Content in Intel Communities

Intel x25-m firmware problem

webadmin@intel.com — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:34:00 GMT

HI,

Long story short:

I have a Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH120G2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive. I have had it for a few years without a problem. I just upgraded to Windows 8 and after I installed the ssd toolbox it said I should update the firmware.

I went to the link and downloadEd the firmware and create a cd and booted to cd to update the firmware. It said the firmware update from 2cv102hd to 2cv102m3 was unsuccessful. My bios does not have an option to set to legacy or sata, only IDE, so that might've been the problem.

When I rebooted Windows said there were errors on the disk so I ran repair. Now when I try to run certain programs I am getting interesting errors, like couldn't load a certain file or the bonjour image is not good. I ran the ssd toolbox scan and it didn't detect any errors.

I realize I most likely need to reinstall windows. But I don't want to do it on this drive if it's no good. So my question ihot here any way to fix this drive or should I just buy a new one?

X25-M 80GB data integrity problem!

webadmin@intel.com — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:51:56 GMT

mHey intel community!

When I do a diagnostic scan in my SSD tool, it tells me that I have data integrity problem at 64% is there any help or tool to fix this?
or is this the end of my SSD? I have problems to get a fresh install of windows 7 to work.. because I get "memory management bluescreens" and wierd errors while completing windows updates. for example: it's not possible to finish the service pack 1 update.

I'm still searching for the source of the error, because I'm not sure if it's my SSD or my RAM.

smart tool details:
functionality - good
remaining life time - about 98%
power-on hours count: 6418

all options there are green and ready
data integrity problem at 64% (in quick and detailed mode)

I'm not sure that all translations are correct, because I'm from germany
but if you can help me in any way.. you're welcome

greetings daen

SSD 320 --> the dreaded 8 MB firmware bug is still there unresolved

webadmin@intel.com — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:39:19 GMT

This is a follow-up to my previous post.

I recently experienced a sudden BSOD with the 300 GB version of Intel SSD 320 and the drive ended up defunct with the dreaded 8 MB bug.

Now, what is really concerning is that I had the very latest and greatest FW upgrade installed - the version that Intel claims resolved the 8 MB bug.

Obviously, the latest FW resolved nothing and it seems any SSD 320 out there is still prone to this catastrophic failure, which can happen any time for no specific reason. This is the drive that Intel touts as having "almost" enterprise-class reliability.

The problem has been known since 2011, the SSD 320 failure reports continue showing up on the Internet even now in 2013 - my case is only one of them. I'm just wondering how Intel can continue selling these drives knowing it is a bomb that is bound to detonate with a very high degree of certainty over time for everyone who buys them.

At this point, the SSD 320 drives seem practically unusable from a reliability perspective. IMHO, warranty replacement does not resolve the situation. Unless the root cause of the bug is identified and a truly working fix is published, the only reasonable resolution from Intel would be to pull the devices from the stores, provide a full purchase price reimbursement to everyone who is under warranty and desires so and be done with it.

I would be interested to see Intel's position on this...

160GB 320 series w/8MB crash - can't unlock security freeze - HELP!

webadmin@intel.com — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:01:40 GMT

My computer froze solid while I was making an online purchase, and the only way to get out of it was to force a power down. When I turned it on again, I had an invalid partition table, and my computer reported my 160GB Intel 320 series SSD as 8MB with an invalid partition table. After several days of unsuccessfully trying everything I could think of to get the data of it, I stumbled upon an article about the Intel 320 series firmware bug. Ugh.

When I look at the disk with a hex editor, I see almost all zeros, but my mind won't accept that since my last backup was over a month ago. I tell myself I'm only seeing 8MB of the drive - a small corner that happens to be all zeros. Am I in denial?

After much pain, I finally figured out how to make one of my spare SATA hard drives boot externally while plugged into a USB slot via an adapter. That allowed me to keep the damaged SSD in the internal SATA port so I could use the Intel SSD Toolbox. I didn't get me very far, though, because there is a security freeze lock on the drive, and nothing I've tried can turn it off. I've hot unplugged/replugged the SSD (it's a Thinkpad T420), disabled/enabled the SSD driver (from Microsoft), hibernated the computer ("sleep" is disabled because my notebook's native video driver isn't installed) - nothing works. When I boot without the SSD then hot plug it in, the Toolbox doesn't see it. Someone here posted that he got the security freeze lock off using Linux tools, but he didn't give specifics. I have a Ubuntu Live CD, but I have no idea what Linux tools he used or how he did that.

I'm not that keen on doing a secure erase, anyway, because then there's no hope whatsoever of recovering any data from the drive. Is there any other way to get my drive back to its original 160GB short of Secure Erase? Nothing else works unless the drive correctly reports its size. When I tried to use the Firmware Update Tool to update the firmware, it said I already had the most recent firmware (not true). Same with the Toolbox. I can't update the firmware with the drive in its current state.

I've been very dismayed to see all the recent, post-firmware-update reports of new 8MB firmware bug crashes. Clearly the bug hasn't been fixed, despite Intel's claims. Even before I knew that, and before I knew my problem was this firmware bug, I had decideed I would never again use an SSD as the main drive on my work computer. But if the Intel 320 series has an unfixed firmware bug that causes repeated crashes, I don't want to use it at all for anything. If I have to send this SSD into Intel under warranty, I either want a refund (first choice), or a different type of drive.

Also, the error message I'm getting is slightly different from that in the Intel announcement. I have BAD_CTX, but the number is not 0000013, it's 00000159 - though the error did occur when I had to force a power down (due to a frozen computer). That makes me even more unsure that the 8MB bug is fixed by the latest firmware.

All this leads me to three questions:

1. Is there any hope of getting my data off this drive? If so, how?

2. How do I unlock the security freeze lock on the drive?

3. Where are these mysterious Linux tools for bringing drives hit with this bug back to life?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. When I registered for this forum, I requested a username that was not my full first and last name, so how did I end up with my full first and last name in the forum?? Can someone change this for me?

BAD CTX 8MB Brick 160GB "Current" Firmware?

webadmin@intel.com — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:28:50 GMT

Hello!

So I am having the BAD_CTX 8mb brick problem with an SSD in a Lenovo T420 laptop. The kicker is, I'm experiencing it on the most up to date firmware - 4PC1LE04. Short and sweet, here is what is going on.

Specs:

- Lenovo T420 with 160GB SSD. SSD model is: SSDSA2BW160G3L.

- The type is: 4177-CTO.

Problem:

- The laptop will not boot from the SSD no matter what I try, which has been a lot.

- When checking the SSD with the Intel firmware update utility, the serial number reads: BAD_CTX 000001.

- According to the Intel firmware update utility, the firmware on the machine is CURRENT. It reads as version 4PC1LE04.

- I read that the Intel firmware update utility can have issues with detecting and accurately reporting on Lenovo drives, so I downloaded the latest firmware update utility straight from Lenovo. It also reports the firmware as 4PC1LE04 on the drive and will not let me update it, because it is "current".

- I tried to boot the machine using BartPE to investigate the partition a bit, but this results in BSOD.

- I booted the machine using GParted and it boots fine and detects the SSD. Sadly, it reports the partition as being 8 megabytes in size!

- This is exactly similar to the firmware bug that existed previously for these drives. The difference is that I think my firmware is already up to date... That can't be good...

- The T420 was shipped directly from Lenovo a couple months ago and was shipped with the latest firmware already installed. So, the firmware has never been changed or upgraded on these machines.

Larger Problem:

I have about 16 of these circulating in my company, many of which belong to key employees. If the 4PC1LE04 firmware is truly buggy, then all these users are at risk. There is no firmware upgrade path available, either. So how do I get this bug into the hands of Intel/Lenovo for a potential fix?

I am happy to verify every troubleshooting step I've taken and I'm open to suggestions for further diagnosing this problem. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated! To my knowledge I am running the most up to date firmware, straight from the Lenovo factory, 4PC1LE04. Obviously I've already lost data for one user... I do not want to lose data for 15 more. Thanks for your help.

Other Notes:

The user who handed this machine off to me said that sometimes he does shutdown improperly by holding the power button, and that the laptop does die by running down the battery on occasion. I am making note of this because in the older firmware it was hinted that the bug might be triggered by unexpected power loss. Perhaps that is also the case on the "current" firmware?

Intel 40GB 320 Firmware update and 8MB glitch

webadmin@intel.com — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:28:22 GMT

Today I woke up to see my computer in a stuck hibernation mode and had to force shut it down, it comes back with the 8MB BAD serial glitch, I ran through the process in a linux recovery environment and brought the drive back, after messing with the drive to get it out of a frozen security state as well.

anyway with it back the bootable firmware update wont see the drive, and I get the lame message about the Toolbox having trouble communicating with my drive, because I have an Nvidia SATA controller I guess.

but the toolbox states I have firmware 4PC1 firmware... the most recent?! Wasn't this supposed to be fixed by firmware update? should I trust what the toolbox is saying?

Not a couple days ago I ran the SSDhealth tester and it said I had about a 99% health with about 8 years life left, although I am sure thats a representation of read/writes, but I mean the drive hasn't been used much..

X25-E 64 Gb and mac os x 10.8.3(10.8.4)

webadmin@intel.com — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:31:23 GMT

Hello, one year ago i bought two x25-e to my macs(mac mini, imac) and after latest upgrade mac os x my mac did not boot, i tried everything but it did not help me.

I wrote about this problem in apple support communities Can't boot after installing 10.8.3: Apple Support Communities ; someone fixed this problem with firmware upgrade(x25-m and more) but x25-e does not have any new firmware...

What shall i do? Will i need to buy new ssd?

Intel SSD 520 240 GB BSOD STOP 0xF4 after resuming from sleep

webadmin@intel.com — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:55:07 GMT

I just upgraded to an Intel SSD 520 240 GB and I am experiencing a problem which never occurred with my previous HDD: a BSOD STOP 0xF4 after resuming from sleep

My system specifications are as follows:

Asus U20A Notebook
Intel Dual-Core ULV SU7300 1.3 GHz
Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset + ICH9M
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
Intel GMA X4500MHD Graphics

I have disabled Device Initiated Power Management (DIPM), Host Initiated Link Power Management (HIPM) and Link Power Management (LMP). The problem occurs sometimes with Microsoft's AHCI drivers, and everytime with Intel's Rapid Storage Technology 10.8.0.1003 drivers. No minidumps are created.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Intel 520 240GB SSD in Lenovo T420 Problems

webadmin@intel.com — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 18:26:07 GMT

The 320GB HD I'm replacing is 7.5mm but it's got snap on rubber "rails" on each side that increase the thickness to 9.5 mm and fill in about 1/4" of space on each side of the drive to fill the bay and make a snug fit.

Intel 520 is 9.5mm thick (has plastic spacer screwed onto it).

I slide the Intel 520 into the bay. It goes in but there's 1/4" gap on each side. It needs to rubber side rails to make it fit.

I remove the rubber side rails from the 320HD I am replacing and try and put them on the Intel 520. They won't fit because of the plastic spacer on the Intel 520. No problem. I remove the plastic spacer on the Intel 520 by removing the 4 screws holding the spacer on. I then realize that these same 4 screws also hold the lid on the Intel 520 and I screw the 4 screws back on only to find out that the holes are not deep enough for the screws to go back in! I look in the box. No extra "short" screws to use when converting the drive to a 7.5mm by removing the spacer.

Then I notice writing on the top of the Intel 520 "removing the screws voids the warranty".

The Intel 520 won't work in a Lenovo T420, one of the more common business laptops.

What would including the shorter screws have cost? 5 cents?

Wow...

Intel SSD 520 and any Apple Macs with Nvidia MCP79 chipset BUG.

webadmin@intel.com — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 18:12:03 GMT

Hi Intel.

There are many Mac computers with Nvidia MCP79 chipset (Nvidia MCP79 is present in many models of iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air).

Nvidia MCP79 have SATA II controller.

There is well known bug with SSD based on SandForce SF-2281 and any Mac with Nvidia MCP79. SSD negotiated Link Speed is 1.5 Gigabit (SATA I). But it must be 3 Gigabit (SATA II).

OCZ already have fix for this issue (for their SSD):

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?96106-Macbook-users-with-1.5Gb-s-link-instead-of-Gb-s-link

Corsair works on this issue (they have SSD based on SF-2281).

Patriot Memory works on this issue (they have SSD based on SF-2281).

Intel 520 SSD have same issue.

Intel will you fix this? Talk to Apple or release fix by yourself, but you must do something, because Intel 520 SSD with 150 MB/s read/write speed on Mac (with Nvidia MCP79) is indecent.