Problems installing XP on SSD

OneSexyNerd

OneSexyNerd

OneSexyNerd

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Hi all

I have got a pair of OCZ Core V2 in RAID 0 on my Asus Maximus mobo. The drives work OK when mounted as slaves to my current XP installation but if I try and install XP on to the RAID pair then it bombs out during the stage where the files are copied onto the SSD for the installation to begin (at 10% complete). The files stop being copied and I am prompted to ignore or quit and if I ignore, it refuses to copy anything after 10% complete.

Any ideas why this would be?
 
If the controller drivers aren`t installed then it wouldn`t detect the drive at all.

Ignor or quit! What`s the exact message? Could be your cd is scratched and it can`t read the files. Ignoring a file which is needed for setup or the OS to run would cause it to halt.

If your sure your CD is ok there`s a lot of troubleshooting advise in the stickeys and threads on the oczforums.
 
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John24 said:
If the controller drivers aren`t installed then it wouldn`t detect the drive at all.

Ignor or quit! What`s the exact message? Could be your cd is scratched and it can`t read the files. Ignoring a file which is needed for setup or the OS to run would cause it to halt.

If your sure your CD is ok there`s a lot of troubleshooting advise in the stickeys and threads on the oczforums.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your replies. I have made some progress with this issue. I've managed to install XP on a single SSD and it works no problem. I've also tried installing Vista64 on the RAID pair and that suffers the same problem as the XP install.
I'm coming to the conclusion that there is a compatibility issue between the SSD, RAID driver and XP/Vista.

Has anybody managed to install XP/Vista on an SSD RAID with ICH9R chipset?
 
Yeah updateing BIOS might help, you should really check out that link too. People have reported corruption, stuttering, pausing with ICH10R. It`s the official OCZ SSD forum so your likely to get more help ;)
 
John24 said:
Yeah updateing BIOS might help, you should really check out that link too. People have reported corruption, stuttering, pausing with ICH10R. It`s the official OCZ SSD forum so your likely to get more help ;)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link John, plenty to read there. Seems like a lot of folks with SSD issues. I hope I haven't bought a £300 lemon!

I can't risk updating the BIOS atm, need the machine for work although it is something I will try. I've asked OCZ to recommend a RAID card that will work, as it seems to be the best way to solve the issue.

Cheers guys.
 
Yeah these SSD's really have their share of problems atm. You are right about a RAID card probably being the best bet.

Updating the BIOS is worthwhile though and theres very little risk in it these days.
 
Theres almost no risk in updating the BIOS nowadays. You're happy to entrust your files to a flash ssd, but not update your BIOS which is also on a... flash chip :)

Just update it for free and potentially save yourself the cost of that RAID adapter.
 
If it was me I`d RMA them instead of gong down the hardware raid route and get a few Mtron SSD`s instead. You`ll have no compatibility issues and their SLC so should last longer.
 
Stonedofmoo said:
Theres almost no risk in updating the BIOS nowadays. You're happy to entrust your files to a flash ssd, but not update your BIOS which is also on a... flash chip :)

Just update it for free and potentially save yourself the cost of that RAID adapter.
Click to expand...

I remember updating my P5N BIOS and killing it dead! Dissertation is due in 2 weeks....BIOS update can bloody wait!
I don't mind using SSD for my OS because my OS can be easily recovered using an image, not the case with a dead mobo.

The other bug bear about using the mobo RAID is that it dedicates the entire 6 ports to RAID. I still want to use conventional HDs for bulk storage.

Did a quick speed comparison between an SSD and a 150GB Raptor today. The Raptor turns in an average of 78MB/s and the SSD is kicking along at 133MB/s. Hopefully this will translate into a faster OS when I've ironed out the bugs. I'll keep you posted.
 
ok a couple of points.

I've been updating BIOS's on motherboards and laptops for 15 years and have never killed one yet. The chances on modern motherboards are very low provided you upgrade the BIOS from DOS or a built in BIOS based flash utility.

Also regardless of if your controller is using the RAID bios or not, you can still plug in and use conventional storage HDD's or DVD drives at any time on any of those ports. Mine for example uses 3 ports for RAID and another for a single Samsung F1 storage drive that is not part of the RAID array.

HTH
 
Stonedofmoo said:
ok a couple of points.

I've been updating BIOS's on motherboards and laptops for 15 years and have never killed one yet. The chances on modern motherboards are very low provided you upgrade the BIOS from DOS or a built in BIOS based flash utility.
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I too have updated a few BIOS in my time, that was the only failure to date. I guess it must have been caused by some system instability or a temporary power failure.
Stonedofmoo said:
Also regardless of if your controller is using the RAID bios or not, you can still plug in and use conventional storage HDD's or DVD drives at any time on any of those ports. Mine for example uses 3 ports for RAID and another for a single Samsung F1 storage drive that is not part of the RAID array.

HTH
Click to expand...

That is interesting. When I set my BIOS to RAID it doesn't discriminate between the ports: I have to set RAID for all SATA ports and when I boot Windows it fails to load, with a blue screen low level fault (from the original HD). I assumed this was because the chipset is configured for RAID but going by what you say it is probably because of the SSDs. Another thing: when I enable RAID, the boot options list my HD as RAID even though it is not part of an array, there is no option to select the SSDs as a bootable drive at this point, does it matter which port the drives are connected to? This is my first experience with RAID and I seem to be doing it the hard way, as usual!

Thank you for your advice.
 
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Update:

I have completely transferred my system onto SSD now, I've forgone the RAID for the time being. The OS is on one SSD and all my apps are on the other SSD.

After a days use I have to say I'm impressed with the system performance. It's about 20% faster to boot but the majority of the gains are in loading times of apps. It takes less than half a second to load Word 2007, games load in about half the time and general Windows responsiveness is increased. It feels like when you open something that's already cached in RAM. All in all, money well spent I reckon. I'll be interested to see what it's like with a proper RAID card with a decent cache memory.
 
John24 said:
Congrats OneSexyNerd, reading that and nodding along. Wonderfull isn`t it.

You know there`s no going back now don`t you :cool:
Click to expand...
That is the problem. I have to use a work machine that is about 10% as fast as this one and it drives me nuts. Fortunately they let me work from home and now I have an even more compelling reason to do so :)

What are you running?
 
That`s lucky you get to use it for work aswell as play and work gets an extra 90% productivity out of you, in theory anyway :)

I`ve got an mtron mobi, posted a bit of a comparison to my wd600aks here.
 
John24 said:
That`s lucky you get to use it for work aswell as play and work gets an extra 90% productivity out of you, in theory anyway :)

I`ve got an mtron mobi, posted a bit of a comparison to my wd600aks here.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the theory :)

Nice write up BTW. I see there are still a few doubting Thomas' in there. I get the feeling some people are ready discuss the performance of a component without having tested it!

What is your opinion on RAID SSD? I have heard and I see you also noted that Windows performance will not scale in the same way that the read/write speed does.
 
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