Firmware update now available - Addresses Bad Context 13x Error

[Alan_F_Intel]

Status:

Intel has posted a firmware update for the Intel® SSD 320 Series (firmware 4PC10362) which addresses the Bad Context 13x Error being discussed on the Communities site and elsewhere. You can download the new firmware here:

http://www.intel.com/go/ssdfirmware www.intel.com/go/ssdfirmware

Also posted at this link are Read Me, Release Notes, and SSD Firmware Update Tool Guidelines which provide detailed firmware update instructions and other relevant information such as the most current firmware revision available.

What should I do if I have not experienced this issue?

In order to provide the best user experience, Intel always recommends users download and install the latest firmware. As with any storage device, Intel recommends users frequently back up their data and periodically check for firmware updates. The http://www.intel.com/go/ssdtoolbox Intel® SSD Toolbox provides a host of utilities to monitor your SSD, including displaying detailed information such as the currently installed firmware revision.

What should I do if I have already experienced this issue?

If you have already experienced a drive failure or encounter this problem before the firmware update was released, please contact your Intel representative or Intel customer support (via web: http://www.intel.com/ www.intel.com or phone: http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/contact/phone www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/contact/phone) for an SSD replacement. An alternative option is to use the Intel ® SSD Toolbox or similar tools to perform a secure erase in order to restore the SSD to an operational state; all data will be erased. After secure erase, update your SSD with the new firmware. The firmware update will not recover user data.

Background:

For users unfamiliar with the issue, an Intel SSD 320 Series drive may exhibit a drive capacity of 8MB and an electronic serial # field containing a message of "BAD_CTX 0000013x" caused by an unexpected power loss under specific conditions. Once this error occurs, no data on the SSD can be accessed and the user cannot write to or read from the SSD.

rgds,

Alan

NVM Solutions Group

[idata]

Seems to be successful with my MacBook Pro 15 2010

Thanks!

[idata]

After upgrade this firmware on a Intel SSD 320 160GB, SMART value "Power-On Hours" will be reset to "0" and the timer never update again.

Is a new bug?

[ZStan]

updating here fine, reseted at 0 after flash and now its at 40

[idata]

Re "Power-On Hours never update again":

It's not a bug, it's a feature I've seen this on my Macbook Pro (Early 2011) ever since the SSD has been in use: The value advances but very slowly.

Depending on your driver settings and capabilities the drive will enter "slumber" state whenever it is not busy by virtue of DIPM (Device Initiated Power Management). If DIPM is enabled "Power-On Hours" will only account for the time when the drive is busy doing reads or writes. Thus the value will advance very slowly

Citation from http://download.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/intel_ssd_toolbox_user_guide.pdf : Intel Solid-State Drive Toolbox :

09 – Power-On Hours Count

This attribute reports the cumulative number of power-on hours over the life of the device. Use the Raw value for this attribute. Note: The On/Off status of the device initiated power management (DIPM) feature will affect the number of hours reported.

• If DIPM is turned "On", the recorded value for power-on hours does not include the time that the device is in a "slumber" state.
• If DIPM is turned "Off", the recorded value for power-on hours should match the clock time, as all three device states are counted: active, idle and slumber.

[idata]

Sloved, it's ok now.