Intel Communities: Message List

Re: Intel 320-series SSD and FDE (Full Disk Encryption) questions...

webadmin@intel.com — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:05:24 GMT

SSDelightful wrote:

2. Support for ATA Passwords within BIOS or other means are system implementation specific. [...] Consult your system manufacturer’s documentation, or contact your system manufacturer for support.

The Intel® Desktop Board DQ67SW, DQ67OW, and DQ67EP support the ATA Password functionality, called “HDD Password”. On these boards, the HDD password support works in all SATA modes (IDE, RAID, or AHCI). The HDD password will only be applied to the drive on SATA port 0.

3. The ATA Password standards, and therefore Intel SSD 320 Series drives, allow for up to 32 byte passwords and contain no specific password “strength” requirements. 32 bytes enables users to create passwords with significant security “strength”. It has been noted that some systems support ATA Passwords which are significantly shorter than 32 characters in length, and contain no password “strength” requirements. The utilization of the ATA Password security interface in system BIOS is system implementation specific. Consult your system manufacturer’s documentation, or contact your system manufacturer for support.

@SSDelightful:

I bought an Intel 520 SSD Drive, among other things because of it's claimed strong AES encryption. I'm using an Intel DH67CL Mainboard which is very similiar to the DQ67 series you mentioned.

This board's BIOS however does not allow setting the HDD Password to more than 8 characters. With 8 characters one can support at most 64bit encryption, more realistically (because not all characters can be typed on a keyboard) it's more like 50-55bits of maximum password complexity.

a) Why does Intel offer a completely insecure HDD Password functionality in it's own mainboards for no apparent reason while promoting the encryption capabilities of it's SSD?

b) Does the DQ67 series you mentioned allow longer HDD Passwords than the DH67 Series? If so, why is Intel making the H67 based boards artificially insecure for no apparent reason?

c) When will this be fixed? You mention I should contact my system manufacturer for support. The manufacturer of my system (=Mainboard, BIOS) is Intel (=You)...

Re: Intel DQ67SW problem with SSD's and PSU’s

webadmin@intel.com — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:42:47 GMT

@n23mc:

"this thread" doesn't in any way reveal what option this is supposed to be. I've searched the entire BIOS and was unable to find anything that even sounded similar.

@timmy2:

"Connect a traditional HDD to the system and see if the rebooting problem goes away."

I have since bought a new power supply to test if swapping the power supply to something completely different (different brand, 2 years newer than the one I was using before) makes any difference: It did not. After not-switching-off for 2 days (on the old Seasonic S12II power supply) the computer did it again this morning. I immediately switched to the new PSU (be quiet! Straight Power E8 500W), and only a short time later it happened again.

PSU did not make a difference in my case.

I then connected a trusty WD Raptor 36GB SATA "traditional HDD" to my system. This HDD was active the entire time, it did not go into sleep mode, and it was in use. And the "switch off => switch on" happened again within quite a short time.

So, basically I did everything I could to eliminate the "problem" and it's still here. I've now loaded the Standard BIOS settings. While I had not changed anything of importance, perhaps some stupid thing like me disabling firewire or serial ports causes the problem? I'm now running the BIOS with 100% default settings except "Numlock OFF". I'll report back if the problem persists (which I would expect).

---

UPDATE: It has powercycled again. BIOS defaults didn't help. I will try to exchange the Q67 Board on monday. If I won't get a direct replacement for it I'll buy a DH67BL and RMA the Q67.

Since I can't buy a replacement board for the weekend I'll also try if limiting Ethernet to 100MBit helps, but i'm not too optimistic about it.

---

UPDATE2: 100MBit/s didn't make a difference.

---

UPDATE3: Several months later it is still unclear what caused my problems. I had then changed motherboard to the DH67BL and just kept the DQ67SW around. Never ever had those reboot/powercycle problems any more. Then, 1-2 months later I had to build a PC for someone... I used the DQ67SW and tested it for some time before giving him the PC - it worked fine. And this PC is running the new location almost 24/7 with the DQ67SW in it and I've never heard any complaints at all. So basically my problems went away after exchanging the motherboard for something else, yet the motherboard in another system works fine too. Yet, with all my troubleshooting and component-exchanging, I was never able to get it to work in MY system (and i really changed EVERYTHING). Nothing really makes any sense here - but the problem is gone without really being solved.

Re: Intel DQ67SW problem with SSD's and PSU’s

webadmin@intel.com — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:55:02 GMT

Wow, thank you for posting such an extensive descriptions of the problems you've encountered!

I feel I'm suffering from the same problems!

My system

- DQ67SW

- i7-2600k CPU

- SSD - tried both an Intel 160GB Postville and the OCZ Vertex 3

- Seasonic S12II-430Bronze PSU (which has always worked perfectly in the old Core i5-661 System)

- some Ram (which has always worked perfectly in the old Core i5-661 System)

intermittently and completely unexpectedly reboots. But it's not a bluescreen reboot (I switched that off the very first time it happened to be sure thats not the case) and it "feels" more like powering down for a second and then going back on when I catch the system doing this.

It's definitely not cpu-load or heat related, if anything it seems to happen more when the PC is idling then when it's actually in use.

Sometimes it happens twice in an hour, sometimes it takes 6 hours until it happens. But it's definitely not working at all like it's supposed to be and is very very frustrating...

I've switched the SSDs between the Intel and the OCZ, which didn't change anything. I'm also using GBIT Ethernet, have not yet tried if going back down to 100MBit makes a difference. It may very well be that the problems only occur on my system with no HDD connected because during the initial installation I did not have problems - and I also had my Backup HDD connected at the time...

I'm really wondering that to do now, throw the board in the trash and get a DH67BL? Buy and try other PSUs until I find one that accidently works?
RMA the board ? (I'll probably get another one that's just the same)...

Yours sincerely,

(a slightly frustrated) anybody (who is nevertheless incredibly grateful for your post here)

PS: My voltages in the IDU utility look fine though. Perhaps they only drop just before the reboot? And those seem to be way more sporadic than in your case!

Re: Update from Intel's NAND Solutions Group - Firmware issue

webadmin@intel.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:34:15 GMT

So your point exactly is ?

That I should not thank afrosty because the information is also accessible in another way and not only at the top of the thread that he created?

Re: Update from Intel's NAND Solutions Group - Firmware issue

webadmin@intel.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:20:00 GMT

afrosty, thanks for keeping us informed and providing an ETA. Very much appreciated!

Re: Hello Intel? Information please!

webadmin@intel.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:04:15 GMT

This is really getting ridiculous now. Almost two weeks have passed since problems first started to appear.

And even after two weeks not a single word from Intel on

- what happened (will lost data be available again with a the next firmware?)

- why it happened (will customers be safe for whom it currently works?)

- when it will be fixed (when can I use the brand new SSD sitting on my shelf?)

VERY disappointing Intel !