Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Late-08 MacBook Pro + Sandisk Extreme 240GB SSD = Junk

K

keaton85

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 31, 2012
19
2
Specs:
Macbook Pro 15in late 2008
2.4GHz C2D
8GB ram
240GB SSD

I am having issues with almost all applications just freezing up, either for a minute or so, or just a few seconds. If I play any videos, no matter, format or player, it will freeze at some point through the video. The curser is still responsive and some Mac OS items will work (like minimize and so forth) but some won't.

Before the Sandisk Extreme SSD, I had a OCZ Vertex 3 and had no issues like this!

Ive tried with and without TRIM, Clean install of both Lion and Mountain Lion. PRAM reset....BUT nothing seems to help the glitches with the Sandisk 240Gb SDD.

Anyone have any ideas or do these drives just not work well with Mac OS X?
 
Last edited:
Wish I could help more, but if it helps the very same drive runs great in my Macbook Pro 2012. Put in the original HDD, and connect it to a Firewire drive and try to boot off that maybe? It seems like you have done everything I would have done already.
 
My options at the moment:
RMA the drive and see if another works
Sell and go with another manufacture
Try a new Macbook Pro 2011-2012
Use the OCZ and sacrifice the 120Gb loss...

Very frustrating! such a random issue that shouldn't be happening. Would zeroing out the drive help? or some low level format... idono

Side note: the firmware is current R201
 
After doing some more digging I guess it looks like Sandisk and the MCP79 controller on these MacBooks don't play well together. Wish I knew this ahead of time.
 
MCP79 issues on SSD.

keaton85 said:
After doing some more digging I guess it looks like Sandisk and the MCP79 controller on these MacBooks don't play well together. Wish I knew this ahead of time.
Click to expand...

It is more than that reason. The Vertex 3 uses the same SandForce 2281 controller but OCZ did lots of tweaks with their firmware, they actually had Mac specific firmware (my Vertex 3 120G has v2.22 mac) runs perfect, on my late 08 MBP. From what I have researched, the issue is rather complicated and not as simple as it seems. Yes the MCP79 chip has some bugs and some missing Sata features. But it seems issues seem to arise with power usage that fluctuates during use. I think OCZ did the most amount of work due to its user "screams" and possibly many returns, it it had the problem nailed. Not even Intel made any effort to fix their SSD on the Mac!. So yeah, return the SanDisk or sell it privately. Get a Vertex 3 240GB or live with the 120G and have a USB enclosure with your HDD. Do Not go with Vertext 4, that Indilinx Infused controller sucks power like crazy, lots of compatibily issues on the Mac as well.
And the firmware is really "young" so risky.
 
Good to know thanks!

The only ones that I have to choose from is the PNY Prevail Elite 256Gb, Crucial M4 240Gb, or the Vertex 3 240Gb. The M4 seems to have good reviews, and not many on the PNY... the Vertex seems to have a bad rep. though?

Anyway, which one of those three would be best in the long run. As in, would work for the early Macbook Pro AND my later i7 Macbook Pro upgrade???

If I do get a mid 2011 Macbook Pro, is it worth keeping the Sandisk for that? or are they just horrible for Macs?

Thanks!!!!
 
I'm using the M4 in my late 2008 machine with absolutely no problems. There have been previous discussions here detailing problems with the Sandisk on this machine which is why I bought the M4.
 
Agility 3 in my 2008 MacBook, no issues yet:

Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

OCZ-AGILITY3:

Capacity: 120.03 GB (120,034,123,776 bytes)
Model: OCZ-AGILITY3
Revision: 2.220000

I did have to use the OCZ utility to force SATA 3.0GB/s - out of the box it was stuck on 1.5GB/s
 
keaton85 said:
Good to know thanks!

The only ones that I have to choose from is the PNY Prevail Elite 256Gb, Crucial M4 240Gb, or the Vertex 3 240Gb. The M4 seems to have good reviews, and not many on the PNY... the Vertex seems to have a bad rep. though?

Anyway, which one of those three would be best in the long run. As in, would work for the early Macbook Pro AND my later i7 Macbook Pro upgrade???

If I do get a mid 2011 Macbook Pro, is it worth keeping the Sandisk for that? or are they just horrible for Macs?

Thanks!!!!
Click to expand...

Sorry if I brought this up again. I have a SanDisk 480GB, and my system often freezes interminitenly and iTunes often stops the music for a few seconds before it resumes again.

I have a 2008 aluminum Macbook.

Did you finally return the disk? This is my second SanDisk drive, I've returned the first one because it's even worse than this.

So sad that this SSD does not work well for me. I had high hopes. It launches so many things really quickly, like iPhoto, Aperture, startup, etc. It's just that the occasional freezes that drives me crazy.
 
I ended up returning the Sandisk and using a Vertex 3 120GB locked to SATAII so that it doesn't default down to SATAI.

Personally speaking the Vertex 3 drivers are the only ones that will work correctly for these systems with Nvidia controllers. Unless the manufacture of the other listed SSD drivers comes out with a work around or patch.

I will probably use the Vertex 3 120GB until I find a deal on a 240GB Vertex 3 or if I upgrade computers to a 2012 Macbook Pro I'm going to hunt for a M4, Samsung, or Sandisk, depending on what happens with SSD prices. Whatever happens, I will NEVER go back to regular hard drivers.

This Vertex 3 drive in the Macbook Pro has turned it into a completely different machine. I went from using 8GB of ram to 2GB (upgraded a friends computer) and I used to never be able to handle 2GB but with the SSD drive the computer has a much more efficient time with limited ram. Idono how to explain it...
 
I feel your pain as well. The late 2008's must have the flakiest controllers ever as my OWC 6G didn't work well on them either. Link at 1.5Gb not 3Gb and ONLY on the 2008 is this a problem. Nvidia chipsets perhaps? "except late-2008" seems to be the tag on much hardware. But on the plus side you get Adobe hardware acceleration:)
 
Crucial is a brand of Micron, and I understand the M4 uses a Marvell controller, so it might be acceptable.
 
It's not Mac that is the issue. Nvidia controllers are the problem. Mac or Windows, doesn't matter, it's all the stupid controllers fault.

OCZ is the only one that has come out with a fix from what I have seen to date.
 
keaton85 said:
I ended up returning the Sandisk and using a Vertex 3 120GB locked to SATAII so that it doesn't default down to SATAI.

Personally speaking the Vertex 3 drivers are the only ones that will work correctly for these systems with Nvidia controllers. Unless the manufacture of the other listed SSD drivers comes out with a work around or patch.

I will probably use the Vertex 3 120GB until I find a deal on a 240GB Vertex 3 or if I upgrade computers to a 2012 Macbook Pro I'm going to hunt for a M4, Samsung, or Sandisk, depending on what happens with SSD prices. Whatever happens, I will NEVER go back to regular hard drivers.
Click to expand...

My mid-2009 13" MBP also has the MCP79(at least I'm pretty sure it does), and I haven't had any issues with my Crucial M4. Just the other day they released a firmware update with a few tweaks. 000F worked just fine for me, but I wanted to try the new one anyway. So far, I haven't noticed any issues.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2012-09-28 at 11.12.09 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2012-09-28 at 11.12.09 AM.png
    141.6 KB · Views: 623
Nice! That will probably be my next upgrade so I can use it on the newer systems later.

Off topic: T5brick? Is that T5 Volvo?
 
keaton85 said:
Off topic: T5brick? Is that T5 Volvo?
Click to expand...

A drunk driver hit me a few years ago and totaled it, but my son and I were fine. I wish I could have bought another one, but I needed something with better fuel economy.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0936.jpg
    IMG_0936.jpg
    44.7 KB · Views: 314
T5BRICK said:
A drunk driver hit me a few years ago and totaled it, but my son and I were fine. I wish I could have bought another one, but I needed something with better fuel economy.
Click to expand...
Glad you were ok, safe vehicles! my wife made a banana out of one of our 98s and came out fine. Now we have a 98 and 01 V70 T5Ms.

Those 16' Comets are one of my favorite wheels..
 
keaton85 said:
Glad you were ok, safe vehicles! my wife made a banana out of one of our 98s and came out fine. Now we have a 98 and 01 V70 T5Ms.

Those 16' Comets are one of my favorite wheels..
Click to expand...

Yeah. They're great cars. Someday I'll own another. :)

The 17" Comets I had were from a '04 C70. I think the 16" wheels of that style were called Meteors, which I believe came on the '98 V70R.
 
Macbook Pro (Early 2008) MacOSX Lion 10.7.5 + SanDisk Extreme R211 Firmware Update

Hi All,

Thanks for this thread, was useful and was about to purchase a new SSD to replace my SanDisk Extreme 240GB (SDSSDX240GG25) SSD since it was exhibiting the same secs-mins hanging problem over the past year since upgrading. But did a bit more research and found that SanDisk released a new R211 firmware update (Oct 17, 2012) for the 60GB|120GB|240GB|480GB drives thats supposed to resolve the hanging problem, importantly please also note the SanDisk DISCLAIMER detailed below:

"- Resolves a speed negotiation issue where instead of SATA II/3.0Gbps the Extreme SSD functioned at SATA I/1.5Gbps. Affected platforms are MacBook and MacBook Pros dated in 2008-2009 based on NVidia MCP79 chipset.

Disclaimer: This firmware will configure the SSD drive to operate at SATA II/3.0Gbps and will no longer function at SATA III/6.0Gbps. The fix is only recommended for MacBook and MacBook Pros dated in 2008-2009 based on NVidia MCP79 chipset. In the event for future use you would prefer to switch back to SATA III/6.0Gbps, you will need to re-download to the standard Extreme SSD firmware."

URL Link to the R211 Firmware Release Notes:
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/d...nDisk SDSSDX240GG25 firmware update/related/1

URL to the R211 Firmware download page is here:
http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10476/kw/SanDisk SDSSDX240GG25 firmware update

Downloaded and burned the Firmware Updater ISO image to CD, rebooted pressing the 'C' key and applied this to my drive. So far this looks to have worked perfectly, drive is intact and no further hangs... outstanding!!! Please make sure to make a backup of your SSD before applying the Firmware Update just in case of any problems to avoid data-loss.

Would recommend this, BUT please ensure that you have the correct SanDisk Extreme SSD model onto which you're applying the specific Firmware Update ISO as this may otherwise brick your SSD.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: bigredchris
what speeds you guys are getting? i get 110mbps write and 130mbps read
note: im still on the old firmware for the sad. my machine is a 2009 early mbp
 
Also applies to Late 2009 Mac Mini Server?

I just bought a Late 2009 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo Mac Mini Server that has two NVidia MCP79 SATA II controllers.

Am I right that I'll also need this firmware update to replace one hard drive with the 240GB SanDisk Extreme SSD?
 
mikea0 said:
I just bought a Late 2009 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo Mac Mini Server that has two NVidia MCP79 SATA II controllers.

Am I right that I'll also need this firmware update to replace one hard drive with the 240GB SanDisk Extreme SSD?
Click to expand...

I'll answer my own question.

The Late 2009 Mac Mini doesn't have the problem. My SanDisk Extreme SSD shows it's running at 1.5gbps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back