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]

the problem IS intel by not supporting the mac platform. I had a several month long painful experience similar to this one - took apart and placed the ssd forth and back between my macbook pro and a PC for updating, secure erasing, ... at least 10 times (!) because neither the update tool nor the secure erasing capable tools were supported on my mac (not even under bootcamp).

It's true, the situation is not much better with other manufacturers, but selling a harddrive that simply canot be updated on macs from, say the last 3 years, is not ready for the market in 2011 (my 320 ssd was not even recognized on 2 other PCs).

[idata]

The latest version of the update utility has been made specifically to solve the problems to update on certain Macs! Have you tried it?

Have a look at http://www.intel.com/go/ssdfirmware http://www.intel.com/go/ssdfirmware

and see the Release notes for version 1.92. Specifically:

This revision of the Firmware Update Tool:

 Fixes issues associated with correctly detecting Intel SSDs in Apple* systems. Updates Intel SSD 320 Series firmware specific to Lenovo* systems to the most current version.No other firmware changes were made from the previous release.

It has been released on 1 September 2011.

[idata]

Damn shame, has it occured to anyone in the year 2011 with all this technology we can't just update the firmware by just using an auto update utility, and instead we have to use stone age methods ?

These drives are supposed to make our lives easier not harder, unless of course we all got nothing better to do but dedicate hours and days trying to revive defective electronics.

God help us !!!

[idata]

The issue seems not to be fixed, in fact there are people posting in the intel community forums that they experienced the bug AFTER having updated to the new firmware (http://communities.intel.com/m http://communities.intel.com/m.... German tech sites have acknowledged this, too: http://www.golem.de/1108/85871 http://www.golem.de/1108/85871...

[idata]

Of course I tried the "mac compatible" version, (the first firmware update was supposed to be compatible, too) but none of them found an intel drive on my 2008 macbook pro.

Now I am happy with an ssd from another vendor, a LOT of time (and money for the support hotline to another country) lost.

So much for mac compatibility.