OCZ Vertex2 very slow boot

mushtafa

mushtafa

mushtafa

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Hi guys, need some advice please;
I've got the Vertex2 120GB SSD with a fresh install of windows 7, but boot times are very slow. Around 45 seconds, not including the BIOS.
This is my first SSD. I've read a few articles online and have now turned on AHCI in Windows and the BIOS. This didn't seem to make much difference though.

I noticed there is a later firmware, but I'm unable to flash the drive.

Any suggestions of settings that need changing?
 
Hi

A complete spec of your PC might help. Especially what mobo/BIOS and revision/version no. And is this a new set-up? or just replacing a mech drive with an SSD as boot drive?

PS. and why can't you update the firmware on the SSD? Though unless the firmware on your SSD is really old, then this is probably a re herring (unless it addresses an issue with your mobo etc.).
 
The spec should be in my signature. I'm not sure on the BIOS version as not at home at the moment. The motherboard is rev1.

According to OCZ website I should he able to update the firmware from windows, but this isn't working. I'm getting an error regarding installing it on the boot drive. So I took the SSD to a friend's house and plugged it in. I ran the OCZ toolbox again, it finds the drive, downloads the firmware, but hangs as soon as it attemps to write it.

I've read a few things regarding these drives having a fault with the older versions, but not sure wether this is the problem or not. It's only showing 107gb instead of 111gb or something?



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Forgot to add, it's a clean install of Windows 7, all drivers installed from the Gigabyte website, and latest BIOS firmware flashed.


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I tried the bootable image on USB, it boots to it, says it's loading a kernel or something, counts down from 10 to 0 than hangs. I'll get a shot of it later.

I ran the Atto benchmark yesterday and it shows very slow write speeds(about 50mb), according to a few OCZ forum posts I've read, Atto shouldn't be used to make measurement of speed because it's wrong.

So post some screenshots when home this evening, thanks


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Not sure what posts you have read re ATTO benchmark... but this is most definitely the one to run for Sandforce based drives (as it tests using compressible data). This application is what OCZ use to get the performance figures that they quote in their advertising. It's repeated runs of benchmarks that write large amounts of incompressible data (EG. AS SSD and Crystal Diskmark) that you want to steer clear of.

So yes... a screen shot of a full run of ATTO please.

and a screen shot from Crystal Diskinfo as well might be helpful.

PS. and another screenie from OCZ toolbox showing the SMART data as well. Plus what firmware is the SSD currently on (1.37 is the latest)?

EDIT. Another question. Is the SSD new, or 2nd hand?

Regarding flashing the firmware on the SSD. Best method is to try connecting to another machine as a secondary (IE. data drive) ... Unless you are trying to use an earlier version of the toolbox... then you can't update the drive as a primary anyway! ... I know you say you have tried this. And use the latest version of the Toolbox (making sure it's the correct version for your drive ... http://ocz.com/consumer/download/firmware). But if the first attempt fails. Mad as it seems, try it again straight away (and a third time if necessary). Sometimes this works.
Please pay particular attention to the WARNINGS in the guide for the Toolbox.

and if you want to use the bootable toolbox. And are having problems with putting it on USB, then try a CD (never ever had an issue with this... but there is always a first time!).
 
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I got confused earlier, it was AS SSD which recorded the slow readings, I've just tried ATTO and will try and post the images with this post.



 
Right....

The good news.
- ATTO results are smack on.
- Partition alignment OK.
- Looking at the formatted capacities of the drive under Windows that you mention in post #3 ... it looks like you have one of the newer Vertex 2 drives with the 25nm NAND (rather than the older drives that came with 34nm). So around 107 GB is in fact correct. see http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ocz-vertex-2-25nm-ssd,2867.html for a full explanation of this.
- firmware 1.35 should be fine. I think the only difference is "Fixed: Blue screen on sleep mode from S3 / S4". Though obviously best to update if you can.

The bad news
- The 25 nm drives are no where as good at handling incompressible data (write wise) than the older drives. Though I suspect in day-to-day use I doubt if this would be noticeable. There are numerous articles etc. on the WEB about this "issue" (even on this forum I suspect) EG. http://www.overclockers.com/oczs-25nm-vertex-2-performance-issues/

So all told, I think your benchmarks are in the right ball park for this drive.
I have one of the older 34 nm drives. I suspect someone with one of the newer drives may be able to backup (or otherwise) my comments.

So where does this leave you with your original problem ... Apparent slow boot!?!

There are so many things that can effect this and I suspect the SSD is probably not the issue here. I'm assuming here that you let Windows during the install, partition the drive and do a quick format (IE. you did not full format your self). You could try the Intel RST AHCI drivers but I've always found that the stock Windows AHCI Microsoft drivers work fine on the Vertex 2 drives.

Question... do you have a baseline for this machine prior to moving to your SSD?
EG. if you used to have a mech Hard Drive as your boot drive.

To be totally honest. If it's only a slow boot (and I'm not too sure I would be worried at around 40 seconds) and everything else appears fine in normal use. Then I'd be tempted to just leave well alone and just carry on and enjoy your PC (that's just me though).

Probably not what you wanted to hear but that's life sometimes.

PS. Would still have been interested in seeing a screenie of the SMART data (via Toolbox).
 
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@mikeo, many thanks for your info! The PC is nice and fast for day to day use, it's purely the boot up that was bugging me. (and the fact I'm unable to update the firmware). Like I say, I've never owned a SSD and just expected it to be quicker. If all the benchmark data is correct, I'll just put up with it. I'll get the SMART data when back on the PC.
Just to add, no, I've not ran this machine with a mechanical drive.
Thanks for your time with helping me :)


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mushtafa said:
Forgot to add the drive is 9 months old


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Click to expand...

Glad to try and help / assist.

If the drive was 2nd hand (IE. had data previously on it). I would recommend a Secure Erase (via the OCZ Toolbox) prior to installing (or re-installing) the OS in the future. This just re-sets the SSD back to the out of the box state. Assuming you did not do this already of course. Not sure if this would make much (any?) difference in your case. But always sensible to do this usually.

Enjoy :):):)
 
Can you update the drive's firmware when the SATA mode has been changed to IDE/compatible? What message/error do you get when trying to update the firmware? Have you tried with the Windows version of OCZ Toolbox?
 
SMART Data

Model Number: OCZ-VERTEX2
Serial Number: OCZ-X4115BZ4DMIWPXTI
WWN: 5e83a97faa46cb33

ID ATTRIBUTE STATUS VALUE WORST THRESHOLD TYPE UPDATED RAW
1 Raw Read Error Rate 0x000f 110 110 050 Pre-fail Always 0/44061641
5 Retired Block Count 0x0033 100 100 003 Pre-fail Always 0
9 Power-On Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old age Always 1725h+56m+50.510s
12 Device Power Cycle Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old age Always 224
171 Program Fail Count 0x0032 000 000 000 Old age Always 0
172 Erase_Fail Count 0x0032 000 000 000 Old age Always 0
174 Unexpected Power Loss 0x0030 000 000 000 Old age Offline 61
177 Wear Range Delta 0x0000 000 000 000 Old age Offline 0
181 Program Fail Count 0x0032 000 000 000 Old age Always 0
182 Erase Fail Count 0x0032 000 000 000 Old age Always 0
187 Reported Uncorrectable 0x0032 100 100 000 Old age Always 0
194 Temperature Celsius 0x0022 030 030 000 Old age Always 30 (Min/Max 30/30)
195 ECC On-the-Fly Error Count 0x001c 110 110 000 Old age Offline 0/44061641
196 Reallocation Event Count 0x0033 100 100 000 Pre-fail Always 0
231 SSD Life Left 0x0013 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always 0
241 Lifetime Writes from Host 0x0032 000 000 000 Old age Always 768
242 Lifetime Reads to Host 0x0032 000 000 000 Old age Always 960
 
darael said:
Can you update the drive's firmware when the SATA mode has been changed to IDE/compatible? What message/error do you get when trying to update the firmware? Have you tried with the Windows version of OCZ Toolbox?
Click to expand...

I just get the error about it being the primary drive so it can't do it.

When plugged into another machine as a slave drive, it fails when in IDE mode. The device has rejected the update. Once in ACHI mode it just hangs.
 
darael said:
Can you update the drive's firmware when the SATA mode has been changed to IDE/compatible? What message/error do you get when trying to update the firmware? Have you tried with the Windows version of OCZ Toolbox?
Click to expand...

OCZ Toolbox guidelines say:

3) The SATA controller must be set to AHCI mode in the BIOS to utilize the Toolbox.

If the OP still wants to try and update the firmware in his drive. Then as mentioned above, I would try the standalone tool burned to a CD, rather than a USB stick (I have had problems trying this myself).

PS. SMART data looks fine to me.
 
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