Windows freezes on updating Firmware

I'm not sure what to think. I'm really trying to avoid a second RMA on this drive.

 

The story:

A month after the SSD was purchased it stopped working, a support ticket and RMA later it was replaced and worked fantastically for just about a year.

 

Until the other day: Sitting idle at the Windows 8 desktop (running on a single, non-raid, Corsair Force GT 120Gb SATA SSD) for no explicable reason the PC crashes. After it resets, there's no SSD and hence no Windows. A power down and it reappears in the BIOS, it boots to the Login Screen and sometimes to the start page then freezes. No software had been installed other than Windows updates, no driver changes. In short order I realized Windows was kicking the drive out of the BIOS. After it's kicked, it won't be seen again until a power down.

 

I tried every type of tool MS affords, Recovery Disk, Refresh, Reset, Automatic Repair, Bootrec commands, sfc etc... the only change is that it starts kicking it off during the Win 8 load instead. I tried every SATA port, removing everything but the SSD, booting off an XP drive and chkdsk-ing. The Windows 8 CD boot would not allow me to do anything, as it hung when the bootloader kicked the drive. What really blows is that throughout the drive remained visible and usable with data intact when used from the XP boot.

 

Unhappily, I reformatted the drive (which surprisingly worked fine), so I did a secure wipe, and then attempted to update the Firmware (from 5.03 to 5.05) while booted from the XP HDD. The update freezes. Whether I use the Corsair SSD Toolbox or the Field Updater, just after clicking apply, it freezes the OS and hours of waiting (per the installers warning of a shutdown during update) bring no change. I change the SATA drivers to Microsoft Default from the Intel Drivers. Same story. I unload every unneeded process, disable my av. Try different ports, different cables. Same story. Corsair posts the 5.05a drivers and there is still no change. I look for AHCI settings in the BIOS, none exist.

 

So I figured, since the SSD is showing up and usable again, just re-install Windows 8, then immediately update the drive Firmware. Same story in Windows 8, the updater freezes the OS. Windows 8 doesn't seem to be kicking the drive off the system anymore, so I'm in limbo. I certainly won't trust it until the firmware takes, if then.

 

Is there something obvious I'm missing? The ONLY option it seems I haven't covered is checking the AHCI driver thing because the MS FixIt won't apply it to Win 8 and my BIOS makes no mention of it. A search on Corsair's forum for Windows 8 and AHCI didn't reveal usable information. It also seems kinda ridiculous that I would have to change system level stuff to get the drive to work past the one year mark. IT WAS WORKING PERFECTLY, IT CRASHED WITHOUT PROVOCATION AND NOW DOESN'T WORK.

 

It's been two weeks of beating on this, and forum reading, endless Windows 8 bootmanager repair loops, and PC dissecting and it hasn't found me any resolution. This one purchase has cost me many times it's price in time, time which I bought it to save. And please remember, this is my second time through this gauntlet.

 

For you conspiracy theorists, according to the SSD Toolbox this drive was just past 5136 power-on hours when it began to act funny, which according to other forums is a specific trend for SSDs.

Have you tried updating the firmware on another computer?

No, I haven't tried using another PC to update. I don't personally have another PC sitting around. I wouldn't feel comfortable risking someone else's PC in an attempt to fix my PC woes.

Simply attaching your SSD to update it will not risk anyone's PC.

 

Also, check http://www.corsair.com on the SSD product page for the most recent version of the SSD Toolbox.

That might have been true before Win 8. Several times during this meltdown all of my drives were made inaccessible due to the corrupted Win 8 loader on the SSD. They only became "right" by doing XP fixmbr commands from a CD XP boot. So, please excuse me, but I respectfully disagree about the potential for harm.

That might have been true before Win 8. Several times during this meltdown all of my drives were made inaccessible due to the corrupted Win 8 loader on the SSD. They only became "right" by doing XP fixmbr commands from a CD XP boot. So, please excuse me, but I respectfully disagree about the potential for harm.

 

Attached as a slave drive, it WILL NOT HARM ANYTHING. The only potential for harm would be if you loaded Windows from your drive and then monkeyed around with their system drive.

Dude, getting real unhappy here. I finally gutted someones PC to do this, go to the Corsair forums and the links to the SSD Toolkit are bad. Their PC is apart, and I'm waiting.

Dude, getting real unhappy here. I finally gutted someones PC to do this, go to the Corsair forums and the links to the SSD Toolkit are bad. Their PC is apart, and I'm waiting.

 

just tried the link and its working now.

http://www.corsair.com/en/support/downloads

Thanks pegotico, downloaded v 1.2.0.9. Unfortunately clicking "firmware update" gives this message: "No firmware update information was found for this drive", yet it identifies it properly, it's current firmware version, smart, etc... I have spent over 100 hours on making this drive work between the first go around and this. It seems clear now that my mistake was purchasing Corsair.