Wildfire 120GB issues

[SteveMagin]

Dear Patriot,

I've been experiencing quite a range of issues with a Wildfire 120GB I bought just prior to Christmas last year.

Basically I get frequent BSODs and even more frequent freezes - i fact this happens almost every time I boot. The computer will often, after a freeze or BSOD, not detect the drive. Now after a secure erase and re-installation of windows I am getting a boot configuration data read error. I have also noted that BSOD error messages related to storage and paging - can't quite remember the exact error code off hand but I did look it up and it definitely relates to storage.

I have followed all the advice found on these forums and to summarise here is what I have done:

1. ensured updated firmware - 3.3.2 the drive was already updated to the latest when I got it.

2. installed Intel RST driver / control panel

3. Left the PC to idle overnight

4. Tested all other PC components to exclude other causes or contributing factors.

5. Tried in both IDE and AHCI modes. As well as all available ports on the machine.

My PC is an older one, Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 and so it uses a SATA2 ICH9R controller and a secondary but independent JMICRON controller. Both use ACHI.

To ensure it was not the MB I have tested (with exactly the same symptoms) on a recent Z68 board and a recent Mac Pro. With the Mac Pro the SSD was a secondary drive and after about 10mins the drive would, mid data transfer, disconnect or drop out.

These freezes have happened during web browsing, games, running HDTune, windows update, word processing - in short there is no software cause to this.

Having read very similar issues by other users across a range of hardware configurations I am concerned that this drive may require further technical investigation, firmware updates etc... hopefully the users who have experienced this are in the overwhelming minority and that in my case it is just this particular unit.

However, given the cost of these drives and my reliance on my PC for work, I am very keen to resolve this and I would be grateful for any advice from Patriot on next steps.

Kind regards

Steve

[Patriot_Ben]

Steve,

Performance can be a strong indicator of drive health. Can you run a default instance of ATTO and post the benchmarks you get?

ATTO can be found here:
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...k%20v2.46.html

Even on an older Sata 2 system, we'll take a look at your scores to cross-reference. Also if you have a chance please run this on the Z68 system as well.

[SteveMagin]

Hi Ben,

Sorry for the delayed response. Lots of travel for work has kept me away. To cut along story short, the place that I bought the drive did a swap because it was less than a few weeks old. However now the second drive is exhibiting the very same symptoms and notably it's gotten worse since doing a secure delete ( as per one of the stickies on this forum).

I'm hard pressed to believe that two drives have exactly the same issue. Also the SMART stats show a high soft read error rate. Does this indicate something?

Do you want me to still run atto or should I do something else. I'm keen to get this working and I am a little frustrated that something so straight forward as a drive installation is proving so difficult. Grateful however for your assistance.


Kind regards

Steve

[Patriot_Ben]

Which Windows operating system are you using? XP? Vista? 7? How much of the 120GB is being filled before these issues occur?

Are these fresh installations or image clones?

It wouldn't hurt to run ATTO. What software are you using to verify the SMART readouts?

[SteveMagin]

Hi Ben

I should have included that info. I'm using windows 7 x64. The only things I've installed are the windows update, kaspersky pure and office 2010. So all up about. 33gb is used. SMART utils are in parted magic iso distro. Used gparted for all operations and the hdparm commands for secure erase as per one of the sticky forum posts. All windows installations are fresh off a USB, no cloned images. System specs are as per my opening post.
I'm just in the middle of my third install attempt so I'll run ATTO as as soon as its complete and assuming the system remains stable enough.
Thanks for the really prompt response by the way. Greatly appreciated.


Ps my firm ware is 3.3.2, I didn't see a compelling reason to go 5.0 based on its description. Happy to do if you want.
Kind regards


Steve.

[Patriot_Ben]

I'm just in the middle of my third install attempt so I'll run ATTO as as soon as its complete and assuming the system remains stable enough.
Thanks for the really prompt response by the way. Greatly appreciated.


Ps my firm ware is 3.3.2, I didn't see a compelling reason to go 5.0 based on its description. Happy to do if you want.
Kind regards


Steve.

Hey Steve,

Yeah let me know how the fresh install goes. If it is still unstable try going to 5.0.1. The latest firmware addresses some power management issues that might help if the problem persists. Please advise.

[SteveMagin]

No dice I'm afraid Ben. System does not stay stable for more than a few hours before rebooting and then displays a boot disk failure message at bios.
So I haven't been able to run atto. I'll do a firmware upgrade but I'm not sure what this will achieve as ive turned off all power management.
I'll also try another sata port just in case.
Any other thoughts or options? The drive is less than 2 months old.

Kind regards

Steve

[Patriot_Ben]

Hey Steve,

At this point, Based on what you’re describing, I would recommend a replacement under warranty.

To Initiate an RMA or items relating to warranty, please visit this link here and under ‘troubleshooting’ select your product from the dropdown box and fill out the info (look at the bottom for ‘start a technical case’):
http://www.patriotmemory.com/support/techSupportp.jsp

(This link will get your name and contact info into our Support/RMA Portal database. You will then be given a user id and password where you can make replies to your Support/RMA case. Please make a note that you already spoke to a rep regarding your issue. Furthermore afterwards, feel free to login to reply or simply await for the case to be escalated to RMA with further instructions. To escalate the case to rma, please indicate that you’ve spoken to a rep already).

[SteveMagin]

Hi Ben

Thanks very much for this. Apologies for the late reply work keeps me away a fair bit at the moment. I'm hoping to resolve this issue with the SSD prior to my next PC build.
I've lodged a ticket with your support system citing this thread.

I am (if you are able to give any insight to this) keen to know how RMAs are generally handled for overseas customers. I'm in Australia - do you know what the actual logistics of doing an RMA with Patriot is for Australian customers?

Kind regards

Steve

[Patriot_Ben]

Hey Steve,

Once you process your RMA, it will most likely be handled by our office in Taiwan. As long as the item is in stock, the RMA turnaround time is normally 5-7 business days. If you have any further questions, feel free to e-mail our Warranty Department: RMA@Patriotmem.com.