Asus P8Z68-M Pro issues with SSD's

[Neel_Modi]

Hello everyone

I've had this motherboard for a few years now. Ever since I added an SSD (ADATA SX900) to use as my system drive, I've had issues with it. Sometimes, at random, it wouldn't show up in the BIOS and thus Windows wouldn't start. I'd always get a blue screen error when this happened. Screen shot of the error is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1xldp9c0upmclss/IMG_3531.JPG?dl=0

Also, less often, it would just drop out of Windows altogether. Windows would completely freeze. No Task Manager available, no Start button, only a hard reset or hard shutdown would get things moving again. If I did a hard reset, the SSD wouldn't show up in BIOS and blue screen error again. The only way out was a full shut down and start-up, then the SSD would come back - sometimes it would take a few shut downs.

This problem was when I was running Windows 7 (Home, 64-bit) and the same after I upgraded to Windows 10.

I was never sure if the problem was the SSD or the motherboard or what. So I tried updating the BIOS, I tried drive scans of various types (within windows and outside windows), recovery options, and nothing seemed to fix it.

Recently I got my hands on another SSD (ADATA SP900) - my dad's old one, which worked perfectly on his machine for the few years he had it. I tried installing Windows 10 on this drive and working with it. It only took a few days and I got the same problems.

So I reinstalled Windows 10 again, this time on an old SATA hard drive (not Solid State). It's quite a bit slower, but solid with no crashing and no BIOS or start-up problems. UPDATE: Still running slow and steady as of March 23, 20 days into this new install.

So now I'm convinced that the P8Z68-M Pro just doesn't play nice with SSD drives. I'm not sure what to try next. The board is way out of warranty.

Is there anything else I can try, or do I just need to get a new board? They're not making Socket LGA1155 boards anymore, so I would need a new CPU too, and probably new RAM if I have to go to DDR4 from DDR3. Hundreds of $$'s for basically the same system as I have now in terms of performance, which is frustrating.

I'm also thinking I could buy a PCI card with extra SATA ports. Maybe this would work better? Something like this:

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=48_19_901&item_id=050782

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Neel

 

[cin19]

Recommend to do:
1) Open the case to check your SSD, make sure you connect it into the 1st SATAIII port ( gray). Check the manual page 1-11. https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8Z68M_PRO/HelpDesk_Manual/
2) Boot into the BIOS, under the "advanced menu"> "SATA config." make sure it is AHCI mode.
3) If they are not, change it. And try reboot it. Keep in mind, if the SATA config is in IDE mode. You will need to go through other steps. otherwise the PC will not boot after you change the IDE to ahci mode.
Here is info: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2795928/switch-ide-ahci-windows.html


Also you should update the chipset driver too https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/20775 because the SSD is very picky for the motherboard drivers even the BIOS, or SSD firmware too.

 

[Neel_Modi]

Thanks for the reply, cin19 . The SSD is plugged into port 1, although my understanding is that this doesn't really matter. The SATA config was already set to AHCI - I don't think it was ever changed to IDE, so that's fine.

I used the Intel Driver Update Utility to update the chipset driver. It downloaded but then reported an error on the installation. When I went back to the utility, the updated version was showing as installed, so I'm assuming the error was wrong.

I then used AOMEI backup utility to clone the hard drive to the SSD. Upon restart, I booted into the SSD, and for now, everything seems fine, but I'll know for sure if it doesn't drop out in the next few weeks.

I'll update this thread either way.

Thanks

Neel

 

[cin19]

For that error, either the boot device or the OS files (BOOTMGR file) had problem. And the pc usually will boot the device connected to the 1st SATA port y default, so that just make sure the pc does boot from the SSD.
And you can run the PC now, after done the cloning. That means the problem is from the BOOTMGR file, and you should be fine now.

 

[Neel_Modi]

It's failed again. I was just replying to this thread, and suddenly windows froze, went blue screen with an unknown error, rebooted, and since, the SSD has disappeared from the BIOS.

Not sure what to try next at this point. PCI SATA card might fix it, but then it's plugging into the same damn mobo...otherwise getting my hands on another LGA1155 mobo is pretty hard to come by these days....

 

[cin19]

It looks like the SSD has problem.
May use the HD tune to check the SSD S.M.A.R.T. to see what happens.
HD tune http://www.hdtune.com/

 

[Neel_Modi]

I had tried HDTune a while back, it didn't report any problems. Tried a different scanner as well, can't recall what it was, but same thing.

Update: I got a PCIe card with 2 internal SATA 6GB ports. Plugged in the SSD and my 3TB hard drive here. Windows could see the 3TB drive, but froze when trying to access the SDD.

As I said before, I had tried a different SSD as well with the same issues. So more and more I'm thinking it's the mobo.

 

[Neel_Modi]

Update again. Contacted ASUS tech support, and the person suggested I remove the CMOS battery for 10 seconds and put it back in. I did this and the PC booted up OK off the SSD. It worked, but for some reason, programs took a really log time to start, like longer than on a hard drive. The ASUS rep also suggested installing SATA drivers. I tried this, and upon a restart, now the SSD will not boot. If I boot into my previous hard drive OS, I can see the SSD there and it looks fine. But once again, the BIOS sometimes sees it and most times does not.

Even now, when the BIOS does see the SSD, and I try to boot from it, I get a black screen (monitor is showing signal received) for about 6 minutes, then a single blinking cursor on a black screen on my second monitor. I waited for another 15 minutes and nothing happened. I rebooted into my old hard drive OS and again, the SSD looks fine here, just won't boot again and most of the time is missing from BIOS.

I'm at wits end here. Nothing seems to work, the techs at ASUS are making educated guesses, and there seems to be no way to diagnose the problem. I found the exact same mobo on ebay, but I'm wondering if I get it, I'll have the same problems. I'd like to try a Gigabyte or an MSI or something else just for kicks, but again, 1155 microATX boards are pretty hard to come by, and they seem expensive for technology that's over 5 years old.

 

[cin19]

So I reinstalled Windows 10 again, this time on an old SATA hard drive (not Solid State). It's quite a bit slower, but solid with no crashing and no BIOS or start-up problems. UPDATE: Still running slow and steady as of March 23, 20 days into this new install.

Do you try reinstall win10 into one of your SSDs yet? When you try it, remove any HDDs if you had.

 

[Neel_Modi]

It's a cloned copy of my HDD Windows 10 drive; I haven't removed the old one, just because it's now my system drive in case the SSD doesn't boot. I'll give that a try, though. Why should it make any difference? If I boot from the SSD, the HDD should be ignored, shouldn't it?

I don't want to do a full re-install on the SSD for two reasons: 1) I've tried that numerous times to no avail, and 2) I'm sick and tired of spending days re-installing drivers and additional software (I run a home recording studio and it's no small task to re-install)

 

[cin19]

To remove the HDD is only for reinstallation the OS. Because during the installation, some of register files will be installed into the HDD, and you will have problem later. If you do the cloning, or after you done the installation, it does not matter, I mean you can connect any HDD.

 

[cin19]

Also may run the SFC ( system file check) to see there is any problem during the cloning. How to https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_10-update/system-file-check-sfc-scan-and-repair-system-files/bc609315-da1f-4775-812c-695b60477a93

 

[Neel_Modi]

Another update: I connected the SSD to a SATA3 port, and it started up OK. Strange, though, that it doesn't show up as an option in the BIOS boot sequence. I have to press F8 during boot to start it up manually.

A few restarts later, and BIOS forgot about it again. I tried another SATA3 port, and now it's back up again.

I ran SFC on both the HDD installation and the SSD installation; no errors were found on either.