SSD for a Latitude D830

One interesting observation:  I believe I've found why I was back to IDE mode instead of using AHCI as normally recommended for SSDs.  Running the hard drive in AHCI causes a failure to wake from sleep mode.  Switching back to IDE results in successful waking.

Now, I never figured this out before, but I did reinstall the old Vista operating system a couple of weeks before I upgraded to Win7.  I knew there was a problem with sleep before, and that the reinstallation of Vista resulted in fixing that problem.  I guess when you completely reinstall the OS, BIOS settings must go back to default, and hence to SATA IDE mode again.

Some quick searching did not uncover a fix for the problem, but according to one thread in a forum I found, it may be that the computer automatically reverts to IDE mode when waking from a sleep, despite AHCI being properly selected in REGEDIT (start - 0) and BIOS (SATA AHCI).  If true, this is certainly a bug. Unless there is a fix for this, I will be forced to choose between degraded SSD performance or living without allowing the computer to go into sleep mode -- a bit disappointing.

Maybe I'm missing your meaning, but you're exactly right.  The system doesn't boot at all from sleep mode.  There is literally nothing other than a black screen.  The power light comes on, but nothing else happens.  The LCD screen's backlight doesn't even come on.  A hard power down is required, and then the system boots like normal.

The BIOS is up to date.  You could be right about a clean install of Windows.  I don't want to lose my programs, though.  I'll try a repair and see if that does anything.  If not, I'm happy to go without sleep mode altogether rather than spend another 6-8 hours reinstalling everything.

Some quick searching did not uncover a fix for the problem, but according to one thread in a forum I found, it may be that the computer automatically reverts to IDE mode when waking from a sleep, despite AHCI being properly selected in REGEDIT (start - 0) and BIOS (SATA AHCI).  If true, this is certainly a bug. Unless there is a fix for this, I will be forced to choose between degraded SSD performance or living without allowing the computer to go into sleep mode -- a bit disappointing.

I seriously doubt that. If the SATA operation changes mid sleep the system won't boot. The SSD should be run in AHCI you should not use IDE. You are best to update the BIOS revision to the latest version, ensure the systems SATA operation is on AHCI and then clean install Windows 7.

I was wrong about the BIOS.  An update was released last summer (A17) that I was unaware of.  I updated the BIOS.  Ensured the AHCI was selected.  Then I did a clean install of Win7.  The windows experience score further increased to a hard drive score of 7.6 from 7.5.  Also, regedit already reflected the correct settings when I checked.  I updated all of my drivers.  I confirmed that I am running the latest OCZ firmware.  I'm just as happy with the system's performance, but I'm disappointed to say that this did not correct the problematic wake-up operation after sleep.  

I can't say what the issue is, and it doesn't appear to be a common one, based on my research around the web.  However, it does appear to be hard drive related, because when I first noticed the issue, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I could switch the BIOS into IDE mode and sleep worked fine.  Perhaps it's related to some compatibility problem between the D830 and the OCZ Vertex 4...  No idea really, but I don't know of anything else to try.  So, from now on, my computer is either fully on and awake, or completely off.  I suppose I could reenable hibernate if I ever miss the capability.

I just wanted to send a quick update.

Finally got into overclocking.  I think I've been pretty careful and found a stable/reliable overclock for the GPU, and I disabled CPU throttling to allow both cores to work at the maximum speed multiplier.  So, basically, I turned this 2.6GHz processor into a 2.8GHz CPU.  The OC on the GPU is about 20%.  This process also helped me identify the fact that the Drivers that Windows 7 automatically installs for the 140m are wrong!  The end result was a 35% improvement on a graphics benchmark (3dMark06) from a score of 1440 to 1942.Likewise, Windows experience index results improved from the ones I posted earlier to:

CPU:  6.4
RAM (memory):  6.4
Graphics:  3.5
Gaming Graphics:  5.4
SSD:  7.8

The SSD jumped from 7.5 to 7.6 when I did a clean install of windows, and I guess that allowed Windows to set the registry and other settings to maximize the potential of the SSD.  However, I couldn't tell you why the SSD scored subsequently jumped from 7.6 to 7.8.  That sort of just happened during the same time frame as when I was trying to get more out of the graphics card.  

If anyone is interested in pushing the D830s limits a little, I would be happy to share the adjustments I made and the programs I used.  I'm pretty thrilled by how much improvement I was able to pull from the ancient machine.

So give us overclock tips please. I have also d830 t9300 2.5gb ram 4gb,  win 7 x64 and want to make it work at full power

My pleasure, vicius.  Though, a disclaimer up front.  I know that overclocking can kill your computer, and I'm not a pro.  So, proceed at your own risk.  In fact, overclocking this D830 was my first time ever o/c'ing anything.  That said, the programs I used were pretty straight forward.  Also, I doubt I got the maximum out of the CPU, but I'm not hardcore enough to really push the envelope.

I used two overclocking programs:  ThrottleStop for the CPU, and Nvidia Inspector for the GPU.

Throttle stop works by locking the speed at 200 MHz faster than your chip will normally go.  So my T9500, which usually operates at 2.6 GHz maximum, now operates at 2.8 on both cores.  About throttle stop, I wrote, " I'm happy to report that ThrottleStop worked brilliantly on my old Latitude D830. I was able to lock the cores at 2.8 GHz @ 1.1V and saw a 7.3% increase in the CPU score on 3dMark06. It runs fantastically - no temp issues, no glitches, instability, or throttling!"

Please see this thread and follow its directions:  http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/531329-throttlestop-guide.html 

Take a look at this link, as well.  They are what I followed to make the changes on my machine:  http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/477704-how-enable-intel-dynamic-acceleration-ida-both-cores-core-2-duo.html 

For Nvidia inspector, I'm pretty sure you can just find it via google.  If you have any glitches, try the exact file I'm using:  version 1.9.7.2.  Now, keep in mind that there are several GPUs in the D830s.  I have the Quadro GVS 140M (if memory serves).  When I used Nvidia inspector, I just bumped each clock up together a little at a time until the computer started glitching.  Then, I would back it off.  Here are my notes from playing around with drivers, nvidia inspector overclocking and throttle stop:

"

465/465/930
500/500/1000 - may result in overheating
GPU should throttle at 85C and over
PC Mark 06, reported scores (forceware driver 180.43 beta)
- 465 = 1839 (83C)
- 500 = 1977 (overheated once, made it once)

My results:
driver GeForce 327.02 WHQL:
Baseline
- WEI 3.4/5.2
- baseline 3dmark06: 1440

OC 475/475/950
- WEI aero: 3.5, gaming: 5.3
- 475 clock = 1730

driver forceware 180.43 beta did not work, because it is
made for Vista and would not install

Driver GeForce 332.21
Baseline
- WEI 3.3/5.2
- 3dM6: 1602
475
- WEI 3.4/5.3
- 3DM6: 1909
OC GPU 485/Memory 480/ Shader 980 (anything above this in memory was buggy)
High temps = 72*C
WEI 3.5/5.4
3dM6 - 1935 (excellent!)

Throttle stop CPU bump - CPU now runs both cores at 2.8 GHz instead
of being limited to 2.6 GHz dual-core 2.8 single.
- 3dM6 CPU score increased to 2496 from 2326
- Overall 3dM6 score increased to 1943
- subscores: SM2.0 Score 738
HDR/SM3.0 Score 647
CPU Score 2496"

Finally, once I got throttle stop and nvidia inspector set up the way I wanted them, I put them both in my "startup" folder so that they automatically run when windows starts.  I noticed a nice difference in the benchmarks.  The only issue I've noticed, though I only suspect it's driver related, is that I can't seem to get 1920x1200 resolution from by Panasonic Plasma TV.  I haven't attempted to hook it up to my computer monitor, yet.  I know that the D830 can run a 1920x1200 monitor because I did it for years before I started monkeying with this computer.  Unfortunately, I was not into maximizing performance at the time, and I have no idea which drivers I was using before.

Good luck, Vicius.  I hope this helps you and anyone else who stumbles on this thread.  If you figure more out, I'm all ears.

Thanks a lot man. I can't wait to try my t9500 :D

nvidia inspector worked very smooth with Quadro 140m(475/475/950) it is enough

but i can figure out with throttlestop...http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab224/vicius_the_one/Untitled.png

first 2 cant be modded above 100% :(

Alright, I'm rusty because I haven't done this in a long time and you've caught me on a very busy day, as I'm moving back to the states from Germany this week.  But I've taken a couple of screen captures that I'm hoping will clear things up for you.  First, make sure you read the instructions in the links I already provided.  I specifically remember changing a couple settings in my BIOS, as specified by the creator of the program, who happened to be doing his testing on a D830 to begin with.  I think it was EIST, or maybe Dual IDA.  Can't really remember, atm.  Anyway, here are the observations I noticed from your screen capture of the Throttle stop that you have.  First, you have TS 7.0.  I have 5.0.  I doubt that's a big deal, and we'll probably get things working with the new version, but if your setting are identical and you still can't get it to work, try using my old version.

Now, my clock modulation and chipset clock mod are both unchecked.  Only the "Set multiplier" is checked.  Everything below that is also unchecked.  Also, VID, which I think is the set voltage, for me is set at 1.1000.  If I remember right, I believe the instructions were that it was safe to lower this until it caused instability.  I didn't do that.  Instead, I just set it at what the creator of the program found to work for him.  My set multiplier is 14.0, but I think 13.5 is correct for your T9300, because your base clock speed is 2.5GHz if memory serves.  So with 199.44MHz intervals, 13.5 should bring you to the expected ~2.7 GHz.

Anyway,  I may have changed some things in "Options" too.  So I took a screen shot of it too.  Hope it helps.

And one more thought, there might have been something I had to do in power options in the control tray.  My memory is really fuzzy on that one, but there may have been something there that caused the computer to throttle.  If I did something there, it also came out of the instructions in the threads I linked.  Good luck, bud.

i've unchecked those two and left multiplifier at 13.5. now everithing it's fine. my photohop is happy now :emotion-5:

one more question. do i have to insert nvidia inspector at startup because i noticed that after rebooting all setting are lost ?

For me, everything happens automatically with both throttle stop and NI through the use of the startup folder.  If you take a look at the bottom of nvidia inspector's overclocking window, you'll see a button that says, "create clocks shortcut."  Click that and put the shortcut in your startup folder.  Then when you log into windows, the clocks should automatically be increased.

Glad to hear it's giving you the boost you needed!

- Chris