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Issues when installing Windows XP on a PXI-8108 with a Solid State HDD

Hi,

 

I have been assisting a client with installing Windows XP onto a PXI-8108 controller.  They have replaced the default HDD with a solid-state HD.

 

We have attempted to run the System Recovery CD.  The recovery part works fine, ie. you select Acronis, it unzips all the files to C drive. 

 

However when it gets up to the bit where Win XP Setup starts (after rebooting once the Recovery section completes), we have issues.

 

It can't find files, ie. dmconfig.dll, gm.dls, etc on the Win XP CD.  When it tries to find mfc40u.dll, it came up with an error:

 

"The file Setup placed on your hard drive is not a valid Win XP System image.  If you are installing from a CD, there may be a problem with the Windows XP CD."

 

We have tried two different recovery CDs, and we even tried just a plain Win XP CD.  All had similar issues.

 

We have tried different SATA settings in the BIOS - both IDE AND AHCI.

 

It may just be that we have a faulty SSD, however it seemed to work ok when we had it connected to the PXI via USB (with the default HDD still in place).  I was able to run diskcheck, which did not bring up any errors.  Disk Management showed things were healthy.

 

So what I would like to know, is if there is any issue with a PXI-8108, and SSDs?  We have successfully performed this operation a few months back using the same brand of SDD, but with a PXI-8104.

 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Christopher Farmer

Certified LabVIEW Architect and LabVIEW Champion
DQMH Trusted Advisor
https://wiredinsoftware.com.au

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You said they tried 2 different recovery CDs.  Both should have PNs on them - could you find out which ones?  Also, which SSD is the customer using?  Assuming this is an NI supplied SSD, could you get us the NI PN?  Finally, what BIOS is on the controller?  The latest BIOS available for the 8108 is 2.0.1, so you could try updating it.  I'm don't expect answers to any of these questions to solve this issue, but it might help us replicate the issue here in our group.

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Thanks for your reply!

 

Currently the PXI controller is not available to us, so we can't check the BIOS at this time.  We will do this as soon as it becomes available.  As for the other details:

 

SSD: is an OCZ 60G Agility SSD 64M Cache  (not an NI product)

Recovery CD’s part numbers are: 501518B-01, 501677C-01.

Christopher Farmer

Certified LabVIEW Architect and LabVIEW Champion
DQMH Trusted Advisor
https://wiredinsoftware.com.au

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I'm checking to see if we've ever evaluated that drive before.

 

As for the restoration process, could you clarify a couple things.  After rereading your first post, I can't quite tell exactly how they are trying to install the OS.  Are they using the recovery disks to install the XP image?  Or are they restoring from an Acronis image that they have captured from one disk (to a network or secondary drive) and are attempting to simply restore that captured image onto another harddrive?

 

Also, do they have more than one of these drives that they have tested this on?  What assurances do we have that this drive is not faulty?

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Sorry for the confusion. We were using the recovery disks to install the XP image onto the new SSD.  No Acronis image had been created.

 

They currently have one other SSD of this brand, which is already up and running in another PXI Chassis.  This is already on-site, so they can't access it.

 

The only assurance at this stage is that we had seen files on the SSD after inspecting the drive after the failed attempts to install Windows.  Then I formatted the drive, and ran diskcheck, all without error.

Christopher Farmer

Certified LabVIEW Architect and LabVIEW Champion
DQMH Trusted Advisor
https://wiredinsoftware.com.au

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This is more than likely a failing disk.  SSDs don't always report failures in the same way as a rotating drive.  Also, the tools that are helpful with diagnosing rotating drive failures don't always work with SSDs.

From the thread, it sounds like you have another system with this same SSD and it is working properly.  Does that system have the same PXI Controller and Chassis?

I have seen these types of errors if the media for the OS installation is corrupt, but it sounds like you have tried different CDs.

I realize you have limited access to this drive, but here are my recommendations:

1)  Put the failing SSD in a different system (desktop is preferable), and install a base version of XP.  If this fails, RMA the drive, they normally have 3-5 warranties.

2)  Run Crystal Mark Info and check for SMART failures:

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

3)  You can securely erase the SSD, which is not for the faint of heart.  This will restore the drive to a new condition.  If the drive has a bad cell which is causing data corruption during the OS install, securely erasing the drive will hopefully cause the firmware to map out the bad areas.  This is a good tutorial, just ignore that fact that it is targeted at Intel drives.

http://www.iishacks.com/2009/06/30/how-to-secure-erase-reset-an-intel-solid-state-drive-ssd/

 

I hope this helps out,


Regards,


Andrew Mierau

Project Engineer - Servers & RAID Storage

National Instruments

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@AndrewM wrote:


From the thread, it sounds like you have another system with this same SSD and it is working properly.  Does that system have the same PXI Controller and Chassis?


Same chassis, different controller - PXI-8104.

 

It does seem like the SSD is an issue.  Thanks for your suggestions Andrew and Logan.  I will recommend this to my client.

Christopher Farmer

Certified LabVIEW Architect and LabVIEW Champion
DQMH Trusted Advisor
https://wiredinsoftware.com.au

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