Big problem adding Crucial M500 SSD to XPS 8600

Question

Help! I have a brand new XPS 8600, with Windows 7 Professional, 64 Bit, Service Pack 1. I upgraded the RAM to 24 GB, and tried to install a Crucial M500 480 GB SSD.

Wow! What a series of fails!

First, I have run the on board diagnostics, and everything passes. Second, I have run MemTest 86+ on the RAM several times through, with zero errors. Third, I ran Seagate SeaTools diagnostics on the factory hard drive, and it passes even the extended test.

I have upgraded the BIOS to A06. I have upgraded the factory Seagate hard drive firmware from CC47 to CC49. I verified the Crucial M500 has the latest MU03 firmware.

Then I put all the latest Windows updates in first, plus the latest video, audio, Intel Rapid Storage Technology, and Intel USB 3.0 drivers for this model from Dell. Basically, every driver that was either A01 or A02, leaving all the original A00 drivers alone.

Then I installed the SSD. I first initialized it, then formatted it. Oops! Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) appeared once I confirmed the format, code 0x0000004A, with header IRQL_GT_ZERO_AT_SYSTEM_SERVICE. Of course it occurred in the NTOSKern.exe. I used both Blue Screen Viewer and What Crashed to look at this, but neither had much information.

So I swapped the drive cables. Same result, whether the SSD was on SATA0 or SATA1. I went back to only the factor RAM. Same result. I swapped that over to slots 3 and 4 instead of 1 and 2. Same result. I pulled the factory RAM and put only the new Kingston XPS 16 GB RAM Kit in. Same result, either pair of RAM slots.

I pulled the SSD and put it in an older PC. It formatted just fine. I cloned my primary drive to it, and then booted from it. I ran it for four hours, running multiple browsers and programs the whole time, and even shut down twice, as well as just rebooted once, and never had one single error. So the SSD itself is fine.

So now I thought maybe the video driver was an issue. I downloaded the latest AMD driver for the Radeon HD 7570 and installed that. Same result again. So then I thought maybe one of the other updated drivers was an issue, or a Windows update, so I restored to factory. And I didn't do any updates at all. And I still get that BSOD when I even try to format this SSD.

So ... did I buy the wrong computer (i7-4770 CPU)? Did I buy the wrong SSD (the Crucial M500 480 GB SSD)? Is there a known conflict between Dell and this drive or M500 series of Crucial SSD drives? Could it be the custom Marvell controller that Crucial uses? Should I go to the Samsung 840 Pro or Evo? Or an OCZ Vertex 4?

Help! Can anyone steer me to the right solution? Thank you in advance, and God bless! Chuck

P.S. I forgot to mention that I get the same BSOD, 0x0000004A, with header IRQL_GT_ZERO_AT_SYSTEM_SERVICE, even if I try to install to the SSD using the Factory Recovery Discs.

Philip_Yip · Accepted Answer

Yeah Dell went under an OEM media reduction policy for some supposedly green policies. It was however forced upon them by Microsoft as Dell shipped resource DVDs without Windows Reinstallation DVDs.

You are lucky in the fact that you have a new system and are in the US thus request the Reinstallation DVD media using this online form:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/f/3526/t/19525677.aspx

Even if you feel that you don't need it I recommend requesting it while the warranty is active just in case.

Do not select a USB as it may not be as clean as the Reinstallation DVD and this system has an optical drive. Also a Reinstallation DVD cannot be formatted. The alternative is to use Digital River .isos.

chuckm441 · Accepted Answer

natakuc4, I'm going to credit you for answering the question because, 1) you were the only one who tried to answer the question, 2) you asked good questions, and 3) you gave good information. This was a problem that, at least for now, cannot be solved by anyone other than software or hardware engineers. But I appreciated all your help very much.

The rest of the answer is to not use the Crucial M500 with Dell PCs running 4th generation Intel Core i7's (and maybe 4th gen i5's and i3's as well?) until either Dell or Crucial fixes the problem.

As a very good alternative, the Samsung 840 EVO worked flawlessly.

God bless!

Philip_Yip · Answer

First check what SATA operation you are running your XPS 8700. I assume 8700 as I don't see a XPS 8600. You might need to load SATA drivers during the Windows setup while installing on the SSD.

chuckm441 · Answer

Thank you for the suggestions, natatuc4. And you are right, it is an XPS 8700, not an 8600. I should have double checked before I posted. Everything else is right though.

Here are the updates: I decided to try another SSD. My main machine has an OCZ Vertex 4. So I cloned that to the Crucial M500, made the M500 the boot drive in my main PC, and hooked the OCZ Vertex 4 up to the XPS 8700. As a test, I formatted it right away. No BSOD. Then I deleted the partition, recreated a new partition aligned at 1024, then cloned the XPS 8700 hard drive to the OCZ. No BSOD during the cloning. I rebooted from the OCZ, and Windows came up, with no BSOD. I shut down, disconnected the hard drive, and rebooted from the OCZ again. No BSOD.

So even though the Crucial M500 works fine in one machine, either it has some strange incompatibility with the XPS 8700, or I have a partially DOA drive. I'm just trying to decide whether to return it and try another M500, or switch to a different brand SSD, like Samsung or OCZ.

Thank you again, and God bless!

Philip_Yip · Answer

Okay what happens when you try to manually install Windows 7 from scratch on the SSD i.e. don't use any cloning software.

chuckm441 · Answer

Well, that is one thing I don't plan to do because Dell did not give me a copy of Windows 7. All I could do is create the Factory Recovery Discs. And when I try to install from those to the Crucial M500 (with the Seagate hard drive disconnected), I get the very same x4A BSOD. Even if it would work, that would not be acceptable because that would force me to buy a copy of Windows 7. I only have one, and I'm already using it on another PC. It's a good idea and I would have tried that if Dell would have included a copy. Too bad they didn't ...

I have arranged the return of the Crucial M500, and ordered a Samsung 840 EVO instead. I'll post on here next week how that turns out.

Thank you again, natakuc4, for giving thought to my problem and suggesting some ideas. God bless!

m4paws · Answer

Hi, I just wanted to add that I just got 2 new Dell XPS 8700's. I tried cloning the HDD's to Crucial M500's and also experienced the BSOD. I did try a clean install from a Windows 7 disk. As soon as I updated the drivers from Dell's site for the XPS 8700, bam, I got the BSOD.

The drivers were all updated before the cloning.

So there is something driver related for sure between the Crucial M500 and the Dell XPS 8700. I'm not sure which driver it is and don't want to spend any more time fighting this problem, so I plan on returning the Crucial M500's and getting Samsung or Intel.

h5djr · Answer

I have exactly the same problem as you described with my Dell Optiplex 9020 with the new Crucial M500 SSD as a second hard disk. All is fine until I give a partition on the M500 a drive letter then BSOD. I already have two Crucial M4 256 SSDs running in the 9020 and they have no problems at all. I have also just connected up a Crucial 500GB Hybrid and that works OK. I have tried a M500 480Gb and a 960Gb with exactly the same result.

Perhaps I will have to try a different make as well and return both the M500s.

h5djr · Answer

Another piece of information I have just found. The is a firmware update for the M500 SSDs from MU02 to MU03 and one of the changes listed is:

"Fix for potential Haswell compatibility issue. I think the original post mentioned a i7-4770 processor which is the same one as in my 9020 and is of course a Haswell processor. The updated firmware can be downloaded from the Crucial website together with an Update Utility and a PDF installation guide.

Not sure now whether to try the Update or return the M500 and replace it with a Samsung.

m4paws · Answer

I was having similar problems to the OP on my Dell XPS 8700 and the Crucial M500 drive.  I did do a fresh install of Windows 7 using an iso from Digital River, but still had problems.  Thanks for the link to order the Dell reinstallation DVD.  Do you know if there is a difference in Dell's Windows 7 and the Digital River one?

m4paws · Answer

I was going to try to update the firmware to MU03. So I created the firmware update disk, but discovered that I already had the latest firmware, the MU03. So in my case, it didn't appear to be a firmware issue. Also, when reading a review of the M500, I came across a few other people who were having BSOD issues.

So I decided it was too much of a headache, and I ended up returning the Crucial drives and got Samsung 840 Evo's. Haven't installed them yet though. I do have a Samsung 840 Pro on my home PC and have had no issues. It runs great.

chuckm441 · Answer

NATAKUC4, thank you again for your suggestions. I shall order the Reinstall Media set from Dell.

Regarding how things worked out, I finally decided to return the Crucial M500 drive as defective. I replaced that with a Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB drive, and it worked fantastic immediately. Never even a single BSOD.

Thank you again, and God bless! Chuck

m4paws · Answer

I was wondering, have you had a chance to install the Evo yet, and if so, how it's working in the XPS 8700?

chuckm441 · Answer

Yes, I installed it on January 27th. And it runs great! Zero BSODs!!!! And Samsung has some great free tools to clone with, and to optimize Windows for SSD use as well. This is a very good drive! I am a Samsung convert! Now I almost can't wait to upgrade the 128 GB OCZ Vertex 4 in my main PC!

I highly recommend the Samsung 840 EVO for the Dell XPS 8700!

I expect it to work as well for you as it did for me. God bless! Chuck

m4paws · Answer

Thanks very much, Chuck.  I am so glad to hear this and makes me really happy I returned the Crucial M500's and got the Samsung 840 Evo's instead.  I plan on installing the 840 Evo's next week on two Dell XPS 8700's.  I do have the 840 Pro on my home PC and it's performed flawlessly.

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Big problem adding Crucial M500 SSD to XPS 8600

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