Z97M Anniversary intermittently fails to recognise SSD

[trptk]

Hey,

so I am fairly frequently seeing the message "reboot and select proper boot device" when I boot up my machine. In general, a reset resolves the issue and the machine proceeds to start up successfully. I have also observed this appear after leaving the machine running unattended for some time, which seems to coincide with Windows sleeping the hard drive.

I've ruled out the obvious (I've tried multiple SATA cables in different ports, different power connector). The SSD functioned perfectly in my previous build.

The motherboard is the Asrock z97M Anniversary and the SSD is an OCZ Vertex 2 128GB, which is running the latest firmware.

I'm fairly certain the fault lies with the motherboard here, my only question is really whether this a faulty unit or something that can be resolved with a bios update. Alternatively should I just buy a different brand board?

[dewot]

Re: Z97M Anniversary intermittently fails to recognise SSD

I saw the following posted on another forum recently. Looks like this applies to you. Haswell refers to the Z87 (series 8) and Z97 (series 9) chipsets. Most likely you will need to update to a new SSD to use an SSD as a boot drive.
Quote:
Posted 04 January 2015 - 08:40 AM #7 [MSI z97 gaming 5 not detecting ssd: post #7]

Just as a warning, the new Haswell platform is incompatible with older first gen Sandforce controllers, i.e. SF-12xx/15xx. The newer SF-2xxx controllers are fine.
All 6 GB/s Sandforce SSDs are fine.

But all 3 GB/s Sandforce SSDs are affected. This affects all manufacturers, including OCZ agility 2/vertex 2, Corsair force (1st gen), GSkill phoenix, OWC mercury, Mushkin callisto, Adata s599, Patriot inferno, etc.

If you're still using a first gen Sandforce drive, you might want to upgrade to a newer drive if upgrading to Haswell.

[trptk]

Re: Z97M Anniversary intermittently fails to recognise SSD

Thanks for the info. From reading around, it seems your right.

I've just ordered myself a shiny new 250GB Samsung drive. Hopefully I'll be able to clone the old drive and avoid another windows install.

Glad I don't have to replace the mobo at least, having just assembled the system I'd rather not have to take the whole thing to pieces again.

[ASRock TSD-Eddy]

Re: Z97M Anniversary intermittently fails to recognise SSD

Dear trptk,

It relate to the controller of OCZ Vertex 2 and Intel 8/9 series chipset.
Since Haswell platform there are some compatible issue with SandForce 1200 controller.
You can refer the FAQ of OCZ
Asus B85 board and vertex 2 - Resolved - OCZ Storage Solutions Support Forum

We have also checked with SandForce got below reply for you reference.
Recently we have received reports from customer that the SF-1200 series controllers are not working with the latest Intel Haswell chipset ( 8 Series) motherboards.
Please be advised that our first generation SATA-II based SF-1200 series controller went EOL on July 30, 2013 and LSI SandForce has no plans to address this issue.
The SF-1200 based drives will work with a different SATA controller on the motherboard or with a user supplied HBA. Also our second generation SF-2000 family of SSD controllers have had no reported compatibility problems.

For your case, we suggest to install an additional SATA card for the SSD or change SATA3 SSD for better performance.

Thanks for your question

ASRock TSD
Eddy

[trptk]

Re: Z97M Anniversary intermittently fails to recognise SSD

Thanks for the response. The new Samsung drive works perfectly.