I just installed a Intel 330 and the transfer rate is 3 gigs/sec and not 6?

I installed the SSD and no issues and installed the Intel toolbox and looked at the system report which stated the transfer rate was 3 Gb/s instead of the expected 6 Gb/s. My system is a Sandy Bridge second generation Quad core HP Pavilion dv7t-6100. I thought this notebook had SATA3 capabilities and had previously run some software that reported the bandwidth of the notebook as 6 Gb/s. So I dont know whether it has the capability and HP did not implement it on their notebook or if I need to configure it somehow. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Did you do any tests using software like Atto/Crystal Diskmark/etc?

 

I just ran benchmark and it seemed to level off at writes around 270Gb/s and 282for reads. Like I said the Intel Toolbox staterd that the drive was at 3gb/s. I know that the board uses the HM65 express chipset which has the capability to output 2 SATA ^ ports. I do not however know if HP implemented them though. I cant see why they would not. Is there something else I need to do to get this drive to function as SATA3 or is the HP notebook not capable of it?

 

Your notebook should support it.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...dv7-6xxx-envy-14-2xxx-envy-17-2xxx-intel.html

See:
Software & Driver Downloads HP Pavilion dv7t-6100 CTO Quad Edition Entertainment Notebook PC | HP® Support



Search through the above links and make sure you have the latest drivers and the latest BIOS for your system. Check that you're running the latest Chipset software and the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers. (Check these from the notebookreview link above).

What O/S are you running? Have you done any 'tweaks'? (Shudders).

Which physical port is the SSD connected to?

Are the SATA ports in AHCI mode in the BIOS?


Good luck.

 

I did a clean install of windows 7 64 bit and installed all teh latest drivers from the HP and Intel websites. I dont know how to check the version of the chipset software that is installed but the chipset is the HM65 Express chipset. I let the HP site scan the system and supply the recommended drivers which I installed. I think something is wrong though, because I know the chipset has SATA 3 capabilities but I cant find anything that says this HP dv7t-6100 CTO model has SATA 3 capabilities. Any ssuggestions?

 

Check your BIOS, something doesn't add up

 

Wow, the HP Maintenance and Service guide is pretty useless:

See:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02842278.pdf


Only states that the HDD are SATA2 (3GB/s capable), but doesn't state what the actual ports can support...



See:
Manuals for HP Pavilion dv7t-6100 CTO Quad Edition Entertainment Notebook PC | HP® Support


No, don't trust the HP software to update the drivers properly. You need to install the Chipset drivers and then the Storage drivers (at least) - this is AFTER making sure you have the latest BIOS.

Uninstall whatever storage drivers you now have and reboot and then installl IRST 11.6.2 and check the status of the ports again.

I just checked a DV7 6197ca and it has SATA3 support for PORTs Zero and One (0 and 1). And both an M4 256GB SSD and a Seagate 750GB Hybrid HDD are running at SATA3 connection speeds while the Optical drive is running at SATA1 (150MB/s) speeds according to IRST.

See:
HP Pavilion dv7-6197ca Entertainment Notebook PC | HP® Support


I think you need to:

install the latest BIOS (from HP manually...),
install the latest chipset drivers (from Intel manually),
install the latest IRST drivers (from Intel manually).

Ensure that you do a Load Default setup values in the BIOS (on each page...) just to be sure too.

Good luck.

 

Did you put it in to the default HDD space or optical drive bay? Because they lock the optical drive bay down to SATA II even though the chipset is capable of 2 SATA III

 

I agree that something doesnt add up here. I updated to the latest bios. I went to the BIOS to check the AHCI status and could not find anything there that was configurable pertaining to AHCI> Or anything else for that matter. Is there something I must do to make the BIOS settings visable?

 

It is installed on the port 0 space that hte oem harddrive was in. I would assume that there is no reason that HP would not utilize the sata3 capabilities of the chipset. I tried to look at the board on the parts search on the HP site but there is no information on it at all except a price. Not even a picture.

 

I dont know how to check the chipset software that is installed. I dont want to install the chipset software again if the proper software is already loaded. Does the chipset software just overwrite the existing or does it do an uninstall and a reinstall? How do you check what is currently installed for the chipset? I am not sure but I think that I loaded the chipset software from the Intel website. Hard to remember from all the updates I did on this thing. The latest BIOS is installed. This BIOS does not have much in the way of changable settings unless there is something I need to do to make more minues visabie in the BIOS.

 

If I go to the Intel website and scan the system for drivers it tells me that the installed chipset software installation utility is Version 9.2.0.1025. It says that the version is valid and offerss no updated version.

If I look at the HP site for the dv7t - 6100 notebook it offers the it offers the Intel chipset installation utility and driver version 9.2.0.1030.

On the driver thread for this model notebook here on this site there is a chipset version 9.3.0.1026 listed as current. version.

Which one is right and which one do I have? How do you tell? Or do I just install one and see if it works and if not install the other one and see if it works? Much like many auto dealerships change parts till they get the right one or you run out of money. can anyone help me out with this or the BIOS ?

 

I did all of the driver reinstalls as well as the BIOS and the Intel control console still reports a SATA 3Gb/s Transfer rate. Talked to HP support online and they did say that the SATA port was SATA3. So Im at a loss as to what to do to fix it now. It is a very nice upgrade anyway and the thing is faster than I thought it would be but you cant help but think about how much better it may be if it would configure correctly. Oh WELL! Open to any suggestions!

 

I'm about to install an SSD myself on a dv6t-6100, basically the same laptop, probably tonight but maybe over the weekend. I'll tell you how it goes. But it appears it at least used to work right on these.

 

I am sure anxious to see what your experienc is with this. I have beat my head against the wall with this one with HP and Intel to no avail. I just wanted HP to answer the question is the notebook SATA 3? One said it was SAATA 3 and would only support 160 Gig size. One said that the tech support level 1 did not have that information. And further mor I could pay $60 and speak to level 2 support. This notebook is under warrenty still! I just think HP leaves a lot to be desired in their whole approach to their customers. There is no wonder that the HP stock is so low. I just wont get into that. Let me know what you figure out.

 

carton I got it working and here is what I did to stumble across it...

Well I dont know if I found a solution or not but the drive is now working properly at 6Gb/s. There is one thing that I did that may have just had something to do with it changing to SATA 3. I was reading about the practice of overprovisioning the drive or short stroking the drive. So I went to drive manager and decided to shrink the partition down to less than 160 Gigs. It is a 180 Gig drive. The tech support person said that the drive couldnt be larger than 160 gigs which I remember that there was an option to order this with a SSD of that size. At any rate that was part of the reason to drop the partition size down to just below 160 Gig. After doing that I checked the drive with the Intel Rapid storage Technology Software and the PC Wizard program and nothing had changed. Still sata 2. So I decided to try changing the drive to the other port and see if by chance it would boot from thaqt port and go to SATA 3 because PC Wizard said the available unused port was a SATA3 port. No go! It would not even see thedrive on that port so I was SOL there. The BIOS for this dv7 has no changable inputs at all. Never seen something so devoid of choices in a BIOS before. Cant change the boot order. So I decided to put it back in the port 0 and reboot. I did disconnect all the power and battery in the process of changing the ports and I dont know if that had anything to do with it but when I rebooted the computer and chaeked it the disk was connected at SATA 3! I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw it. In an effort to make myself be convinced I ran a transfer rate test and it was indeed at almost 500Gb/s as advertised.



I hope that this helps someone else avoid all the headaches I went through even if I do not know exactly what made the thing work. Im just glad its working properly now! Thanks to all for the help!

 

Glad you figured it out! Ill try the same thing.... Im having a similar issue with a 180GB SSD and only getting SATA2 speeds. Thanks for the update!

 

Hu jsipe007 I am not sure exactly what caused my notebook to rediscover the SSD and see it at its SATA3 state instead of SATA2. I did put the drive in the secondary bay with nothing in the main bay and that may have caused it to reset after switchinh back to the main bay after the bios cold not find a boot drive. I did unplug AC power and the battery before doing this. Let us know if you have any joy. Good luck.

 

Thanks! Maybe it was the resize to 160 GB then switching the bays? Win 7 auto recognizes hardware right? Im thinking maybe it was the resize to 160GB then plugging it back into the sata 0 port that unlocked sata 3 speeds? Ill post with findings!