Extreme 120G on NVIDIA 8200 chipset not working

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1

I’ve got a Gigabyte M78SM-S2H, which is AMD-based and uses the NVIDIA 8200 chipset.  I’ve been using a standard SATA 100GB drive for a few years in it with no issues whatsoever.

A couple days ago, I dropped in an Extreme 120G drive (SDSSDX-120G-G25) and attempted to put an Ubuntu derivitive on it (the latest XBMC, version 12).  The install goes off without a hitch, and it even operates without visible issues for a few minutes.  However, things quickly go south, and after a few minutes the machine stops responding.

The motherboard is set to AHCI, and I’ve tried multiple installs on each of the 6 available SATA ports.  All result in the same problem.  When I switch back to the non-SSD 100GB drive, it works perfectly again.  I’m sure the SATA ports are fine.

So I then tried installing Windows, and it too blue screens after the first reboot during install.

It’s worth noting that I have tested this SSD in a Windows 7-based computer (as a secondary drive) and transferred 100+ GB of data back and forth with no issues.  This computer is Intel P45 based, and is actually a year older than the AMD-based problematic computer.

I have flashed the Extreme 120GB to the latest firmware (211), and the SSD toolkit shows PASS for all the tests.  (This was done on the Windows-based computer.)

Here are some /var/log/syslog entries from my Linux install that appear to show the problem:

Feb 9 14:55:21 htpc kernel: [38.140892] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/133 Feb 9 14:55:21 htpc kernel: [38.141245] ata5: EH complete Feb 9 14:55:27 htpc kernel: [43.677154] ata5.00: limiting speed to UDMA/100:PIO4 Feb 9 14:55:27 htpc kernel: [43.677161] ata5: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x1910000 action 0xe frozen Feb 9 14:55:27 htpc kernel: [43.677163] ata5: irq\_stat 0x00400000, PHY RDY changed Feb 9 14:55:27 htpc kernel: [43.677166] ata5: SError: { PHYRdyChg Dispar LinkSeq TrStaTrns } Feb 9 14:55:27 htpc kernel: [43.677170] ata5: hard resetting link Feb 9 14:55:28 htpc kernel: [44.400038] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) Feb 9 14:55:28 htpc kernel: [44.421234] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/100 Feb 9 14:55:28 htpc kernel: [44.421587] ata5: EH complete Feb 9 14:55:30 htpc kernel: [46.409123] ata5: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x1810000 action 0xe frozen Feb 9 14:55:30 htpc kernel: [46.409128] ata5: irq\_stat 0x00400000, PHY RDY changed Feb 9 14:55:30 htpc kernel: [46.409131] ata5: SError: { PHYRdyChg LinkSeq TrStaTrns } Feb 9 14:55:30 htpc kernel: [46.409136] ata5: hard resetting link Feb 9 14:55:30 htpc kernel: [47.132037] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) Feb 9 14:55:31 htpc kernel: [47.153260] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/100 Feb 9 14:55:31 htpc kernel: [47.153613] ata5: EH complete Feb 9 14:55:34 htpc kernel: [50.390466] ata5: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x1810000 action 0xe frozen Feb 9 14:55:34 htpc kernel: [50.390472] ata5: irq\_stat 0x00400000, PHY RDY changed Feb 9 14:55:34 htpc kernel: [50.390475] ata5: SError: { PHYRdyChg LinkSeq TrStaTrns } Feb 9 14:55:34 htpc kernel: [50.390480] ata5: hard resetting link Feb 9 14:55:34 htpc kernel: [51.112020] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) Feb 9 14:55:34 htpc kernel: [51.132981] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/100 Feb 9 14:55:34 htpc kernel: [51.133333] ata5: EH complete Feb 9 14:55:40 htpc kernel: [56.487416] ata5: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x1890000 action 0xe frozen Feb 9 14:55:40 htpc kernel: [56.487421] ata5: irq\_stat 0x00400000, PHY RDY changed Feb 9 14:55:40 htpc kernel: [56.487424] ata5: SError: { PHYRdyChg 10B8B LinkSeq TrStaTrns } Feb 9 14:55:40 htpc kernel: [56.487428] ata5: hard resetting link Feb 9 14:55:41 htpc kernel: [57.208026] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) Feb 9 14:55:41 htpc kernel: [57.229055] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/100 Feb 9 14:55:41 htpc kernel: [57.229405] ata5: EH complete Feb 9 14:55:46 htpc kernel: [62.884212] ata5.00: limiting speed to UDMA/33:PIO4 Feb 9 14:55:46 htpc kernel: [62.884219] ata5: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x1810000 action 0xe frozen Feb 9 14:55:46 htpc kernel: [62.884221] ata5: irq\_stat 0x00400000, PHY RDY changed Feb 9 14:55:46 htpc kernel: [62.884223] ata5: SError: { PHYRdyChg LinkSeq TrStaTrns } Feb 9 14:55:46 htpc kernel: [62.884228] ata5: hard resetting link Feb 9 14:55:47 htpc kernel: [63.608026] ata5: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 310) Feb 9 14:55:47 htpc kernel: [63.632752] ata5.00: configured for UDMA/33 Feb 9 14:55:47 htpc kernel: [63.633101] ata5: EH complete Feb 9 14:55:48 htpc kernel: [65.033137] ata5: exception Emask 0x10 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x1910000 action 0xe frozen Feb 9 14:55:48 htpc kernel: [65.033142] ata5: irq\_stat 0x00400000, PHY RDY changed Feb 9 14:55:48 htpc kernel: [65.033145] ata5: SError: { PHYRdyChg Dispar LinkSeq TrStaTrns } Feb 9 14:55:48 htpc kernel: [65.033150] ata5: hard resetting link

Is there perhaps a known incompatibility with NVIDIA 8200 chipsets?

2

There are compatibility issues with other older Nvidia SATA chipsets like the MCP79 and MCP65 chipsets. I have not heard of any with the 8200 but if the drive is working in other machines you may have a compatibility issue as well. 

3

Gigabyte just responded to a tech support request, and they claim their “NVIDIA MCP72/78 SATA AHCI Driver” (on the motherboard support downloads page) will get it working under Windows.

Unfortunately this PC is my HTPC and I need it to run Linux-based XBMC.

I’m hoping returning the SSD isn’t necessary, but it might be my only choice.

4

I decided to try another Linux distribution to see if the problem is specific to XBMC.

I installed Ubuntu 12.10 Desktop (32-bit) via USB key, and I’ve now been running it for close to 30 minutes with no issues or errors like those in the first message of this thread.  Everything appears to working fine.  I’ve started a software update to bring Ubuntu up to the latest packages, so we’ll see if the stability continues after that.

I have also not installed any 3rd party drivers yet; everything is straight out of the the Ubuntu install image.  The only 3rd party driver I will be installing is the NVIDIA proprietary video drivers from NVIDIA themselves.

I’ll report back if that has any negative affect, or if things take a turn for the worse.

5

It appears we might have an NVIDIA display driver conflict.  A minute or two after I installed the NVIDIA proprietary drivers, the errors started in /var/log/syslog again.  The system eventually ground to a halt.

I’m not sure whether NVIDIA or SanDisk (or both) are at fault here.

6

can you link the drivers you are referring to?

7

For Ubuntu, the XBMC project recommends usage of this “Ubuntu-X” team.  They are known to have the most stable NVIDIA drivers.  Information is here:

https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates

I did these three steps to install the drivers:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates

apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings

I rebooted, and the instability started almost immediately.

8

Just curious as to whether this is likely a Sandforce compatibility issue, or SanDisk specifically.  Anyone know?

I’m still within 30 days of purchase for this drive, and I can return it before then.  If a non-SandForce drive is just as likely to cause issues, I’ll might keep it however.

Thanks!

9

It is possibly just a sandforce issue. The ultra+ ssd linked below is a marvel based product. Honestly I can’t tell you for sure if it would have the same issues but you could give it a try. 

http://www.sandisk.com/products/ssd/sata/ultra-plus/?capacity=256GB 

10

Ok, thanks for the response.  I’ll see if I can return this and find something without SandForce.

11

Another follow up for information purposes.

I decided to hold on to the drive for a while, and put it in my primary computer.  It’s running Windows 7 64-bit on an Intel P45 chipset with Nvidia 8800GT video card.  I’ve installed the latest Nvidia video drivers.

Everything has been rock-solid and speedy since installing 3 days ago.  (I may just end up keeping the drive for this system…)

I’m guessing the problem can likely be narrowed down to one of two things:

  1.  SanDisk Extreme is incompatible with the Nvidia 8200 chipset

  2.  SanDisk Extreme is incompatible with the latest Linux Nvidia drivers