Issues with SSD in a Power Mac G4

[sixteenbitify]

Greetings. I have a 1.42GHZ Power Mac G4 MDD I recently got and decided to expand computer to the most I can. The RAM has been maxed out to 2GB and I decided to put a GeForce 4Ti since that's the best card to use with OS 9 + OS X.

I used up all of the PCI slots and one of the cards I added is a Sonnet Tempo SATA card so I can easily use an SSD. I ordered a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB with a 3.5 bracket and a 1TB WD Black SATA hard drive. Both of these drives are installed in my G4 with the SATA card. I installed OS X Leopard and OS 9 into my Samsung SSD. In my G4, I have a total of 4 hard drives. 2 are the SATA drives mentioned above and 2 are the stock IDE drives that came with the system.

However, I have been experiencing issues with using OS X. After using the computer for a while, the computer will not operate normally. Doing any app installations after using the computer for a while would stall. Shut down, restart, and log out would also stall and I can't shut down unless I hold down the power button.

I made sure the cables are connected properly, but I still experience the same issue. Note that this problem only happens after using the computer for about 40 minutes. Is this a problem with the SSD? Does anyone use a combination of a SATA card and a Samsung 840 EVO?

 

[weckart]

I know the Samsungs have had their share of firmware issues but I have not followed those too closely. Might be worth checking the forums. In the meantime, if you can copy across your Leopard/OS9 installations to your 1TB SATA drive and run off that, you can see whether the SATA setup is the problem or just your SSD drive in that particular setup.

 

[sixteenbitify]

Okay, I finished installed Leopard and OS 9 to my 1TB SATA hard drive and so far, it's working very well. I haven't had any lock ups yet. I really start to see that the problem is with the Samsung SSD. I ordered it from Amazon so I'm going to return it. Does anyone think that OWC Mercury SSD drives are any good for this kind of setup?

 

[Altemose]

Check for a firmware update with Samsung first. I have an 840 Evo in my MacBook Pro and it is a solid drive but I am running the latest firmware. OWC drives are a bit on the pricy side and there are more affordable options that will work just as well in your computer.

If the issues continue to occur with the 1 TB hard drive, I would look into heat and power related causes. A lot of MDDs had heat issues in my experience, in which applying fresh quality thermal paste would resolve the issue. Also, MDDs had a ton of problems with the PSU and it does not take much power fluctuation to freeze a computer in general.

 

[weckart]

Some reports on slowdowns with the 840 EVO range

http://techreport.com/news/28112/new-840-evo-fix-adds-periodic-refresh-to-firmware

From the sound of it, I would swap the EVO for a Crucial or Sandisk.

 

[sixteenbitify]

Well unfortunately, the 1TB HD has been experiencing the same issues too. I tried disconnecting peripherals and it's been doing the same thing. Since this only happens when the computer is running for a while, I guess the only way would be to add new thermal paste to the CPUs. Before I do that, I want to make sure the problem is not with the SATA card, so I'll try installing the system on one of the IDE hard drives.

 

[Altemose]

I want to make sure the problem is not with the SATA card, so I'll try installing the system on one of the IDE hard drives.

SATA cards can cause similar issues like that so I would try that before doing the paste though the system is likely due for it either way.

 

[Cox Orange]

Try disabling all sorts of energy saving stuff (i.e. sleep, monitor off, sleep drives). Try different combinations.
Well, I think I remember from something, that not allowing the HDDs to sleep will cure the problem of the SATA-card. Just a try.

 

[MacCubed]

I personally don't like SATA cards, I would use a SATA-IDE converter. They have IDE(data) and Molex(power). It slows down performance a bit, but using the system's default bus will help with reliability.

 

[sixteenbitify]

Try disabling all sorts of energy saving stuff (i.e. sleep, monitor off, sleep drives). Try different combinations.
Well, I think I remember from something, that not allowing the HDDs to sleep will cure the problem of the SATA-card. Just a try.

Oh wow! I think your advice has fixed my problem. After I disabled sleep, my SATA drives hasn't stalled on me so far. I'm gonna let my SATA drives for a longer time, but so far, they are responding very well after disabling sleep in the energy saver settings. Thanks everyone for your helpful advice, especially you Cox.

 

[ryannel2003]

FWIW I put a SATA-IDE adapter from Amazon and a SanDisk 120GB SSD in my iMac G4 and have experienced no issues thus far. I've been running this setup for over 2 weeks now and it's pretty great. If you have any more problems with the Samsung unit I would check out the SanDisk. I paid $50 for it at Best Buy.