Is my SSD dead? (bought new today)

[bobsaget]

Hi guys,

I bought a new Crucial M4 512GB SSD and installed it today in my early 2011 17". I 'erased' the drive using disk utility while booting off my thumb drive copy of Lion and started the installation process. Then, when the computer restarts, it hangs... and hangs... I hit the power button only to see a window pop up "Installation failed, try reinstallation again". I've done this several times already, along with all of the basic troubleshooting (resetting PRAM, etc). I've also re-downloaded and mounted Lion on my thumbdrive, along with using my old Snow Leopard install DVD (which gives the computer a kernel attack).

My question is, is my SSD functioning okay? I mean, I can write to it and reformat it just fine...

Thanks

 

[JohnleMVP]

Do you have another computer to test it in? You should also update the firmware of the drive if you haven't. Have you updated the firmware of the MBP? I believe there were some updates to improve SSD compatibility. I have a 256GB M4 in my early 2011 MBP 13" and it never had a problem installing Snow Leopard or Lion. It had beach balling issues (~1 year ago), but the firmware updates have pretty much solved all those issues.

I have had a similar issue with the installation failure error, but that was when I tried install a 120GB Corsair Force 3 drive. It was incompatible with the MBP at the time.

Firmware update instructions


There were also some sata issues specific to the Early 17" MBP's.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1229468

 

[bobsaget]

Thanks Johnle, tried everything you mentioned, took it to the genius bar... still no luck.

BUT, I just plugged it into my gf's 2009 MBP 13" and Lion installed no problem. So the SSD is fine... my 17" MBP is the culprit... I'm beginning to think I'll just return it since I bought it from Macmall just a few days ago.

 

[DenverBarr]

Thanks Johnle, tried everything you mentioned, took it to the genius bar... still no luck.

BUT, I just plugged it into my gf's 2009 MBP 13" and Lion installed no problem. So the SSD is fine... my 17" MBP is the culprit... I'm beginning to think I'll just return it since I bought it from Macmall just a few days ago.

depends if its a replace on spot warranty from macmall if not go to a apple store because they can replace them on spot. the mac that is*

 

[flip504]

I had similar issue wih my 15 MBP. It's picky about SSD. It wouldn't detect samsung 830 128GB, but I was able to install Lion OS on a OCZ agility 3.

 

[mlivvy]

Just curious to know. If you purchase an ssd and install it yourself does it void anything on the applecare? Genius bar gave me a little grief about installing some memory myself.

I installed an ssd and it died the next day. I held down control R while booting and ran disk utility. Turns out the file system was corrupted. I use time capsule on a 2nd drive (ssd was installed via the optibay) so I was able to reformat the ssd and restore everything.

Try holding down command r and running disk utility in recovery.

 

[CEpeep]

Just curious to know. If you purchase an ssd and install it yourself does it void anything on the applecare? Genius bar gave me a little grief about installing some memory myself.

I installed an ssd and it died the next day. I held down control R while booting and ran disk utility. Turns out the file system was corrupted. I use time capsule on a 2nd drive (ssd was installed via the optibay) so I was able to reformat the ssd and restore everything.

Try holding down command r and running disk utility in recovery.

It doesn't void the warranty, but if you desire warranty service, you will want to put the stock factory drive back in before requesting repair. Same for memory.