Gigabyte H55M-UD2H : SMART Error with OCZ Vertex 2 60Gb

[ndouglas]

Hi,

I have an issue with a OCZ Vertex 2 working with a Gigabyte H55M-UD2H. On boot-up whilst detecting SATA devices using AHCI the drive takes a long time to connect and then gives the error "SMART Command Failed". After this, system performance is considerably degraded.

This seems to be a known issue with OCZ and Gigabyte (see thread below) - which would appear to be a Gigabyte issue and not an OCZ issue. However, I can't figure out what I need to do in order to ensure the H55M - UD2H gets the appropriate fix, the threads linked to in the below are in German!

I have tried raising a tech support ticket but no reply after 3 days.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?76177-do-you-own-a-Gigabyte-motherboard-and-have-the-SMART-error-with-FW1.11...look-inside

Full specs are below - Thanks for your help.

M/B : H55M-UD2H (rev 1.3)
Processor : i3-530
Memory : 4Gb Corsair DDR3 1600
PSU :430W Enermax
Drives
60Gb OCZ Vertex 2
1Tb Samsung HDD

[absic]

Hi,

A quick look at the download page for your board shows that a newer BIOS has been released in the past few days.  http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3503#dl don't know if the addresses the problem but it might do. Gigabyte are normally pretty good at fixing known issues pretty quickly so I would be pretty confident that the job is well in hand if not already complete.

Gigabyte Technical Support can be a little slow and sometimes it can take 7 - 10 days to get a response.

[ndouglas]

Thanks for your help.

Should have mentioned that I had already updated to the latest BIOS on that page (F11)  - my bad. Unfortunately the update doesn't seem to make any difference to this issue.

If support normally takes 7-10 days then I'll just have to be patient for a reply and a new BIOS in time.

[Dark Mantis]

I am taking it that you have SMART reporting turned on in the BIOS so try disabling it. You will not get much use from it for SSD drives anyway.

[ndouglas]

Strangely enough, I haven't changed this setting from the default so SMART reporting is disabled in the BIOS.

I'm assuming this is the flag you're referring to : Advanced BIOS Features > HDD SMART Capability.

[Dark Mantis]

Right well that is correct. I am assuming that you are using the SSD to boot from. It would be worth trying to set it to IDE mode rather than AHCI and see if that cures it. You will suffer a slight perfomance loss but minimal. The only trouble is it will almost certainly mean having to reinstall your OS.