Update from Intel's NAND Solutions Group - Firmware issue

[Alan_F_Intel]

To 34nm (G2) Intel® X25-M Solid-State Drive consumers,

• Intel has confirmed an issue with the firmware update process for 34nm (G2) Intel® X25-M SSDs (80GB and 160GB). This predominantly affected Windows* 7 (64bit) users during or immediately after the upgrade process to 02HA firmware using the firmware update tool (version 1.3). Intel plans to release a fix for this issue by the end of November 2009.

• Please see below to decide what you should do:

• If you have not upgraded to 02HA but using 02G2 or 02G9 – then use new tool when available to upgrade to new firmware to get Trim support and better sequential write performance (160GB)

• If you have successfully upgraded to 02HA - then continue using the SSD, there are no known issues.

• If you have received a SSD with 02HA pre installed – then continue using the SSD, there are no known issues.

• If you have unsuccessfully upgraded to 02HA - then contact Intel Customer Support for instructions on how to recover the SSD via secure erase or return SSD to Intel for replacement or refund.

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Alan

NAND Solutions Group

Intel Corporation

[idata]

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?

No, I was pointing out the link to you, or anyone else who had not noticed it at the top of the page. I hadn't noticed it for several days.

[idata]

Based on the two updates from the NAND solutions group (firmware, updater and Toolbox), a couple of things become clear:

1) I have not seen any posts on this forum, or anywhere else, about the loss of Windows Restore points, so some users must have brought it to Microsof'ts attention. There has probably been alot of back and forth between Microsoft and Intel on this issue, hence, a long delay.

2) Someone at Intel surely didn't do a thorough job of testing their releases. These are not uncommon or isolated operating systems. 64 bit Win7 and Vista are mainstream, and most users probably use Restore points, as they are on by default.

Intel could not or did not find the problems before release, but it only took the users a few hours to trip over the issues.

So, I've learned two things from this. One is to never install new firmware, when first released, but give it a few days or weeks to prove itself. And two, it looks like Intel should institue a BETA testing program with the users, as they are real good at finding problems.

[idata]

Anyone contacted Intel Customer Support for instructions on how to recover the SSD via secure erase?

Will this procedure fix SMART end to end errors?

[idata]

Well, I didn't contact Intel Customer Support for details on how to recover the SSD via secure erase, but I'm pretty sure it's still done with "HHDErase 3.3".

I tried to secure erase my broken SSD with this tool a couple of times now but it just hangs around and does nothing...

Do you think the new firmware could fix this problem so I can do a proper erase after flashing?

[idata]

I'm also interested in fixing the end to end errors. HD Tune reported some damaged blocks on my SSD after a failed firmware update, which I was able to recover from, somehow. I decided to upgrade my motherboard to one with AHCI and ran HDDErase at ambizytl's suggestion rather than using the Win7 disk to reformat. HD Tune no longer reported damaged blocks but today Win7 gave the hard disk failing warning. I found that the SSD has 172 end to end errors. Is it RMA time for me?