Export thread

My new desktop machine with the Agility 3 SSD system drive was running fine this afternoon when I had to step away for a couple of minutes. I come back to find a black screen and

Reboot and select proper boot device.

Click to expand...

Warm reboot did nothing. I warm rebooted again and checked BIOS. The SSD drive was not detected in BIOS. I shut down and double-checked connections. All seemed fine. Turned the machine back on and checked BIOS again. The drive was now detected. I made sure it was in it's proper spot in the boot chain. Rebooted. Still nothing. Same message as above. Now I'm concerned. I turn the machine off for about five minutes. Turn it on and everything runs as it should. Windows is back up and running like nothing ever happened.

As of this post, that machine has dropped off of IRC after I left for work. I don't know if there was another power blip that shut everything in the house down for a second and logged me out, or if the SSD crapped out again. I won't know until I get home from work in the morning.

I haven't updated firmware on the SSD since I bought it 2 weeks ago. I will make sure to do that over this weekend.

(ETA: Computer was knocked offline by another power blip. A split second total power outage. This area gets a lot of them during the summer months. A UPS is probably in order.

According to OCZ support, my issue is a known one. A combination of overclocking and a bug in the SSD firmware. The newer firmware fixes that bug, but introduced a new one. OCZ says live with the current bug for now and don't update firmware.)

Curiouser and curiouser. The OCZ forums keep filling up with folks who have had their SandForce SSDs (Agility 3 and Vertex 3) BSOD and disappear from BIOS no matter what they've done. Corsair has just issued a recall of their SandForce drives. OCZ is resisting that call for now. I don't think I'm going to wait. I plan on calling the Micro Center before I make the trip to tell them I'm returning the drive. I'll replace it with the Intel version instead.

(ETA: this is rich. Someone on OCZ's forums asking what the LEDs on the SSDs mean. They don't know:

red lights green lights...we have changed the leds many times, being on or off could mean bad could mean ok...

Click to expand...

That really settles it. I'm done with OCZ SSD products.)

Right now, the Intel SSDs seem to be the most reliable, even if they do cost a bit more.

--Patrick

It's frustrating, because I'm really not having the problems others are reporting. Reading up on possible replacements gets me lots of graphs where the SandForce-based drives like mine just wipe the floor with the others.

The drive's reliability is in doubt, but not from what I've seen in this particular machine. If they would make a decision on a recall sooner rather than later, I could save myself the headache of planning a 3.5hr trip to the store I bought it from, or a week or more without the SSD as I return one, wait for reimbursement, then order another and wait for *it*.

PatrThom said:

Right now, the Intel SSDs seem to be the most reliable, even if they do cost a bit more.

--Patrick

Click to expand...

Done deal. Returned the Agility 3 in favor of the Intel 510. In the end, reliability > stupid fast. The Intel is stupid fast enough as it is.

This is getting sillier by the day. OCZ has blamed benchmarkers, overclockers, Microsoft's drivers, Intel's drivers (has to be one or the other, guys), and now USB 3 for their SSD issues. Just sucking it up and issuing a recall like Corsair would spare them further embarrassment.

(Their tech support forums bans mentioning their competitors. Kingston and Corsair get *****'d out.)