Founder Michael Posted May 13, 2011 Founder Share Posted May 13, 2011 (edited) As some of you know, i recently got my R3 and have been messing around with it for the last two days or so. The most time consuming part by far for me was to make the damn Vertex 3 work in the R3. It started with BSODs during/after the installation and when i finally found how to solve that, i discovered that the SSD would just freeze for 30-60 seconds making the OS unresponsive to anything you do. There quite a lot of information on OCZ forums regarding those issues, and one needs to read through quite a lot to find the solutions, so here's the gist of it. BSOD Set the SSD to work in RAID mode, instead of AHCI and proceed to install Windows. AHCI WILL cause BSODs, and while there are a couple of suggested solutions online i found that none really solved the problem. Plus there isn't really a downside to using RAID vs AHCI as far as i could find. Please correct me if i am wrong. Freezing It looks like the reason for those freezes is the inablity of OCZs firmware to handle LPM requests that RST sends to it. So what we need to do is disable LPM support. I've attached a registry file you guys need to import to your registry. Do it after RST is installed, otherwise you will end up in a BSOD loop, even in safe mode. Note There's one more BSOD issue the R3 is prone to, which is completely unrelated to the Vertex, but since everything was happening to me at once, it was hard to differentiate. If you see BSODs that are caused by sdbus.sys, uninstall your SD card reader drivers. Install everything else, install all windows updates (especially SP1) and only then reinstall the SD card drivers. (How lame is that ?) Here's a CDM results for my Vertex 3 inside the M17x-R3, that's before SSD tweaks (!!!). I think the numbers are pretty impressive, especially the 4K ones. UPDATE 5/15/2011 Ok, so OCZ released a new firmware 2.06, to address the AHCI issue. After i verified it yesterday i can safely say that you can now install in AHCI mode without any tweaks. The Freezing problem was not solved and the LPM tweak is still needed. To update your laptop to the latest firmware you are going to need the latest OCZ Toolbox. The update needs to be executed from a OS that isn't on the SSD, so if you have two HDDs in your laptop, boot from the HDD, not the SSD or the update will fail. Two more things, you have to run the tool as administrator AND you have to run in XP Compatibility Mode or it won't be able to locate the SSD. Observations : AHCI issue completely gone LPM tweak still needed to prevent drive freezing Run the OCZ update tool from a OS other than the one installed on the SSD Run the OCZ update tool with Administrator privileges Run the OCZ update tool in XP Compatibility Mode Absolutely no speed enhancements after update OCZ claims it improved boot speeds - i didn't observe it. My boot time is around 19 seconds before and after the update LPM.zip Edited May 15, 2011 by Michael 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanXbix Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 I had BSOD issues myself on my R2 when i first installed windows 7. I ran a secure erase in linux and never had anymore problems On My R2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unreal25 Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 The sequential numbers are crazy. However, I'm almost always limited by something else when I am just copying raw files from somewhere (typically it's my USB 2.0 or Gigabit LAN). What I'd like to see more, however, are newer SSDs with a bit higher 4K read/writes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Brian Posted May 13, 2011 Founder Share Posted May 13, 2011 Nice job Michael, now we need a front page article on it. Those 4k numbers make my intel cry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I'd love vertex 3 sata 3 6gbps... there are some 256gb ones on amazon again for about 500$ I wont probably replace my ssd drives until next year. +Rep Michael for that much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Michael Posted May 15, 2011 Author Founder Share Posted May 15, 2011 (edited) Ok, so OCZ released a new firmware 2.06, to address the AHCI issue.After i verified it yesterday i can safely say that you can now install in AHCI mode without any tweaks.The Freezing problem was not solved and the LPM tweak is still needed.To update your laptop to the latest firmware you are going to need the latest OCZ Toolbox.The update needs to be executed from a OS that isn't on the SSD, so if you have two HDDs in your laptop, boot from the HDD, not the SSD or the update will fail. Two more things, you have to run the tool as administrator AND you have to run in XP Compatibility Mode or it won't be able to locate the SSD.Observations : AHCI issue completely goneLPM tweak still needed to prevent drive freezingRun the OCZ update tool from a OS other than the one installed on the SSDRun the OCZ update tool with Administrator privilegesRun the OCZ update tool in XP Compatibility ModeAbsolutely no speed enhancements after updateOCZ claims it improved boot speeds - i didn't observe it. My boot time is around 19 seconds before and after the updateFirst post updated. Edited May 15, 2011 by Michael 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder StamatisX Posted May 15, 2011 Founder Share Posted May 15, 2011 Thanks for the updates man, still a few issue remain to be solved I guess with OCZ.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 Nice job Michael, you dig up some nice info on these matters. Hope you resolve you battery charge issue soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 I'll give an update when mine arrive and install them into the M18. I'll post my experience with the Vertex 3 fix here including current firmware links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Michael Posted July 4, 2011 Author Founder Share Posted July 4, 2011 Good, cause there's a 2.07 as far as i know. Haven't tried it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 2.09 is the latest.Fixed my BSOD issues (so far!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Michael Posted July 4, 2011 Author Founder Share Posted July 4, 2011 Thanks man.Do you still need to use the LPM reg tweak to prevent freezes ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 I've never had any, can't really comment sorry..... They sound really annoying though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Michael Posted July 4, 2011 Author Founder Share Posted July 4, 2011 Oh, ok, you use it in your desktop. I assumed it's inside the alienware (did you get it yet ?) Desktops don't suffer from the freezes problem as far as i know, just the laptops and not all of them too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Not received yet, you'll definitely know when I get it. Probably going to use my old vertex 2 in it, can't justify having an ssd just sitting around, even if it is slightly slower than the 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mw86 Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Thanks for the update Jimbo guess the lpm fix is for laptops because it puts the drive to sleep in the wrong way.. Correct me if I'm wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.