Firmware failure

[br0adband]

I have a ThinkPad W540 with an Intel Pro 5400s Series 256GB in it. Until recently I haven't had any issues whatsoever but today I was alerted to the fact that the drive's firmware - L10P - had some kind of bug that could render the entire drive completely corrupt or "bricked" as the saying goes.

I went to Intel's website, found the necessary firmware update (3.06) and got the necessary files. After extraction I read the instructions carefully and then created a CD-RW (yes, some of us still use those things) and burned the ISO (issdfut_64_3.0.6.iso) to the CD-RW, verified the burn was 100% successful, and then I rebooted my laptop from the CD-RW.

The computer booted up, provided me with the chance to tap Enter a few times, then choose "y" when prompted, and then the next screen showed necessary info about the drive, model, etc, and...

Well, then at that point it just rebooted my laptop and upon the reboot it took almost 7 minutes for the "ThinkPad" logo to appear, and another 3 minutes for it to disappear after which all I had was a blinking underscore cursor.

I let it sit like that for about 11 minutes then I held the power button until the laptop shut off. I then turned it back on, same extremely long delays, no real change noted. I attempted to boot from a USB stick (Ubuntu 18.04) and it wouldn't. I then decided to remove the SSD from the laptop and after it was out, the laptop booted to the Ubuntu USB stick without any issues.

I believe the firmware update failed, and now I have a dead SSD which had a great deal of data on it that I can never replace, unfortunately. I do have some backups of some of the data, sure, but the vast majority of it (pictures, videos of family and friends) are apparently now gone as the SSD is "bricked" it seems.

I really am a bit angry about this, and I know I'll catch flack over it in some respects because the SSD was in the ThinkPad W540 upon purchase, but the firmware update I just attempted on this Intel hardware was an Intel firmware updater and now it's dead.

I can't seem to contact anyone at Intel other than calling and I can't do that today, too busy scrambling to figure out what I've lost.

Is there any possible way to recover this drive's contents at all, or possibly get the firmware installed properly as I'm at a bit of a loss here.

I really need to figure out what to do because now my laptop is going to have to run from a USB stick as I don't have another SSD or hard drive to work with at the present time. I'm in a bad position here and I need some assistance fast.

I can provide all the necessary info on the drive label, pictures if necessary, and the info about the W540 as well if needed.

I appreciate any and all help, really.

Thanks for your time,

bb

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello br0adband, Thank you for having contacted Intel® Memory & Storage Support. This is just a friendly reminder that your case remains open. Should you need our technical assistance please do not hesitate to contact us back. Best regards, Josh B. Intel® Customer Support Technician Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[Santiago_A_Inte]

Hi br0adband,

Greetings from Intel® SSD Support Group.

This is to let you know this case is being closed.

Please feel free to get back to Intel® communities, whenever you might feel necessary.

Have a nice day.

Santiago A.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation