Asus P8Z68-vpro Intel IRST accelerated drive keeps dropping out

[Beachwalker]

Have been happily using accelerated WD black 1TB with Corsair 60 GB SSD for about 3 years. A few days ago I got a message from the IRST driver that the accelerated drive (Corsair) was no longer connected. It was not visible in either windows explorer or drive management.

I have bios 0801 and IRST 10.6.0.1002. running Windows Home 7 64 bit. So I removed corsair, re-initialized and formatted on a laptop. Reinstalled IRST driver. booted up and checked drive with chkdsk and smart drive report were all good. I accelerated the WD drive. All runs well for about half hour, then same error message: accelerated drive has disconnected from system.

Has anyone seen this behavior or have an idea where to look for a solution? Thanks. I'm an old guy (66) and built this thing, but am out of ideas. Thanks,

JJ

[parsec]

Re: Asus P8Z68-vpro Intel IRST accelerated drive keeps dropping out

I would not dismiss the possibility of the Corsair SSD having a problem, even if Chkdsk and the SMART data seem fine. The SSD's controller could be failing, which will not be shown in SMART data or Chkdsk. I'm not saying I know the SSD is bad, just that I would still suspect it.

When the SSD is not visible in Windows Explorer and Disk Management, I assume it is also not seen in the IRST software? Did you ever check the BIOS when this problem happens, to see if the SSD is still listed in the BIOS?

The SSD problem could just be a bad data or power connection, try a new SATA data cable and a fresh power connection.

One way to test the SSD is to put it in your laptop as you did to format it (recognized immediately in that case?) Then just keep it there running, for several hours or over night. Copy some files onto it for a workout, and then read the files to see if it works correctly. If the SSD drops out in about 1/2 hour in the main PC, it ought to do the same in the laptop if left in it for a longer time.

[Beachwalker]

Re: Asus P8Z68-vpro Intel IRST accelerated drive keeps dropping out

I thought I had replied to this yesterday, but I see now something went wrong and it never posted. Here's the update:

corsair was visible in bios, showing as disabled. Before pulling it out (again) for more testing I tried one more thing: I downloaded the Corsair toolbox and ran some checks and then upgraded the bios. Original bios was from 2011. After reboot went back into IRST and accelerated the WD black 1 TB drive. It has been up and running now for almost two days with no issues.

I should also mention that I did take your advice and made sure the connections were secure. I am not sure if something in the original bios was corrupted or flashing the new bios perhaps cleared out the problem, but it seems to be OK now. I will update again if the situation returns, but hope this helps someone else along the way.

Thank you very much for your help and suggestions. These forums are fantastic sources of information and ideas.

JJ

[parsec]

Re: Asus P8Z68-vpro Intel IRST accelerated drive keeps dropping out

Glad you have it working now.

The firmware update (?) on your Corsair SSD, that is probably a model with a Sandforce controller, was a good idea for multiple reasons.

The early Sandforce firmware versions were improved upon over time, and that update likely performed a secure erase on your SSD, which is a good thing if it is acting up.

Or did you mean the BIOS of your mother board?

It just struck me that I wonder if TRIM works with an SSD used in an accelerated system. I've never seen information about that. While SRT is called a special type of RAID 0 array, TRIM was not passed to SSDs in RAID 0 arrays until Intel 7 series chipset boards were released, with IRST version 11 drivers. Files on the SSD in a SRT volume are not striped as in a standard RAID 0 array, which is the main reason TRIM did not work on RAID volumes.

You could also try using a newer version of the Intel IRST driver, since I'm sure there have been improvements and bug fixes since IRST 10.6 that you are using. Your board's chipset was the first to have the SRT feature, and you're using the original driver.

[Beachwalker]

Re: Asus P8Z68-vpro Intel IRST accelerated drive keeps dropping out

The Corsair bios was flashed. Still have MB bios 0801 from 2011. I have always subscribed to leaving the bios alone unless there's a problem, but in view of the situation, I will take your advice and upgrade the MB bios and then the RST driver. I will be traveling and won't be able to do that for another week, but will post back after it's done. Thanks. As for Trim, here is HD Sentinel screen grab that may or may not help: