The SMART Power-on hours of Intel 535 never increased

[MTsai33]

Hi,

I have an Intel 535 480GB drive (SSDSC2BW480H6), with firmware RG21. I found that the SMART attribute 0x09 "Power-on hours" stick to zero and never increased. In contrast, my other Intel driver functioned properly on this value, and the precision is down to milliseconds. How to fix this problem? Thanks.

Drive information provided by smartctl:

$ sudo smartctl -cA /dev/sdb smartctl 6.6 2016-05-31 r4324 [x86_64-linux-4.15.0-43-generic] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-16, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org   === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x05) Offline data collection activity was aborted by an interrupting command from host. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 16) The self-test routine was aborted by the host. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 5860) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x7f) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Abort Offline collection upon new command. Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 58) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 4) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x0025) SCT Status supported. SCT Data Table supported.   SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours_and_Msec 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0h+00m+00.000s 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 8 170 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 171 Program_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 172 Erase_Fail_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 174 Unexpect_Power_Loss_Ct 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 5 183 SATA_Downshift_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 184 End-to-End_Error 0x0033 100 100 090 Pre-fail Always - 0 187 Uncorrectable_Error_Cnt 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0032 037 100 000 Old_age Always - 37 (Min/Max 31/41) 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 5 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 225 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 548 226 Workld_Media_Wear_Indic 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 65535 227 Workld_Host_Reads_Perc 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 46 228 Workload_Minutes 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 65535 232 Available_Reservd_Space 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 233 Media_Wearout_Indicator 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 241 Host_Writes_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 548 242 Host_Reads_32MiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 306 249 NAND_Writes_1GiB 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 14

[Santiago_A_Inte]

Hi MTsai33,

Thanks for the details shared with us.

With the information provided, please let us further investigate in this issue.

Please let us know if the SSD is having another issue, other than the Power-On count details.

We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Have a nice day

Santiago A.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[Santiago_A_Inte]

Hi MTsai33,

Please find below our comments:

The firmware you have installed in your SSDs is not the latest one; please note, this is a special firmware developed to fix a specific issue related to the Write Amplification Factor. This firmware version was intended only to be applied in situations the SSD were showing that issue.

You certainly cannot go back to the official latest release firmware RG21, once you have RG2V updated in your drives; however, our recommendation to keep any other drives not updated to RG2V, on latest issue RG21.

Additionally, we need your collaboration to send to us another SMART report from one of the drives you have mentioned are reporting Power-On hours value, correctly.

We will be looking forward to your reply.

Have a nice day

Santiago A.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[MTsai33]

Hi Santiago,

Sorry for late. Attachment is the statistics of an Intel 535 120GB drive, which was updated to *RG2V* two years ago. Since I don't have any Intel 535 drive with firmware *RG21* on hand, could you help to check how long it takes for an *RG21* 535 drive to get Power_On_Hours increased by one? Thanks.

[BrusC_Intel]

Hello, MTsai33.

Good day,

Thank you for the information and the SMART report.

Let me investigate and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[BrusC_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello, MTsai33.

Thank you very much for waiting.

There does not seem to be a problem with the report.

After comparing the SMART details from both drives the only noticeable difference is that the one with the problem has not been in use for as long as the other drive with the correct counter (Power-On Hours Count) and there is no particular period of time for it to start counting.

Since the  Power-On Hours Count is not a critical parameter, in your case I would recommend to keep an eye on it and also run the diagnostics (Quick/Full diagnostic) using the Intel SSD Toolbox.

You may also try to connect the drive using the same port and cables as the one with the correct counter.

You will be contacted directly via e-mail to continue with the process.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards,

Bruce C.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel