Negotiated Link Speed on MacBook Pro mid-2009 with Kingston SSDNow v300

Just curious if you found a solution for this?

See my response to the issue with the links speeds using a Kingston SSD v300 and Macbook pro late 2008.

Hope it works for you folks.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5491477?answerId=23549231022#23549231022

Hi

I was just as frustated as you after installing the Kingston v300. I mean it's a solidly built drive with the reliability of kingston (I've been using their RAM for years and years in my desktop PC without problems). Unfortunately, for a the last 3 months I had it in my 2009 unibody white macbook, it was stuck at link speed 1.5.

I've been searching in forums since then without any solution. Even the update for bios is not available for my model.

I just tried the SMC reset after reading the blog.

http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2010/12/04/how-when-why-to-reset-the-pram-smc-on -your-mac/#!w3XEY

On reboot, everything seemed faster, so I checked the negotiated link speed and it was at 3 instead of 1.5! Yay! Then I checked the disk transfer speed on Blackmagic Disk speed test and it roughly doubled from 138 to 260MB/s. Now, I'm not going to shutdown or restart...

I hope this post is useful for people like me stuck at 1.5 Gbps speed. Good luck

Just a note, I'm using OSX Mavericks!

Hello,

Is it still working? Have you rebooted? It worked for me as well with SMC reset and so forth but not permanantly after reboots. However, Kingston was kind enough to send me a rebuilt SSD locked at 3Gbps speed but the benchmark speed with Blackmagic and xbench never got above 150. I ended up purchasing a Samsung EVO 840 and my issues were resolved from day one. Ended up placing the original SSD I had bought (not the reworked SSD from Kingston) in my mid 2007 iMac and the SSD has been working perfectly at 3 Gbps speed and at 270 speeds with Blackmagic. So the Kingston SSD is perfect but just couldnt work right with my late 2008 Macbook Pro. I was using Mavericks on both machines as well.

No way, I haven't rebooted and don't intend to unless I have to (anyway, there's always SMC reset).

Right now, I'm just enjoyiing the speed boost and intend to hold on to it as long as I can!!

I didn't buy the Samsung drive because I'd read some reports of drive failures after firmware updates (though it is supposed to be more compatible with apple laptops)

Cheers

Good luck with it. Keep in mind though that Kingston was very helpful as once I notified them of the issue they offered on their own to send a reworked SSD. Maybe you might have better luck than I did and will not have to reset the SMC whenever you reboot.

As far as the Samsung, so far after updating to the latest firmware im getting great speeds.

Hi there

I had to restart my macbook after software update, and unfortunately it dropped back to Negotiated link speed 1.5.

However, I did the SMC reset again, and it's back to link speed 3.

I usually put my macbook to sleep so it should be no problem to reset the SMC once in a while, when I have to reboot for software updates...

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Hey there,

I figured it would drop back to 1.5g but your lucky that with the SMC reset its back to 3g because that didnt always work for me. I would recommend though if your Kingston SSD is still under warranty to contact them as they would probably send you, like they did me, a new reworked SSD and simply ask for you to send the one you have now after you recieve the new one.

So far from my end the Kingston SSD V300 is working awesome in my mid 2007 iMac.

I was able to have the link speed negotiate to 3.0 Gbps after turning on the laptop without any RAM installed. It will beep at you and won't boot, but turning on the computer without RAM also resets the firmware. After it beeps a few times, turn it off, re-install the RAM, and see what happens.

This worked for my Late 2008 MBP after I upgraded to a Kingston NOW SSD. Good luck.