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OCZ Vertex 3 Freezes, Locks Up, Stutters and Crashes

Greetings my fellow Vertex 3 owners. After waiting endlessly for the Vertex 3, I was finally able to get a hold of it! Quality Control issues aside, there are people experiencing freezing, crashing, lockups and stuttering. I know I experienced these problems.

OCZ Vertex 3 Released

After research and trial/error I was able to come up with some various solutions to help resolve this problem. I will be writing a solid state optimization article as well, and you will find it to be redudent. Why? Because these fixes can improve performance while removing problems.

Part 1 – OCZ Vertex 3 AHCI or to not AHCI?
The new Intel Chipset contains both the Marvell Controller and the AHCI Controller. It his highly recommended that you use the AHCI Controller (Intel Ports) when given the opportunity. Not only can this be more stable, but it can increase performance.

OCZ Freezes and Locks Up from Power Settings
You should disable “turn hard drive off” in the power settings option in Windows. Allowing the hard drive to turn off can create some stability problems because the SATA Specification has an issue right now with the LPM Feature that Intel has.

Enable “Hot Plugging” for Vertex 3
Enabling Hot Plugging will increase your stability some as well. It may stop your Vertex 3 from Locking Up. OCZ Recommends this.

Install the Latest Intel RST (Rapid Storage Technology) Software for Vertex 3
Intel is frequently making updates to their Rapid Storage Software. Expect more to come out to completely fix this problem. For now, install the latest version for optimal performance. You can find and download the latest Intel RST Software here.

Edit your Registry File to Fix the Vertex 3 from Freezing and Locking up, and Increase Performance
This step is a little tricky, but here we go. I highly recommend this because it solved virtually all the issues my drive had, and even increased the performance. This is a work around to the problem with the Intel RST Software.

Copy the entire quote below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\services\\iaStor\\Parameters\\Port0]
“LPM”=dword:00000000
“LPMDSTATE”=dword:00000000
“DIPM”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\services\\iaStor\\Parameters\\Port1]
“LPM”=dword:00000000
“LPMDSTATE”=dword:00000000
“DIPM”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\services\\iaStor\\Parameters\\Port2]
“LPM”=dword:00000000
“LPMDSTATE”=dword:00000000
“DIPM”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\services\\iaStor\\Parameters\\Port3]
“LPM”=dword:00000000
“LPMDSTATE”=dword:00000000
“DIPM”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\services\\iaStor\\Parameters\\Port4]
“LPM”=dword:00000000
“LPMDSTATE”=dword:00000000
“DIPM”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\services\\iaStor\\Parameters\\Port5]
“LPM”=dword:00000000
“LPMDSTATE”=dword:00000000
“DIPM”=dword:00000000

Open notepad and paste it. Save the file as “ocz.reg” and make sure your selected file type is “all”. This should turn the file into a registry file. Now open the file and hit yes to add. Restart your computer and it should be done!
Note: Only do this if you know what you are doing. We do not take responsibility for your actions. I have used this fix and had success along with many others. You can view the original post written by Zoork here. Don’t worry, this works for multiple solid state drives, not just the C300.

If you did all these fixes listed above, you should have a full functioning drive. If the above did not fix anything, then you may have a defective product. This drive really is amazing, so I hope that fixed it for you.

Still looking at getting this drive? Well you can read our OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS Edition Vs Regular Edition article here to help you with your decision.

39 Comments

  1. Comments  OCZ Vertex 3 Freezes, Locks Up, Stutters and Crashes | Geek Montage   |  Tuesday, 10 May 2011 at 9:01 AM

    […] fix the OCZ Vertex 3 Freezes, Lock-ups, crashing and stuttering. You can read the guide on how to fix the OCZ Vertex 3 Freezing, Lockups, and Crashing here. You all will be able to optimize the Vertex 3 too by following those steps. (No Ratings […]

  2. Comments  OCZ Vertex 3 Release Date | Geek Montage   |  Tuesday, 10 May 2011 at 9:07 AM

    […] Is your drive freezing or crashing? Read our OCZ Vertex 3 Crashing, Freezing and Stalling Fixes […]

  3. Comments  Enki   |  Tuesday, 10 May 2011 at 9:46 PM

    Don’t forget to disable indexing and defragmentation scheduling!

  4. Comments  Naota   |  Tuesday, 10 May 2011 at 9:57 PM

    That’s for the optimization section I’ll be writing later. =P

  5. Comments  gurkin   |  Friday, 13 May 2011 at 6:51 PM

    noob question: is this necessary & possible for MacBookPro laptops, that want to run a virtual machine on the drive? If so, how to do this?

  6. Comments  Nasty Problem With OCZ Vertex 3 SSD on Lenovo W520 Solved | PeterKellner.net   |  Sunday, 22 May 2011 at 8:16 PM

    […] I finally got home from a long week of travel, did a full backup of my computer just in case the registry hack failed, and applied the registry fix discussed in the article here:  https://geekmontage.com/texts/ocz-vertex-3-freezes-locks-up-stutters-and-crashes/. […]

  7. Comments  Mojo1990   |  Sunday, 22 May 2011 at 11:34 PM

    Does the Intel RST issues affect people who are running Gigabyte Motherbaords? Also does RST also apply for people who have single Drives and not RAID? I think iaStor is only applicable for RAID systems, and msahci is the default for single Drive configurations.

    I have a Z68X-UD7 motherbaord by Gigabyte and I had to edit the Regedit on iastor and msahci to enable AHCI in the AwardBIOS.

  8. Comments  Banko   |  Friday, 27 May 2011 at 3:35 PM

    Your Quote is missing the necessary backslashes. Thanks for the post – I’m going try it! I have the same freezing and crashing issues.

  9. Comments  MarvinFS   |  Tuesday, 21 June 2011 at 9:25 PM

    i made up those changes to registry and it survived for 1 night on my asus P35 chipset + vertex 3 + win7 32bit sp1 – it’s definitely a progress… so i guess it’s thank you very much!

  10. Comments  Eegee   |  Saturday, 25 June 2011 at 9:42 AM

    Please fix the backslashes in your quote block, otherwise people just get junk in the Windows registry.

  11. Comments  DarkKnightH20   |  Sunday, 26 June 2011 at 5:15 PM

    Fixed. Sorry about that.

  12. Comments  Joey   |  Saturday, 02 July 2011 at 1:53 PM

    This resolved my issue. Thanks!

  13. Comments  Fede   |  Friday, 15 July 2011 at 5:12 AM

    Hi guys.
    Sorry for the noob question. but what is hot plugging and how do you enable it?

  14. Comments  Mike   |  Wednesday, 20 July 2011 at 3:15 PM

    are the back slashes fixed?

  15. Comments  Jack   |  Wednesday, 20 July 2011 at 4:19 PM

    I installed my Vertex 3 yesterday and got freezing problems right away. I was unable to flash my firmware to 2.09 and was ready to send it back until I stumbled upon this page. The one tip that worked was the Registry File Fix. Where did you find this fix?

  16. Comments  TYPO   |  Tuesday, 02 August 2011 at 2:50 AM

    Hi, that reg code have too many backslash //
    need to be
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStor\Parameters\Port0]

  17. Comments  s.f   |  Saturday, 27 August 2011 at 5:50 PM

    sorry , This drive will give you countless posts of BSOD and crashing .. firmware updates , or all this steps cant fix a Dificteve Device like the Vertex 3 .. BSOD for ever … !

  18. Comments  Håvard   |  Monday, 29 August 2011 at 9:42 AM

    I’ve had this fix since ages, latest firmware, etc. Still have BSODs and random hangs (tho it’s marginally better with latest firmware). But I would not buy one of these disk again until they have these problems all sorted out. What’s the point in having the fastest disk on the planet when it crashes and hangs at random?

  19. Comments  John   |  Tuesday, 30 August 2011 at 10:34 PM

    I think some of the tips helped me. However I’m still freezing. I don’t have the hot plug option in my BIOS. Intel RTS causes me BSOD. The registry hack showed me the most improvement. Went from 5.9 to 7.9 in the WEI.

  20. Comments  B   |  Saturday, 03 September 2011 at 3:40 AM

    I do not not know if it fixed the problem yet, i’ve been several hours without a crash now, what i do know, is that this upped my primary hard disk score from 7.6 to the max 7.9 in the windows score index 🙂

  21. Comments  B   |  Sunday, 04 September 2011 at 1:44 AM

    i just found out it keeps crashing, but there is more time in between crashes now….

  22. Comments  DoneWithIt   |  Monday, 05 September 2011 at 7:07 AM

    Only 100% sure fix is to remove ocz and replace it with another brand.

  23. Comments  zach   |  Friday, 23 September 2011 at 10:02 AM

    Does this fix the issue with the ASUS G53SW laptops? They have SATA III, but are suposedly restricted to II and I know there is a workaround. I want to purchase one badly and soon, and this is the ONLY thing holding me back 🙂 Please let me know asap and you would make my day/month! lol

  24. Comments  James Harm   |  Monday, 26 September 2011 at 8:32 AM

    According to OCZ they say to not use ahci, but instead use standard ide because ahci causes problems when needing to do firmware updates. Is that true/not true,,, what say you??

    Thanks,
    Jim
    Dayton, Ohio

  25. Comments  Naota   |  Monday, 26 September 2011 at 3:26 PM

    Hi Jim. I have been using AHCI the entire time with mine. Ever since I used this registry fix I have not frozen at all actually. There were no firmware updates available for me at the time of writing this though. I might go ahead and try to update my firmware, but I am a little iffy about updating hard drive firmware if there is no existing problems.

  26. Comments  Florian   |  Monday, 26 September 2011 at 10:47 AM

    I used this fix with my ocz and lenovo w520. It stopped crashing (i think) but was still haning sometimes.
    So i got a owc extreme 6g. should I now undo the registry changes? And if so how?

  27. Comments  kunkku   |  Wednesday, 14 December 2011 at 3:31 PM

    I just upgrade firmware two days ago for my OCZ Vertex 3 MI 120GB from 2.08 to 2.15(?). I can confirm now that freeze problems and BSOD’s are fixed on my Win 7 desktop. Great!!! 🙂

  28. Comments  Diceman2037   |  Saturday, 21 January 2012 at 5:10 PM

    you’re wrong in blaming intel’s lpm for the issues, the problem is entirely OCZ’s fault. they completely failed to implement LPM properly, the LPM support in the driver is entirely implemented as how the ATA spec defines.

  29. Comments  Naota   |  Saturday, 21 January 2012 at 5:45 PM

    Hi Diceman. Thanks for the information! I did not know that. =)

  30. Comments  AXELTI   |  Monday, 30 January 2012 at 11:42 AM

    My System parameters:
    ASUS P9X79 Pro motherboard (with bios 802 but tried also lower and higher), 32GB memory, Intel iCore 7 processor and the 256GB Vertex3 drive. No matter what I tried I couldn’t get a stable installation going. Either the systems hangs after the intial Windows 7 64 bit install, or the system bluescreened, or weired symptons such as “Can’t find the Windows installer” if I wanted to go to the next driver installs. I couldn’t even get through to installig all the ASUS drivers (including the RST) without crashing – except one time (out of 10 install attempts). But that installtion went by the wayside when Windows installed 45 updates and after that Windows never came up again. I have the latest Vertex3 2.15 installed. Doesn’t make a difference when attached to SATA3 (6.0 GB).

    Now I have an installtion running – the SSD attached to SATA 2 (3.0 GB).

    I am scared to switch it back to SATA3 and the next Windows update screws it up again.

    Any advise? Any opinions?

  31. Comments  freeze   |  Wednesday, 08 February 2012 at 10:52 AM

    how much time does ur vertex freezes? mine about every 30 minutes at least once for 15-20 second, busy led solid on..
    Hint : Paint the ocz drives blue and throw them at sea so they wont be found..

  32. Comments  Naota   |  Wednesday, 08 February 2012 at 9:57 PM

    Ever since I applied the fixes that I stated in this article I have never frozen again. =) I hope things get better. You may have a lemon! Try the registry fix and updating the firmware.

  33. Comments  Ricardo   |  Thursday, 09 February 2012 at 11:30 AM

    I have tried all the steps above. Windows still freezes. Only i didn’t do the 4th step in the post of Zoork:

    “LPM”=dword: 00000001 {dword: 00000000->Disable; dword: 00000001->Enable} [default = Enabled]
    “LPMSTATE”=dword: 00000000 {dword: 00000000->Partial; dword: 00000001->Slumber} [default = Disabled] (Note: the driver ignores this key when the LPM key’svalue is not set to 1. So when LPM value is 0, this value is N/A.)
    “LPMDSTATE”=dword: 00000001 {dword: 00000000->Partial; dword: 00000001->Slumber} [default = Enabled]
    “DIPM”=dword: 00000001 {dword: 00000000->Disable; dword: 00000001->Enable} [default = Enabled]

    Is it necessary? And the firmware update, is it safe? I mean, could it broke my ssd or motherboard? Do u need to reinstall windows when u apply the update? Pls let me know…

  34. Comments  haiden   |  Monday, 05 March 2012 at 6:15 AM

    Omg, I nearly gave up lol. Thanks for this, Naota.

  35. Comments  Scott   |  Friday, 13 April 2012 at 8:36 PM

    This drive is such a pain to get working, I’ve just completed all of these steps so lets hope the freezing stops 🙂

  36. Comments  Siv   |  Sunday, 29 April 2012 at 5:54 PM

    The Intel RTS software link on site is out dated polease update asmany still having issues with these drives.

    I’m at work at the moment but plan on trying these fixes when I get home tonight – I will publish results after runing for a week

    Thanks for the guide

  37. Comments  Klaus Thomsen   |  Friday, 13 July 2012 at 7:24 PM

    I followed the steps provided and did all but the registry changes, also found another article how to run this other than IDE mode. Performance has increased significantly, but still experience lockups that cause BSoD. The “iaStor” the article refer to, doesn’t exist in my registry, instead i have a “iaStorV” and no Ports in it. Any help? should i create that registry folder and entries?

    Thanks in advance!

  38. Comments  Blaise   |  Saturday, 25 August 2012 at 10:11 AM

    100% fixed my continuous freezing issues! Thanks a ton for this guide!

  39. Comments  Brian   |  Friday, 26 October 2012 at 9:51 PM

    Irritating that the solution seems to center around problems with the controler chipset rather than the drive… I’m experiencing the same problems with the Agility 3 drives, but I’m running on an AMD platform and chipset… none the less, I’m taking the bits of advice that did apply and hoping for the best.

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