New PC cant install windows/SSD going missing

Ianesz · September 26, 2013

So yesterday I finally got all the components for my new build. After assembly, everything seemed to work fine, a sigh of relief. Updated the BIOS, went fine, after that Windows install time. That's when things started going wrong. First time after "finalizing setup" (the last check in the first dialogue), it seemed to reboot, but then didnt manage to find its way into windows anymore. Also, the after restarts, it apprently seemed to loose any idea that any hard drives were still around (only have the SSD in at this point). Atfer a few restarts or a shut down, the SSD was once again recognised by BIOS. After that, 2 more failed Win7 setup attemps (usually I eventually got to the "windows shut down unexpectedly", where you get to choose normal boot, safe mode, etc). At one point, i got to the 2nd stage of install where you enter your user info, but the whole thing was completely unresponsive, i tried to type my name and nothing happened for a minute).

After a while, I actually managed to install the damn thing, but after windows update reboots the drive still got lost. The windows updates (installation, not download) seemed very slow, but im not really sure they were, objectively. Also, after one such winupdate reboot when it didnt forget the drive was there, one time it tried to do an automatic windows recovery which i noticed after i came back in the room, but failed and promted me to reboot, after which it normally got into windows.

Honestly, i've no idea what's going on

P.S.: Before I swapped the SSD from my previous build to the new one, I updated its 1.25 firmare to 1.37 with OCZ toolbox on my brothers PC.

iPhoenix · September 26, 2013

SSD randomly bugging out like that could be a drive failure or a motherboard failure. Try to install on another drive .. HDD or another SSD.

LogicalDrm · September 26, 2013

Try clearing CMOS or using 2nd BIOS chip. Don't flash bios before install. Try another SATA port and use one of those that are controlled by chipset, not Marvel ones.

Ianesz · September 26, 2013

Will try clearing CMOS when i get home. Trying with another drive also occured to me, I'll also give it a shot. I've tried chaning ports already however (always used chipset sata ports), even used different cables.

Out of curiosity, why not flashing BIOS before install?

BTW, the debug LED eventually always ends up displaying A0, which according to the manul is "IDE initialization is started." I dont have any IDE devices though.

LogicalDrm · September 27, 2013

Out of curiosity, why not flashing BIOS before install?

Because BIOS is like any driver or firmware: if it isn't broken don't fix it. Besides you can do it later anyway. BIOS should be working straight from box and if its not, you can RMA it since its manufacturers error.

Ianesz · September 29, 2013

I found the reason why this was happening. It appears that Vertex 2 and in fact all SF12xx and SF15xx are not fully compatible with Haswell platform. SOURCE