ReadyCache ssd hangs on start up

My readycache ssd has been hanging on startup of windows 7 as of late. It happens when the for little orbs come together to form the windows flag. The animation freezes for several seconds, and then once it starts moving again, the rest of the start up process is fast as usual. This is fixed by clearing the cache, but it always returns after a day or two. I am using an amd am3+ motherboard that has only sata 2 ports if that helps.

Thanks for any help.

Hi,

   Can you please post a screen shot of the ReadyCache gui app as well as the output from the DOS command: “eccmd -info” ?

Thanks!

Here are the screenshots you asked for.

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/civicef1/eccmd-info_zps68ab5fa6.jpg

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af278/civicef1/Gui_zpsececbde1.jpg

Also using an AM3+ motherboard, with the same symptoms.  I notice it’s when the cache exceeds approximately 24GB utilized that this behavior occurs.  Clearing the cache restores the quick boot.

ExpressCache Command Version 1.0.100.1
Copyright⌐ 2010-2012 Condusiv Technologies.
Date Time: 9/19/2013 14:39:18:59 (MONOLITH #68)

EC Cache Info

Mounted                   : Yes
Partition Size            : 29.82 GB
Reserved Size             : 3.00 MB
Volume Size               : 29.82 GB
Total Used Size           : 25.95 GB
Total Free Space          : 3.87 GB
Used Data Size            : 25.87 GB
Used Data Size on Disk    : 25.94 GB

Tiered Cache Stats

Memory in use             : 1024.00 MB
Blocks in use             : 8188
Read Percent              : 1.02%

Cache Stats

Cache Volume Drive Number : 0
Total Read Count          : 7991
Total Read Size           : 491.50 MB
Total Cache Read Count    : 5294
Total Cache Read Size     : 289.90 MB
Total Write Count         : 10252
Total Write Size          : 190.71 MB
Total Cache Write Count   : 8678
Total Cache Write Size    : 52.42 MB

Cache Read Percent        : 58.98%
Cache Write Percent       : 27.49%

Cache size: 29.82 GB

Used Portion of Cache: 25.95GB

I am seeing this same startup freezing behavior on my PC with Expresscache 1.2.1.  It did not do this with the older version of ExpressCache.  I’m also having my cache get reset all the time now. 

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

Intel i7 2600K

Asus P8Z68 -V/Gen3

16GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 RAM

2TB WD Black Hard Drive (OS)

I also confirm this. It’ll hang at that point when theres a large amount of cache (>25GB), and it’s fixed by clearing cache.

fw2.0.0;w7 64;expresscache1.2.1,AM3 board with SB750 sata 2 ports (happens with all ahci drivers, from 11.12 to 13.9)

I also confirm that this is happening. I am running a AM3 board also. It seems to happen when the cache gets over 25gb on the drive. It then seems to flush and reset the cache with a notice that the cache has been reset because of a problem. The freeze happens at the dot circle on startup in Windows 8 Pro. This happens every few days and takes 2-3 minutes to complete the flush, but when you look at the screen it just shows a half circle of dots and it does not move. Then it will proceed into windows but that silly dialog box appears that the cache has been reset.

I have uninstalled the software and the service and all goes back to normal. I have reinstalled and in a couple days it starts all over again.

If this drive fills up and causes this it would seem to me that the cleanup software assigned to it is NOT doing as it should. TRIM is supposed to do this for normal SSD’s but with this software TRIM like actions are built in.

My OS Drive is currently a 500gb HD with approx 65-70gb used. With that said the caching should be no more then maybe 20gb at most (because most files are not cached). If I were to clean out all nonesential files off that drive I’m sure I could bring that number down to approx 45gb. With that said a 32gb caching drive should never fill up like it is and even if it does it shouldn’t cause a flush/rest everytime that happens.

This needs to be addressed ASAP because like the others here, this product is completely useless at the moment.

Just to add, in my case regular cache operation doesn’t seem to be affected, except for the usual cache resets when something is updated on boot up (like some windows update patches), or deeper defrags that should cause an unsynch anyway.

To check if this is SB750 or board/bios related, I’ve just put the readycache SSD on a Marvell 9123 add in board (Asus U3S6) that is running the MS ahci driver. I didn’t bother to check with SB750+MS AHCI because my DFI LP DK 790FXB-M3H5 suffers from the delayed boot problem with that combination that affects some old AM3 MBs (>40s pause when the windows logo appears).

I’ll update if the problem persists or goes.

To all the AM3/AM3+ users, it might be usefull if you detail which particular SB do you have and ahci driver. Any AM3+ board with only SATA II support should also belong to the older SB7xx series.

Just confirmed it: the problem is still present with the Marvell 9123 (ms ahdci driver) controller instead of the MBs SB750 (Cat 13.9 ahci driver).

6-port SATA SB750 here.  The two main HDs are on the RAID ports in RAID mode, the ExpressCache and my DVD reader are on the regular ports (“Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller”).

Problem is still occurring at boot, every time the cache goes over 24GB.

Minor update - noticed the hang again this morning, but the cache was only around 23.79 GB full after booting.  So the threshold for the hang might be closer to 23GB.

1.3.0 Still does it, had my first logo hang with only 17GB in use (even if it seemed quicker than usual). Nevertheless, windows boot seems way faster from logo to the welcome screen than with previous software versions.

@bsodcsi wrote:

I also confirm that this is happening. I am running a AM3 board also. It seems to happen when the cache gets over 25gb on the drive. It then seems to flush and reset the cache with a notice that the cache has been reset because of a problem. The freeze happens at the dot circle on startup in Windows 8 Pro. This happens every few days and takes 2-3 minutes to complete the flush, but when you look at the screen it just shows a half circle of dots and it does not move. Then it will proceed into windows but that silly dialog box appears that the cache has been reset.

 

I have uninstalled the software and the service and all goes back to normal. I have reinstalled and in a couple days it starts all over again.

 

If this drive fills up and causes this it would seem to me that the cleanup software assigned to it is NOT doing as it should. TRIM is supposed to do this for normal SSD’s but with this software TRIM like actions are built in.

 

My OS Drive is currently a 500gb HD with approx 65-70gb used. With that said the caching should be no more then maybe 20gb at most (because most files are not cached). If I were to clean out all nonesential files off that drive I’m sure I could bring that number down to approx 45gb. With that said a 32gb caching drive should never fill up like it is and even if it does it shouldn’t cause a flush/rest everytime that happens.

 

This needs to be addressed ASAP because like the others here, this product is completely useless at the moment.

If its mirroring parts of temp files like page file, it would fill up your drive past 20gb you assume to be max.

Second reboot after installing 1.3.0 and the problem still occurs (60-ish second hang at the Win7 splash screen).

22.39GB used as of boot time.

@djensen99 wrote:

Second reboot after installing 1.3.0 and the problem still occurs (60-ish second hang at the Win7 splash screen).

 

22.39GB used as of boot time.

Did you update to 1.3.0? If so try a full uninstall of expresscache using the method in the post linked below.

http://forums.sandisk.com/t5/SanDisk-ReadyCache-SSD/expresscache-1-3-gui-crashes-win-8/m-p/302371/highlight/true#M788

Uninstalled, rebooted, cleaned temp folders, downloaded new copy of 1.3.0, cold installed, rebooted a few times…

Problem persists.  System shows 24.77GB of cache used.

I’ve cleared the cache about 7 or 8 times since my last post due to startup hangs, and would like to inquire as to what I can do to help research and resolve this issue.

I also confirm this issue.  After some days of use, when I power on my PC the Windows animated logo freezes for one minute aprox. and continues with a normal boot; a temporary workaround is clearing the cache, but after a couple of days the issue comes back.

This problem is happening since 1.2.1 version. I’ve already uninstalled 1.2.1 and installed the new 1.3.0 and the issue remains but in my case it’s worst because I’m now hitting the USB safe removal bug that affects to my iPod shuffle also and becomes it unable to sync with iTunes.

At the moment I don’t have another choice, so I’m going to uninstall the product hoping a new version with fixes to this issues as soon as possible.

By the way, my PC is a Dell Inspiron 545MT, Intel Core 2 Quad, Windows 8.1 Pro.

Is this issue still present on 1.3.1 and SB750? I had to remove my Readycache to a SB850 board, and 1.3.0 or 1.3.1 don’t seem to hangup anymore.

I am still experiencing the same problem with 1.3.1.