Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2011 Macbook Pro 13 - many beachballs with 510 SSD
- Thread starter desantii
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Got AppleCare Involved...
Spoke to Mark, a senior MacBook Pro engineer, at Apple last night. Here is what I was told, "Apple can only support the drives that they sell, and since we don't sell any SATAIII drives, we won't admit that it is a problem with SATAIII in general, just a problem with an unsupported drive." I am paraphrasing, so excuse the quotation marks.That said, I told him that my plan of action was first to install a new 2010 MacBook Pro 13" SATA cable from iFixit and try again, and if that doesn't work, I plan on getting an OCZ Vertex 3 once they are available. He told me to please keep him up-to-date on anything that I discover, but not to expect any help from Apple.
Spoke to Mark, a senior MacBook Pro engineer, at Apple last night. Here is what I was told, "Apple can only support the drives that they sell, and since we don't sell any SATAIII drives, we won't admit that it is a problem with SATAIII in general, just a problem with an unsupported drive." I am paraphrasing, so excuse the quotation marks.That said, I told him that my plan of action was first to install a new 2010 MacBook Pro 13" SATA cable from iFixit and try again, and if that doesn't work, I plan on getting an OCZ Vertex 3 once they are available. He told me to please keep him up-to-date on anything that I discover, but not to expect any help from Apple.
That is exactly why I sold my 510 and just went the x-25 route, a tried and true drive. It will take a while for apple to acknowledge the issue. The issue is with OSX specifically as bootcamp worked great
I brought my MBP to a certified apple service center and asked them to replace my SATA cable (with a new identical replacement part). The technician called me today and told me that he tried everything (SMC reset,...) but the MBP wouldn't even boot with the new cable. (I couldn't do a personal hands on yet. I'm unable to collect my MBP before Tuesday.)
That tells me that my original cable was already a "good" one which gave me similar "mostly working" results as bodaay's replacement cable from ifixit. In both cases changing the cable changed the behaviour.
Wild guess: The cable might actually only be certified for up to 3Gb/s (SATA II) and the different results on SATA III are due to variance in manufacturing?
The only evidence against the cable theory are people like UNC81 stating their 510 works fine on Win7 while giving trouble under OS X.
I'm curious: Are you doing only office work on Win7 or did you also to tests with Intel SSD Toolbox or other IO-heavy load tests?
Fortunately I purchased the 250gb on buy.com.
45 day return policy, no restocking fee.
I plan on taking full advantage of it and getting a $600 refund.
45 day return policy, no restocking fee.
I plan on taking full advantage of it and getting a $600 refund.
I do development and some video editing, so I'm a pretty heavy user normally. I only browsed the web on OS X to get it to lock up. Or open System Preferences. Or sit on my hands and watch it freeze up doing nothing.
To the other posters, yes, I'm on 10.6.7 (it does it on both 10.6.6 and 10.6.7).
If enough people complain they will address the issue. They might not do anything, but at least they will look at it, officailly.
I mean, it's the future. They will HAVE to do it eventually. It not like USB 3 that they can avoid. So it's just a matter of time. We all need to make a big noise to speed things along (no pun intended )
If enough people complain they will address the issue. They might not do anything, but at least they will look at it, officailly.
I mean, it's the future. They will HAVE to do it eventually. It not like USB 3 that they can avoid. So it's just a matter of time. We all need to make a big noise to speed things along (no pun intended )
Very true. For starters, does anyone know we can get this posted on the front page of MacRumors? Is there a particular mod we can contact? Obviously, this is an extremely serious issue affecting ALL those who use SATA3 drives (which I imagine will be a lot of people once this generation of SATA3 SSDs come out).
Forgive me if this has been done before in the thread seeing that I've only read the past three pages but wouldn't it be a good idea if everyone having issues write the cable model number down?
I've noticed that my cable is a different model number than the cable that was having issues, which was posted in a picture bit earlier. Then again, I don't have a SATA 6Gbps drive yet...
I've noticed that my cable is a different model number than the cable that was having issues, which was posted in a picture bit earlier. Then again, I don't have a SATA 6Gbps drive yet...
johnnyturbouk
macrumors 68000
excellent ideas matey!
this needs to be a sticky at the top of MBP2011
the major reason i sold my dec 2010 15" MBP for a march 2011 MBP17" was sata 3 - as i really wanted a vertex 3
i have settled for a temporary owc 120 gb / optibay till this issue is resolved.
PS with OWC releasing next generation SSD, maybe this issue will get resolved once these sata-3 drives are main-stream - hence i chose to stick with a tried and tested sata-2 sandforce drive
I just thought I'd add my 2 cents here...
I bought the 2011 2GHz MBP 15 about 3 days after release, then purchased an Intel 510 250GB a few days after that. So far, after weeks of use and testing, I've seen zero hiccups with my system overall.
For the record, I installed my OS fresh, using the DVD, the restored with Time Machine.
Whatever the issue is, there's no doubt about the fact that it's NOT an 'across the board' incompatibility. Some systems work, some don't. Also, At times, it seems to work in W7, and not in Mac. This all tells me that the issue has nothing to do with either the firmware of the drive or the MBP.
The only question I have is whether is issue is related to the storage drivers, or the cabling. Personally, I think the cabling is the culprit. I've had those cables die on me in my last Mac, and the symptoms (beachballs, freezing) sound familiar. Also, just because you replace a cable with another, doesn't mean that cable is a reliable or working cable.
The last thing that suggests 'cable' to me is that most issues affect the 13 and 17' MBPs, while relatively few 15' owners are getting burned. Going on the assumption that the cables are different across models, the cabling inconsistencies that show up in different models makes sense.
I bought the 2011 2GHz MBP 15 about 3 days after release, then purchased an Intel 510 250GB a few days after that. So far, after weeks of use and testing, I've seen zero hiccups with my system overall.
For the record, I installed my OS fresh, using the DVD, the restored with Time Machine.
Whatever the issue is, there's no doubt about the fact that it's NOT an 'across the board' incompatibility. Some systems work, some don't. Also, At times, it seems to work in W7, and not in Mac. This all tells me that the issue has nothing to do with either the firmware of the drive or the MBP.
The only question I have is whether is issue is related to the storage drivers, or the cabling. Personally, I think the cabling is the culprit. I've had those cables die on me in my last Mac, and the symptoms (beachballs, freezing) sound familiar. Also, just because you replace a cable with another, doesn't mean that cable is a reliable or working cable.
The last thing that suggests 'cable' to me is that most issues affect the 13 and 17' MBPs, while relatively few 15' owners are getting burned. Going on the assumption that the cables are different across models, the cabling inconsistencies that show up in different models makes sense.
Will the people w/o any issues be willing to open their MBP and post the model numbers of the cables? It's great that some people are reporting no issues, but if the cable is the culprit, it doesn't help us at all if we don't know which cables you actually have vs. those that do have the problems.
As for me, I have a 15" 2011 MBP running a Micron C400 and I am seeing occasional beach balls. It's infrequent and short, but enough to be annoying. The only thing I haven't tried is replacing the cable - but I don't know which one to switch to.
As for me, I have a 15" 2011 MBP running a Micron C400 and I am seeing occasional beach balls. It's infrequent and short, but enough to be annoying. The only thing I haven't tried is replacing the cable - but I don't know which one to switch to.
sorry my terrible english -.-
I'm buy 510(250GB)series and install today on Macbook Pro 13(2011-early)
(1) I changed SSD max Capacity to 240GB (Tail-cutting)
(2) Intall NMBP(2011-early)
(3) Install OSX using bundle install dvd
(4) Migration(Old mac, accounts and etc)
(5) Using boot camp and install windows7 x64 Ultimate
Perfectly work, fine. no balls and delays.
I'm buy 510(250GB)series and install today on Macbook Pro 13(2011-early)
(1) I changed SSD max Capacity to 240GB (Tail-cutting)
(2) Intall NMBP(2011-early)
(3) Install OSX using bundle install dvd
(4) Migration(Old mac, accounts and etc)
(5) Using boot camp and install windows7 x64 Ultimate
Perfectly work, fine. no balls and delays.
I have a 2011 15" MBP, been running a C300 and now a Vertex 3 at 6Gbps and no beachballs. I'll post the cable model number later.
I can confirm that Intel SSD 320 works perfectly (on the same MBP/cable where the 510 had problems).
For those who didn't notice: Intel kindly offered a refund for 510 owners with problems. See http://communities.intel.com/message/120505#120505
the MBP SATA cable is truly the problem
Stay away from SATA III on MBP 13" and 17". MBP 15" seems to be less susceptible to bad SATA cabling.
Read: http://www.hardmac.com/news/2011/04/06/sata-iii-problem-in-the-2011-macbook-pro-the-cable-is-truly-the-problem
Stay away from SATA III on MBP 13" and 17". MBP 15" seems to be less susceptible to bad SATA cabling.
Read: http://www.hardmac.com/news/2011/04/06/sata-iii-problem-in-the-2011-macbook-pro-the-cable-is-truly-the-problem
Last edited:
Yes, so does the Vertex 3, so this eliminates the cable as the problem.
There must be some compatibility issue with the Intel. This would suggest that it's Intel's problem and not something with OS X, as these others work fine ; no issues at all with the Vertex 3 at 6gbps SATA so far.