Bios doesn't see Intel SSD drive

[SD_Ryoko]

I have a new hard drive, and a new motherboard.

I also have Windows 8.

Intel 330 Series Solid-State Drive 120 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch - SSDSC2CT120A3K5
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/solid-state-drives/solid-state-drives-330-series.html
Gigabyte board GA-B75M-D3V
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4195#ov

For the most part, it works great. My computer boots from the bios to a fully loaded windows in literally 5 seconds. The intel SSD toolkit says the drive is healthy and has no issues.

Its plugged into SATA channel 0 (SATA3)

Once maybe twice a day, my computer is stuck at the bios and says "Invalid boot drive. Insert etc etc". The only remedy so far is unplugging it, plugging it back in and restarting the computer. Every time.

I've exhausted ideas on this. I visited intels website; the drives firmware is up to date. I've visited the gigabyte website; none of the firmware revisions include notes about this issue. The cable included has metal clips to retain it; its secure at both ends.

I've dug through the bios, I'm running it IDE, opposed to AHCI (does this matter?)

I'm not having any heat issues. SSD hardly even warm when in use.

My old hard drive (mechanical 160gb drive) has no problems like this, and was plugged into the same SATA channel for months. It has a cheapo red cable, no retaining clips or anything. And it works fine >_>

I have tried running the PC without my old hard drive hooked up to channel 1. I have tried running them both hooked up.

Oddly, the SSD drive was running fine without issues its first 5 days (?)

 

[SD_Ryoko]

More.

Which cable is irrelevant.
Which port is irrelevant.
Bios update did nothing.

The only fix is unplugging it, and plugging it back in.

I think I may have found the problem. Apparently, SSD's using Sandforce controllers sometimes have issues with 'sleep' mode. This ranges from BSOD's to power cycling on some drives. Some drives never wake up from sleep mode. Some drives have no issues.

And this is apparently an ongoing problem for years now and still isn't corrected. This would make perfect sense - it only happens when I leave my PC on overnight or while I'm at work. I come back to it finding a boot failure notice.

I've disabled all power-save options on the SSD. Crossing my fingers.

 

[Ghan]

I would definitely run an SSD in AHCI mode. IDE is so old it actually can reduce an SSD's performance. AHCI is always recommended when possible. Note that with an active Windows install, there is a registry key change you need to make before changing the setting in the BIOS.

 

[SD_Ryoko]

After reading up on IDE vs AHCI, I switched it to AHCI via registry settings change then bios config.

My problem remains. Running out of ideas. This time my computer locked up while gaming, and the SSD didn't come back up. Again, I had to move it to another port and it appeared.

Another notion.

These problems didn't start until I downloaded all the available windows 8 updates on 1-29-12. This may or may not be coincidence. I don't have a restore point before the updates, only the day of.

 

[Ghan]

Sounds like either incompatibility with Windows 8 or a bad part.

 

[SD_Ryoko]

I'm leaning toward compatability / driver / firmware problems.

Could be bad part, but I'm trying to be optomistic. I wiped my old drive and set it up as backup/archive as everything was running fine for 4-5 days. Sending this one to intel would suck >.<

This AM it booted on the first try, without cable hopping. Thats an improvement. Still crashed overnight though.

Maybe this is what I get for going with the new OS and new drive =( heh. Reading suggests that people having BlkSOD problems get a membership ring.

 

[SD_Ryoko]

Okay. Update.

Sent the drive back to intel.
Received a new drive.

Tried to ghost my hard drive onto the new drive using the intel software provided; this failed. The drive wouldn't boot. Partitions and data there, but something in the setup was missing. Ghosting failed to copy the smaller system partitions / boot partition (?)

Now on AHCI mode in bios - a full reinstall of windows 8 onto a blank drive with no partitions using the installation wizard.

Working okay at the moment.

Multiple options in the bios for booting

1. Sata INTELSSD330ETCETC
2. Windows Boot Manager
3. P0: INTELSSD330ETCETC
4. UEFI INTELSSD330ETCETC

The only option that works is #2. Boots fine. Any other option does one of two things

A. Boot drive not found, insert / select proper boot drive general error message
B. Windows boots into a repair screen, then claims my system can't be repaired.

Whether this is good, bad, wrong or incorrect I can't figure out. But, under option #2 it works correctly.

What I'd like to do (assuming this drive works for more than a few days) is install a copy of windows XP on my old hard drive and have the option to boot either.

Not sure if this would mess everything up; which boot option in bios I'd use then. Given that Windows Boot Manager is the only option that works, I am at an impass about how this would work with the current setup

Ugh

 

[Slapshot136]

I would suggest making 2 partitions, installing XP on one of them, and then re-installing windows 8 onto the 2nd partition (install windows 8 second) - that way it will be windows 8's partition manager that selects which OS to boot into, as windows 8 can support windows XP booting, but windows XP doesn't know about windows 8 - yes this means re-installing windows 8, I am suggesting you do it now (before you install stuff/get used to it) rather than later