray SATA port #6.  (this providing it does not stop  the running of the system)

> Press down the cir CMOS switch on the back of the I/O,   page #29.

 

Switch on the monitor and the PSU, > power on the computer, > Enter the BIOS.

On the first screen, > set the time, Date and Language

 

Under Storage, Configure SATA as AHCI. (3 page 20)

 

Under the Boot menu. .Set the Removable Dev as the first boot.  (3 page 40)

Set the Hard Drive as second boot.

 

Exit menu.   select Exit and Save Changes, then confirm. 

 

Your computer will restart.  Did you hear any beeps?   Is there a message on the monitor? 

 

.

[Coecoo]

Thanks for the info.

If you do not have a working CD ROM, how will you install the MB drivers/utilities and the video drivers?

As you have installed the OS, I take it you can boot from a USB stick,??

 

I mounted the .ISO file on a virtual drive and It worked flawlessly to install itself. The video-drivers I downloaded off the net, I am unaware on how to update the MB drivers/utilities though.

 

 

 

Gday. 

 

If you have not got your MB manual, download, > http://www.asus.com/..._GENE/HelpDesk/

 

We need to make sure your BIOS is set to defaults and do some preparations before installing the OS.   So, when you are ready to start, please perform the following.

 

Power down, switch off the PSU, > disconnect everything from the computer except, PSU, Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse.  >  Remove the side panel.

Briefly touch a bare metal part of the computer case, this to discharge any static from your body.

> Disconnect HDD SATA cable at the MB end, > disconnect the HDD power plug. 

> Check, the SSD SATA cable is plugged into the red SATA 6G port #1.

> Connect the Optical drive to SATA 3G Gray SATA port #6.  (this providing it does not stop  the running of the system)

> Press down the cir CMOS switch on the back of the I/O,   page #29.

 

Switch on the monitor and the PSU, > power on the computer, > Enter the BIOS.

On the first screen, > set the time, Date and Language

 

Under Storage, Configure SATA as AHCI. (3 page 20)

 

Under the Boot menu. .Set the Removable Dev as the first boot.  (3 page 40)

Set the Hard Drive as second boot.

 

Exit menu.   select Exit and Save Changes, then confirm. 

 

Your computer will restart.  Did you hear any beeps?   Is there a message on the monitor? 

 

.

 

Thanks for the instructions, I'll try these tonight or tomorrow when I have made a bootable USB stick and then get back to you.

[iammykyl]

Gday.

For the MB drivers/utilities. Download them and save to a USB stick.

This driver must be installed first so that the correct drivers are installed for your system

> https://downloadcent...x?DwnldID=23061

 

Then go to > http://www.asus.com/...pDesk_Download/

 

Do not download BIOS Updates .   start with BIOS Utility, miss the Intel Chipset inf as you got that from Intel.  expand each category and select the most recent driver date.   Download and install them in the order presented. 

 

 

Here is a good How To Install w7, the only thing I would do differently is at screen #15, only have "Install Important Updates Only" ticked. This prevents windows update messing about with drivers.   At step #20, Download the GPU software/drivers from your video manufacturers web site and install. 

> http://www.sevenforu...indows-7-a.html

 

Please post back before installing any software to the new system.

[Coecoo]

Gday.

For the MB drivers/utilities. Download them and save to a USB stick.

This driver must be installed first so that the correct drivers are installed for your system

> https://downloadcent...x?DwnldID=23061

 

Then go to > http://www.asus.com/...pDesk_Download/

 

Do not download BIOS Updates .   start with BIOS Utility, miss the Intel Chipset inf as you got that from Intel.  expand each category and select the most recent driver date.   Download and install them in the order presented. 

 

 

Here is a good How To Install w7, the only thing I would do differently is at screen #15, only have "Install Important Updates Only" ticked. This prevents windows update messing about with drivers.   At step #20, Download the GPU software/drivers from your video manufacturers web site and install. 

> http://www.sevenforu...indows-7-a.html

 

Please post back before installing any software to the new system.

Hi

 

I did everything you asked and I am now currently running independently on my SSD with the HDD plugged out. The benchmark tests of my SSD show that the performance is normal http://puu.sh/a4uEc/163be56c4e.png

 

But the software also reports that AHCI is on quote, deactivated http://puu.sh/a4uSO/ec2c036302.png

 

It also yet again cant find a SATA interface but the write speed seems to have been improved, especially since it is not even optimized. Are these false positives?

 

I have also done some download tests on Steam and It seems like the disk are still getting itself busy writing, making the downloads cut themselves off into segments. http://puu.sh/a4wkK/308cbcc036.png

Edited by Coecoo, 09 July 2014 - 08:07 PM.

[iammykyl]

Thanks for the update.  You were very quick.   Will look at the SSD frist.

Please restart and enter the BIOS, go to the Advanced Menu.

> select, Onboard Devices Configuration, > click, Marvell SATA6g Controller, > select AHCI. Page 3-27 and 3-28

> Press F10 < confirm Save Setting and Exit.

Please perform the Samsung Magician Optimization, then benchmark again.   Any improvement?

 

Please go to device manager, are ther any yellow or red flags?

[Coecoo]

Thanks for the update.  You were very quick.   Will look at the SSD frist.

Please restart and enter the BIOS, go to the Advanced Menu.

> select, Onboard Devices Configuration, > click, Marvell SATA6g Controller, > select AHCI. Page 3-27 and 3-28

> Press F10 < confirm Save Setting and Exit.

Please perform the Samsung Magician Optimization, then benchmark again.   Any improvement?

 

Please go to device manager, are ther any yellow or red flags?

 

Hi.

 

Device manager only reports one "Unknown" device with a yellow ! sign next to it. Properties say that It is an Intel® ICH10R LPC Interface Controller - 3A16.

 

Other than that, the Magician software finally reports that AHCI is ON and that It can detect SATA , but now I got two other problems:

 

1. The Random Write Speed absolutely plummeted after me restarting, optimizing and running a benchmark, initially going at 26000 IOPS at the start of the benchmark just to crawl down to 8100 http://puu.sh/a5o9S/bc4ca7dc49.png

 

2. The SSD still utterly struggles to do things like patching and download, freezing my PC while doing so. This is what my PC resource window looks like while I was installing a 200 MB update for Planetside 2: http://puu.sh/a0ZXe/a91114d8e8.png

 

It might be caused by me activating the RAPID mode but I haven't had much time to do experimenting. I will post Updates as I do.

 

 

Update 1:

 

After turning RAPID mode on and off, my write speed went from about 220~ to 50~. http://puu.sh/a5PB5/5316b22b50.png

 

 

Update 2: After doing an "Performance Optimization", the speed jacks up back from 50 to 220-250 write speed, but the Random write speed still plummets from an initial 24000+ to 10000~ the longer the test runs, the worse the random write speed. http://puu.sh/a5PNu/3b32fd159c.png

Edited by Coecoo, 10 July 2014 - 05:14 PM.

[iammykyl]

See if we can fix that missing driver, Use IE as ActaveX is needed, download and run the Intel Driver Update Utility. > http://www.intel.com.../support/detect

Please look in the BIOS, but do not change, for SATA Turbo, is it on Auto?

 

It looks like there a lots of problems on the X58 boards with Marvel SATA controller, I am looking for a fix.

[Coecoo]

See if we can fix that missing driver, Use IE as ActaveX is needed, download and run the Intel Driver Update Utility. > http://www.intel.com.../support/detect

Please look in the BIOS, but do not change, for SATA Turbo, is it on Auto?

 

It looks like there a lots of problems on the X58 boards with Marvel SATA controller, I am looking for a fix.

I did as you asked and although the update utility worked, it couldn't find the specified driver so I had to get it manually. Made my screen flicker like crazy after I updated it and stopped after a reboot so I thought it was a success until i saw the same "Unknown device" ! thing in device manager.

 

And for that SATA Turbo thing, I couldn't find anything like it so I'm gonna presume no.

[Coecoo]

See if we can fix that missing driver, Use IE as ActaveX is needed, download and run the Intel Driver Update Utility. > http://www.intel.com.../support/detect

Please look in the BIOS, but do not change, for SATA Turbo, is it on Auto?

 

It looks like there a lots of problems on the X58 boards with Marvel SATA controller, I am looking for a fix.

 

Any ETA for that fix?

[iammykyl]

Very sorry for the no contact, completely missed your post and only saw it when doing a clean-up of the browser.

Are you still having problems?   Please give a update.