I need help! SSD firmware issues

Hello,

 

So i have gone through hell for about 2 months now and need to know if Corsair is going to do anything about it..

 

I called support and they pushed me off to " The Ramguy ".

 

I sent him and email and never got a response.. Good customer support right there... $2000 on 8x corsair pro ssds and i get kicked aside.. Nice...

 

Anyways.. There is a problem with Marvell controller on these drives when they are put into an Array on my LSI 9265-8i Raid card.

 

I have called LSI about 10 times and they have not been able to help me and say its a Marvell issue and i believe them. I spoke to a few friends who know of this issue and agree that it is a bug in the SSD controller.

 

so..... Anytime I try to setup a raid 0 or any raid array with my raid card i get a lot of bugs and my raid card throws drives out of the array randomly and ruins the array. The write speeds are horrendous after about 2 minutes into windows ( IE . from 2gb a second to about 1 megabyte a second..)..

 

SO i need to know... When will this problem be addressed and when will i get some real help from Corsair?

 

I have gone into the crucchial!/micron forums and the Techs there have recognized the problem and are helping their forums members. They are letting them know that a fix is in the works and that they will have it released soon once they have the seal of approval.

 

Please help me corsair.... I have 8 drives gathering dust on my Table and it is a darn shame... I expected more from you guys..

hi

 

Check if motherboard bios and chipset driver is up to date

As it improve compatibility and stability

i got similar troublem with my highpoint 2720sgl controller.

it was because i ave bad driver for my controller.

Highpoint give me a excelent service

With variable read and rite speed

i was able to instsall Win 7 on my 975x chipset

I was not able to intal Win 7 on X58 chipset before they give me beta driver.

 

All was related to the controller driver

I see that u use a x79 chipset

maybe driver is still not compatible with x79 chipset?

 

hope this help

Sincerly yours

I am 100% certain that it is not a driver issue..

 

I have 8 x OCZ vertex turbo drives right now on the same raid card and i had them on my 9260-8i as well with no problems on this X79 board.

 

The problem is the firmware on the SSDs 100%... There is no doubt in my mind. LSI's mind or anyone else who has used marvell controller SSDs in raid 0 with raid cards.

 

I am able to install windows 7 and get up and running. I am able to throw them in a raid 0 array just for benching with no OS installed on them and still have the same outcome.

 

The writes get crippled instantly after some time .

 

Like i stated before. Crucial has recognized the problem on their forums and has assured its customers that they are working on a fix and have a firmware that they will be releasing soon.

 

I am just shocked that when i brought this up to Corsair i was shunned away and sent to the Ramguy who also has not responded to my email.

 

So now i have to resort to the Corsair forums to try and get anywhere with this problem.

If u said is true

Don't expect mutch more from corsair

They sold me ddr3 1866Mhz memory as 2000Mhz and they just don't care

ave u ever seen a company giving firmware update un a forum?

 

And wath they call a forum is been watch carfully

We can't see wath we want

And this post could be delete be a corsair emploi at any time

I am just shocked that when i brought this up to Corsair i was shunned away and sent to the Ramguy who also has not responded to my email.

Mind clarifying what department you talked to (tech support, customer service, etc) and how they redirected you to the ram guy email address? The reason I ask is because AFAIK that email address goes to everyone in tech support.

 

 

They sold me ddr3 1866Mhz memory as 2000Mhz and they just don't care

What are you talking about??? I haven't seen a thread from you, so if you have an issue please start your own thread.

 

 

ave u ever seen a company giving firmware update un a forum?

There's nothing wrong with that, especially considering that it's also on the website under each SSD's product page (see the Download tab on each page).

 

 

And wath they call a forum is been watch carfully

We can't see wath we want

Sorry, no idea what you meant to say there.

Mind clarifying what department you talked to (tech support, customer service, etc) and how they redirected you to the ram guy email address? The reason I ask is because AFAIK that email address goes to everyone in tech support.

 

 

 

I spoke to the tech support team and explained the situation from A-Z and asked them if they had any firmware that would fix this issue any time soon.... They said no....we have a firmware that will come out sometime in the near future for the Performance Pro but only to increase performance slightly....

 

They then went on to say that they could basically not help me and that my best bet would be to contact theramguy.......

 

Why would i call and talk to customer support in the first place loL???

 

if i am tech savvy enough to have 8x drives in raid 0 with the computer setup i have i think i can manage to talk to the right department in regards to my issue.

 

Either way... I was not helped period... Not by Corsair support and not even responded to by theramguy..

 

So now this is my last effort to get some help as i really do not think its fair for me to get absolutely no help in this matter.

 

I spoke to several LSI techs and one of their engineer and they were all baffled and blamed the firmware on the drives. I really just want to get this resolved..... EVEN if it means shipping my raid card to corsairs team to recreate this issue and to fix it.

 

Thanks

hey b, sorry to hear this is still going on. have you thought of sending your ssds to lsi for them to test? this is a known marvell FW issue across manufacturers, as i've been privy to some info from both lsi and another marvell based drive's manufacturer. b, the roc iop on both the lsi and the recent areca are going to be trouble for any marvell drive, atm. i know you don't want to hear this, but you may want to either give up on the corsair/marvell drives altogether, or check out another roc iop other than what are on the lsi/areca cards atm, though given your recent experience re support, i think i know what you will be doing...

Hey Mr!!!!!

 

Yeah.. its still on going =(. I spoke to an engineer from LSI and she basically said there is nothing they can do from the raid card side and that it is a known bug in the Marvell controlled SSD's..

 

With that being said the Crucia! people on their forums have already noted this problem and are working on a fix for it.... Now what sucks for me is that they recognized it but does that mean they will fix it themselves or will marvell fix it and push it out to corsair??

 

Thats why i want to ask Corsair and to get help from hem.. >if not... then it looks like i really have to sell these darn drives and pick up some ssd's from another manufacturer as the support i have received so far from corsair is non existent.

 

this is a shame... I will take a huge hit on these drives as i paid next day air + saturday delivery and i bought it from a site that had them for $215 each because i was impatient.

 

Gotta love it... Lets see if corsair says anything...

Some Semi Good News!!!

 

 

I spoke to Joseph from corsair today on the phone and he could tell i was frustrated and actually helped me !!!

 

he took my information and what the problem was that i was experiencing and he is going to shoot it over to the engineering department to see if they can help me.

 

I really hope i can get somewhere with this ..

 

Thanks Joseph!

Basicallyevolve, your frustration in all this is a shame, given all the time and resources ($, etc.) you've put into this. Unfortunately, some of the realities of the situation contribute to the end result of your experience, such as:

 

The majority of SSD manufactures do not design and/or build the components used in a SSD. There is literally barely a handful of SSD controllers that exist today, and some of them may not even be available for use by other companies, such as Samsung's and even the older Intel controllers. That leaves us with the Marvell and SandForce controllers. Do we count Indilinx with these?

 

IMO, given what we've experienced with Marvell and their so-called "SATA 6Gb/s" 91xx series chipsets (that only run at 5Gb/s), they simply do not directly provide support for their products at the user level. You can't even download drivers for their SATA chipsets from their web site, at least the last time I checked. Any and all support at the consumer level is dumped onto the manufactures that use their products.

 

All of the following is not specifically a description of Corsair or any other company, but just a general example of what can happen within any larger company. I have experienced things like this in general during my career working for a large tech corporation.

 

While I do not really know how much engineering and firmware development resources exist and occurs at the companies that use the Marvell SSD controller, for example, it seems that in many cases it is not equivalent or even close to what the creators of the controller and firmware have. That is really not a surprise, as all companies vary regarding their level of technical expertise. Frankly, given the nature of SSD construction, it seems that almost any company can become a "SSD Manufacture" simply by buying the necessary NAND components and "reference board" with it's controller, and they are in business. The ultimate example of that is the rumored, forthcoming entry into the SSD market by the Monster Cable company.

 

Do we know the level of access and extent of modifications to the firmware that companies using the Marvell controller have or are allowed to perform? For all we know, they may have none, or all changes may be required by contract to be approved by Marvell.

 

Let's say you contact a technical support person with your issue. They are sympathetic but of course cannot magically provide a fix over the phone. So they talk to their peers, and with their manager, and so on up the line. Somewhere in the the management hierarchy, a manager asks, "... so you've got some guy using eight of our XYZ123 SSDs with a MTJ RAID card, and he says they don't work. Ever hear of this before?" The lower management person or tech answers, "Well, (no or once or twice or I'm not sure)". The manager then thinks this is no big deal since they never heard of it, and is not getting calls from a big customer that buys 100 SSDs a month, among any number of other reasons. The manager then asks how the new project is coming along, and at the slightest balk by their employee, then replies, "Well, it's clear what your priority is, get back to it". That gets back to the support person in whatever form is deemed appropriate for a person at their level, who realizes that nothing will happen. But they also know that if they told a customer that, they would be in trouble. As is common in the business world, the less said the better about problems, and the safest thing to say is nothing at all.

 

It's also very easy and common for one company to put the blame on another, and frankly I don't automatically believe that when that is the answer I get.

 

I hope you do get some support and a fix for your problem. I'm just attempting to describe why it does not happen at times.

Basicallyevolve, your frustration in all this is a shame, given all the time and resources ($, etc.) you've put into this. Unfortunately, some of the realities of the situation contribute to the end result of your experience, such as:

 

The majority of SSD manufactures do not design and/or build the components used in a SSD. There is literally barely a handful of SSD controllers that exist today, and some of them may not even be available for use by other companies, such as Samsung's and even the older Intel controllers. That leaves us with the Marvell and SandForce controllers. Do we count Indilinx with these?

 

IMO, given what we've experienced with Marvell and their so-called "SATA 6Gb/s" 91xx series chipsets (that only run at 5Gb/s), they simply do not directly provide support for their products at the user level. You can't even download drivers for their SATA chipsets from their web site, at least the last time I checked. Any and all support at the consumer level is dumped onto the manufactures that use their products.

 

All of the following is not specifically a description of Corsair or any other company, but just a general example of what can happen within any larger company. I have experienced things like this in general during my career working for a large tech corporation.

 

While I do not really know how much engineering and firmware development resources exist and occurs at the companies that use the Marvell SSD controller, for example, it seems that in many cases it is not equivalent or even close to what the creators of the controller and firmware have. That is really not a surprise, as all companies vary regarding their level of technical expertise. Frankly, given the nature of SSD construction, it seems that almost any company can become a "SSD Manufacture" simply by buying the necessary NAND components and "reference board" with it's controller, and they are in business. The ultimate example of that is the rumored, forthcoming entry into the SSD market by the Monster Cable company.

 

Do we know the level of access and extent of modifications to the firmware that companies using the Marvell controller have or are allowed to perform? For all we know, they may have none, or all changes may be required by contract to be approved by Marvell.

 

Let's say you contact a technical support person with your issue. They are sympathetic but of course cannot magically provide a fix over the phone. So they talk to their peers, and with their manager, and so on up the line. Somewhere in the the management hierarchy, a manager asks, "... so you've got some guy using eight of our XYZ123 SSDs with a MTJ RAID card, and he says they don't work. Ever hear of this before?" The lower management person or tech answers, "Well, (no or once or twice or I'm not sure)". The manager then thinks this is no big deal since they never heard of it, and is not getting calls from a big customer that buys 100 SSDs a month, among any number of other reasons. The manager then asks how the new project is coming along, and at the slightest balk by their employee, then replies, "Well, it's clear what your priority is, get back to it". That gets back to the support person in whatever form is deemed appropriate for a person at their level, who realizes that nothing will happen. But they also know that if they told a customer that, they would be in trouble. As is common in the business world, the less said the better about problems, and the safest thing to say is nothing at all.

 

It's also very easy and common for one company to put the blame on another, and frankly I don't automatically believe that when that is the answer I get.

 

I hope you do get some support and a fix for your problem. I'm just attempting to describe why it does not happen at times.

 

 

I totally understand what you are saying and I agree with you.

 

I got a response from the technician today that i spoke to over the phone and he had a chance to talk to an engineer and the engineer's first response was " its his raid card"

 

lol... That kinda pissed me off..... How can it be my raid card... when my 8x OCZ vertex drives work.

 

Its easy to put the blame on something else... Remember The good old sandforce blame and where the blame went to ?

 

Well.. Right now corsair wants me to use 4 drives in raid 0 instead of 8 to give them feedback..

 

I tried using 8 drives again in raid 0 to see how they would do on the X79 chipset since i got it not too long ago and i had the same problem.

 

installed windows and got in.... 1st benchmark in..... 4 megabytes write a second ... LOl.... Then a reboot later and it threw one of my drives out of the array.

 

I then tried doing 4 drives x 2 in raid 0 to do some testing and as soon as i threw my image onto the drives it threw one drive out of the array and said it was bad and couldnt see my other one.

 

 

 

SO now i have placed 4 drives in raid 0 and i am restoring my image to it now to see how it does. I have a feeling it will do the same.... I will report my findings to corsair and they will say.... "its not our fault.. its your raid card ..."

 

Even though i have spoken to an LSI engineer who says its the Marvell controller and many people say it is the marvell controller like Moreilly who is familiar with raid cards and SSD's along with Crucia! themselves admitting it in the forums..

 

 

Ok... time to test this array out and see what happens.

 

I will update you guys as i move along... But all in all i think this has been a horrible experience for me and that i will end up selling this drives at a loss and picking up some new indilinx drives when they are out..

 

 

lets see what happens...

Also... I just got back from attempting to try 4 dirves and ran into the same issue lol.

 

Popped back in my vertex turbo drives and im golden again. I really hope i get this resolved before i lose my patience.

HELLLOOO Ramguy!

 

I do not mind if it takes time to fix. I was not expecting a fix tomorrow morning.. I just wanted help with this matter. If LSI thinks they can help that sounds great.

 

I know they have a fault in this too because when i use your SSDS with their raid card the Firmware does not load on reboots. I have to literally shut down the computer completely and turn it on to get the firmware to load.

 

here are all the pictures of my products

 

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/basicallyevolve/IMAG0207.jpg?t=1331954353

 

 

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/basicallyevolve/IMAG0208.jpg?t=1331954352

 

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/basicallyevolve/IMAG0210.jpg?t=1331954358

 

 

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/basicallyevolve/IMAG0212.jpg?t=1331954359

 

 

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt279/basicallyevolve/Capture.jpg

 

 

 

and the part numbers are C128G11441079

 

Please let me know what happens!

 

I will also call in on Monday just in case i do not get a response here.

 

Thanks!

Hello Again!

 

I called in earlier today ( Monday 3/20/2012 ) Just to make sure that someone was aware that i updated this thread and provided you guys with the needed information so we can work to finally get a resolution to this problem.

 

Again. No rush.. As long as it is being worked on i am happy! I know these things take time to fix!

 

P.S.

 

I cant wait for this to work properly so i can take a few screen shots of my benches to show the community.

 

THank you!

Hello again!

 

I have not received any updates yet and i have no idea if this is being worked on or if it was left behind.

 

Here is the update from one of your competitors who utilizes the same marvell controller.

 

 

 

I would appreciate some information

Thats fine.

 

I just wanted to know my model numbers and raid card information was submitted correctly and that something was happening.

 

Thanks!

Ok.. so ******** has now had a fix for like 3 weeks that addresses the firmware bug on their drives that improve stability with raid cards and sas expanders. I kind of felt left behind here...... I mean marvell should have addressed this issue already and pushed this firmware fix out to all their resellers... Can i get an eta or some kind of info....?

 

These drives have been sitting on my desk for a while now and i would really like to get this issue resolved before they become obsolete. this is not an lsi issue and is a bug in the marvell controller.

I am sorry all I can tell you is that we are working on this and as I posted previously this will not happen rover night.

I am sorry But I do not have an update at this time.

 

Woohoo! Working on this is good. I've got a similar issue and have had to resort to a forced power off whenever windows update runs (fortunately I usually stay with Linux most days). I don't think the switch on the back of my power supply has ever gotten that much use. If this issue gets fixed, these already stellar drives will be truly world class.

 

 

I too have an LSI 9265-8i, although I only have a pair of 128GB Performance Pro's. I'm experiencing the same issue as others have posted. Would it be helpful if I were to provide firmware and card information via PM? I would be more than happy to do so if it might help accelerate a solution, although I understand these things can take time.

Ok.. so ******** has now had a fix for like 3 weeks that addresses the firmware bug on their drives that improve stability with raid cards and sas expanders. I kind of felt left behind here...... I mean marvell should have addressed this issue already and pushed this firmware fix out to all their resellers... Can i get an eta or some kind of info....?

 

These drives have been sitting on my desk for a while now and i would really like to get this issue resolved before they become obsolete. this is not an lsi issue and is a bug in the marvell controller.

 

I know which SSD manufacture you are referring to, and yes they do have the FW update you mentioned. Unfortunately, those using PC SATA interfaces are for the most part not happy with that FW. Now that manufacture is saying in their forum that the new FW is really only for use with a SAS expander. They did not make that clear in the release notes, and may have created an issue for themselves.

 

This is a perfect example of why a manufacture cannot just create a quick FW update without regression testing it, and verifying it for all usage cases. That takes time, effort, and resources, and the testing is not a simple task. Add to that the owners of these drives that think any new firmware release is better, and a must have and blindly update their drives. When the result is worse, the company now has a new issue to deal with.

 

Will that manufacture now have two versions of the firmware to support? That virtually doubles the testing effort for each subsequent firmware release. That is called a firmware nightmare. Given that result, what will other manufactures using that Marvell controller do?

corsair have a great drive here, but i don't think they have an astute audience, save for a handful, i.e., us. these drives walk all over consumer sandforce offerings, but get the least recognition. because corsair is dropping the ball, i'll purchase elsewhere.

I think i may have to sell these drives at this point because i am tired of this.

 

now i have to take a hit on and lose money but at least i wont have to deal with this any longer.

 

I have never heard a company say they are working on an issue... then turn around and say " but I am not aware of an ETA or time frame or even if it will be an update from us on the SSD or a Firmware update for the RAID card".

 

thats a bit off isnt it?

 

" we are working on it"...

 

"but.. we may give up and not give you an update regardless.. Try a different raid card."

 

really??

 

I am actually sitting here and printing every page of this thread...

 

along with this thread http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106229&page=3

 

You want me to buy a cheaper raid card? to get lower performance just to utilize your SSD's?

 

LOL?