Problems installing Force 3 60GB SSD on Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit using AHCI [ Edited ]

[ryelli]

I have a Pavilion 6310f desktop.  For the last 4 months, it has begin freezing applications (while mouse remains responsive).  After a while, I noticed under Resource Monitor that the disk response time was in the 3,000-10,000 range when it was freezing. 

While the hard drive is within WD's warranty frame, because it was sold to an OEM supplier, it is only backed by HP's warranty.  Therefore, it is apparently acceptable for a HDD to fail in less than 2 years!

So, to rectify the situation, I bought a Corsair Force 3 60GB SSD.   I am trying to do a fresh install of Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit using AHCI, but it hangs on reboot during the install. Here's a list of what I've tried, what "works" and what doesn't:

First, I had the wrong o/s disk and managed to install Windows 7 Professional 64 bit using AHCI with NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER on the install, but it did BSOD upon resuming from hibernation.  Besides, I only have a license for Windows 7 Home Premium, so this is not an option.

I reinstalled using Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit using AHCI and it hung on startup.

I updated my BIOS.
I updated the firmware on the SSD.

I installed successfully using IDE. I tried to follow the instructions for switching IDE to AHCI after the installation and it hangs again on statup.

I installed following "Sean's ssd installation guide" from overclocking.net including doing a secure erase and writing all 1's to the drive. Still failed.

I have tried installing the latest nVidia GeForce chipset and sata drivers during the install, but the only drivers that the system recognizes as "applicable to my hardware" fail to load.

I assume the problem must be in the chipset compatibility.   However, once again because my HP computer is out of warranty, there is NO AVENUE to contact their support to ask if there's an issue with SSD drives and their motherboard.

Thanks in advance.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Did you try installing W7 HP x64 SP1? 

Maybe that has the nVidia AHCI driver in it.

Link to the ISO file downloads is below.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-from-digital-river/

Burn the ISO file to a DVD at the slowest possible speed using a DVD burning program that can burn ISO files.

Use your 25 digit product key to activate the installation.

If that doesn't work, I have one last suggestion, and that is to extract and copy the files I have attached, to a floppy disk and use a USB floppy drive to load the AHCI driver using the F6 prompt.

I extracted these files from the SATA controller driver download from your PC's support and driver page. I think these might be all you need based on how the file structure is arranged for the Intel AHCI drivers.

I have never done this in Windows 7. You can't use a USB flash drive to load the drivers with XP at the F6 prompt, but maybe you can with W7.  Give that a try if you don't have a USB FDD.

Paul

[ryelli]

Paul,

Thanks for the quick response.  I am using Windows 7 Home Premium 64 SP1.  I neglected to include that detail in my original post.

I have downloaded the drivers and I have even downloaded the updated drivers (which oddly they don't list there on the page); I had to install using IDE then pull the updates for the nVidia components. 

From there, i have already tried to load the new chipset and sata controller drivers during the install.  In Win7, it's not the "F6" prompt, but a "Load Drivers" option when selecting the drive to install to.  During that phase, I tell it to load those drivers and it fails to load them.

I will try again; perhaps the 40th time is a charm!

Thanks again.

Ryan

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Ryan.

Sorry you are having such a tough time with it.

If it was an Intel chipset, I could walk you through how to load the AHCI driver when in IDE mode, but you probably can do that blindfolded anyway.

I am very surprised the driver is not labeled as an AHCI storage controller and is not an AHCI.inf file. It is a STOR.inf file which on an Intel storage file is for RAID, not AHCI.

Do you have a RAID option in the BIOS?  Did you try that?

Supposedly RAID is as good as AHCI from what I have read.

http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-ahci-and-raid/

Paul

[ryelli]

I'm pretty rubbish with hardware issues, so there's not much I can do with good vision, let alone blindfolded!

In one iteration, I located a file called MsAhci.sys after an install using IDE.  I copied that file to a usb and tried to load that during an install.  However, the load driver functionality didn't identify it as a candidate for installation!

I'm ready to dump the ssd onto the highest bidder and just install another mechanical drive and be done with it. 

I will probably go the RMA route with Corsair and see if there might be something wrong with the ssd controller.  After that, barring HP's Intervention (Hint hint, HP, if you're reading this...  Maybe "sorry we included such a crappy hard drive, here's a fix" or "Sorry we have such a poor support policy, let's see what we can do..."), I will just buy a better HDD and walk away (taking a loss on the SSD that I cannot return to newegg).

[ryelli]

I just saw the other part about RAID vs AHCI.  I do not have the RAID option.  I believe I've read that RAID doesn't support the Windows7 TRIM command and will shorten the life expectancy of the drive.  I read that Intel is going to add TRIM support to RAID, but I don't know if that's released yet (and I have an AMD processor, so I presume this doesn't apply anyways).