Firmware update and SATA II hard drive (continued)

Let us know if the cable shielding works. I would like to fix mine aswell!

I ran the HDAPM install from here
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10081798#10081798

and it looks to have resolved my issue... (so far)

Boabmatic wrote:
I ran the HDAPM install from here
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10081798#10081798

and it looks to have resolved my issue... (so far)

That approach may address a problem where the hard drive's power management is too aggressive, causing constant parking of the heads. It's not the same problem that this thread concerns, which is related to the SATA interface and affects mechanical drives and SSDs.

Well the ST9500420ASG is apparently no longer available. I did find an ST9500420AS and was going to put it in my 13" unibody MBP but now it sounds like I shouldn't try.

Has there been any movement or any 'fix' that works? I visited the Seagate forums and found a lot of carping about getting a firmware update out of Dell of all places to fix some issue with the drive clicking and stalling the OS. Is that the issue that folks here are writing about?

I guess the bottom line is will the drive work as expected or not? I did upgrade my really old MBP with a Seagate 500G drive and it rocks but I don't know what model/version of drive it is. I just figured that I'd have the same luck as before...

So, what about it? Is there still an issue and are there workarounds and if I really need more space, what do I do?

Thanks for any followups.

Hi All
Just letting you all know that i happy to report have a fix for my problem.

Just to recap i have 2 SSDs (Crucial M225 and OCA Vertex) both of which exhibit identical symptoms in my macbook pro 15" 5,3 unibody which is
- works fine eternally (firewire, USB etc)
- wont recognise the disk or boot when connected internally

1. Have downgraded the firmware to EFI 1.6 and presto problem solved. SSD (OCZ) running perfectly, not a single blip. AJA utility reports 105MB/s write, 127MB Read which is close to the theoretical limit for 1.5GB/s SATA1 connection the firmware is now limiting the connection speed to.

2. Next i am going to put the SSD in to an optibay (which arrives today) and see if this works in EFI 1.6 and EFI 1.7. If it does, which i expect it to, then it means the controller and EFI firmware in general is not the problem, because both the OPTIBAY DVD and HDD are both identical controller according to the system info (MCP79 NVidia) so i expect they are just 2 ports on the 1 controller, at least they identical anyway.

3. Next step after this will be to try to get the whole thing to work with EFI 1.7 at 3BG/s using a foil wrapped SATA cable.

Will report back, however i will say if in the end I have to live with a 1.5GB/s SSD, this is still disappointing from my point of view, but the MacBook does run faster and respond quicker than it does with a rotating HDD, event at 1.5GB/s due to the much lower IO access times.

Message was edited by: siliconspy

Quick addition.

In order to get the EFI 1.6 to work, i had to
PRAM reset 4 times,
SMC reset
boot from CD (could not get a USB boot to work - would boot, show the apple logo and reboot itself immediately after without the moving grey bar at the bottom - CD worked fine)

Ok

Results of testing with OPTIBAY HDD connector.

EFI 1.6 HDD in the optibay works. AJA system test results
READ = 126MB/s
WRITE = 98 MB/s

With EFI 1.7 and the SSD in the OPTIBAY ALSO works. AJA system tests
READ = 229 MB/s
WRITE = 161 MB/s

Which means i am getting close to 3GB/s theoretical maximum for the SATA2 connector which should top out at 300MB/s but is close to what the drive can achieve anyway. Ok so the OPTIBAY and the SSD both run of the same type of controller MCP79 and is either the same controller (but a different port - which is what i suspect (can anyone confirm?), or a different controller but of the same type). Either way its running at 3GB/s according to the Mac OSX System Info. Which leaves me to think that its got to be the cable. Next step is to insulate the cable which is much longer on the HDD bay (6inches) than the OPTIBAY (1 inch).

Next step is the foil insulating the cable to see if I can get the SSD to work in the HDD bay with EFI 1.7. In the meantime am going to use the SSD in the OPTIBAY (i can live without the DVD for the moment).

If it turns out all the cable needs is insulation/replacement then.. come on apple, pony up.. and offer a new replacement cable to any customers who ask/report this problem or need it because they have a HDD (SSD or otherwise) that can exhibit this problem at 3GB/s speed but is totally stable at 1.5GB/s.

Good luck and please report back about the results of adding extra shielding to the SATA cable. Here's an article from AnandTech written in early November that discusses the problem. The author, who knows quite about about computers, mentions that it may be a problem with the chipset/motherboard on the June 2009 revision MBPs. But this article was probably written before we started hearing reports of people solving the problem by replacing or improving the SATA cable.

http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3672&p=5

If it is a problem with the routing and/or shielding of the SATA cable that goes to the hard drive, it would be pretty expensive for Apple to fix considering the number of June 2009 revision MBPs that have been sold - not to mention some pretty awkward explaining as to why it took so long to address.

This thread and the one on MacRumors has seen much less activity. I don't know whether this is the result of people giving up, losing interest or perhaps even Apple quietly fixing the problem with more recently manufactured MBPs. Also, the number of people who replace their hard drives within the first year after purchase is probably a small fraction of owners, so many people haven't yet confronted this problem.

All of the theorizing about the problem and its cause is just that. Without any response from Apple, it's a guess as to how widespread it is or what's really causing it. My own 13" June 2009 MBP works fine with its stock drive, and I'll only know if I have a problem when I decide to install a SSD.

Sorry, but before this thread gets too long could you give some touch up info on what constitutes a "June 2009 revision MBP", and if there is a cut off point (before or after) in manufacture dates where these issues and incompatibilities become n/a? I of course am worrying about whether my MBP 15" falls into the pile that will have trouble acceping a larger drive with all the attendant problems covered here and elsewhere.

(mine was manufactured in Dec of 2009)

thanks, m.

Mark Spencer2 wrote:
Sorry, but before this thread gets too long could you give some touch up info on what constitutes a "June 2009 revision MBP", and if there is a cut off point (before or after) in manufacture dates where these issues and incompatibilities become n/a? I of course am worrying about whether my MBP 15" falls into the pile that will have trouble acceping a larger drive with all the attendant problems covered here and elsewhere.

(mine was manufactured in Dec of 2009)

thanks, m.

The June 2009 revision was first released then and is the model with the SD card slot built in. You have one.

Thanks, and...ouch.

Mine was manufactured Dec 2009 and purchased late Dec 2009.. I expect you have the same one i have.

Ponzi

While i accept apple clearly stated that the EFI patch may not work with HDD's, i think they should still pony up, and offer replacement cables to anyone who wants one. Even if this was a free service, but pay retail for the cable i woud pay the $30 - $50 for a cable that would work if apple auth service centre did the work for free. I would think they would make enough on the cable to compensate for the 15 min job it is to open the case and swap out the cable.

This is assuming it is the cable (which i am convinced it is). This has become a bit of a crusade for me. I have spent well over A$1,500 trying to get this to work. Have brought optibay hdd holders, 2 (two) SSD (1 more than i need) just to prove i wasn't going mad.

Last task is to insulate the cable, which i hope doesnt go wrong because you can't buy a spare SATA HDD cable in australia as a spare. Go figure. Will have to order one from the states. Actually i think i will do that now anyway just so i have a backup.

Either way, although i am sure the EFI disclaimer said something to the affect that it would cause incompatability problems with 3rd party HDDs, the reality is that I didnt read it properly, and i also didn't look in to this in more detail until it became a problem, but I am sure 90% of the people in here fall in to the same category.

I just hope that in the end the work, and the cost helps someone else who has this problem, so they can enjoy their shiny new high speed SSD in a MacBook.

I tested a Kingston SSDNow V+ 64GB SSD (that I ordered for my desktop) on my Macbook Pro and it worked to my big surprise flawlessly. Installation took about 40 minutes. The computer was definitely faster with the SSD than with the 320GB hd. No beachballings or other hickups. I would have left the SSD in the MBP but 64GB is a bit too small for my needs. I therefore ordered an Intel 80GB X25M drive for my MBP. Hopefully that works as well.

One last thing, as I have previously told, my Seagate 7200.3 hd is jumpered to SATA I. That particular drive caused often beachballing as SATA II...

My unibody mid 2009 MBP 17" just started exhibiting the spinning beach ball which causes the system to freeze for close to a minute, and this is happening frequently rendering the computer practically useless. This thread is rather confusing as to what the causes and solutions are. Anyone care to put it in a nutshell for me? And are my symptoms different in that they seem more severe than most reported here.

thanks,

Peter