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New x256 SSD drive disappears

spacecadet610

By spacecadet610
in Solid State Drives (SSD)

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JayMcB74

JayMcB74

Posted
Posted

Do the replacement drives come with a higher firmware than 1.0?

If the replacements don't have a different firmware what another drive will you give me? (I care about speed not size)

What is the jumper for on these drives?

 

Corsair CMFSSD-32D1 - All the drives have Firmware v1.0

3x09420422

1x09410467

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Nico de Vries

Nico de Vries

Posted
Posted
Yes the fix is a new firmware but the problem is there is no Utility to update the firmware ATM, so there is no way that you can fix this on your own.

There is no new firmware for this drive

 

I am getting a bit confused here. Or is the firmware fix only for the X256 and not for the X32? (I am assuming those have the same firmware, but perhaps that is not the case).

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dugn

dugn

Posted
Posted

I just submitted my second RMA request for a Corsair SSD. That's 2 for 2. Each of the two I purchased failed only a few weeks after each other.

 

RAMGuy - is there anything I can tell you guys about my machine, my configuration or usage that will help track this down? At this rate, I have pretty low confidence in Corsair branded SSDs. The $700+ I spent on 2x Corsair SSDs for a RAID0 SSD array collapsed down to one SSD, then later down to zero after the second one failed. It's sad that I could have spent less on a pair of Velociraptors - or spent a little more on another brand of SSD to avoid the time and frustration these have cost me.

 

FWIW I'm on an EVGA X58 (SLI LE) board with all the latest Intel iaStore RAID/AHCI drivers (no Intel Matrix Storage drivers installed) under Win7 Ult x64. Cabling and power have been ruled out as a cause since the problems with these SSDs persist regardless of machine or enclosure. Under heavy load they seize up and often disappear as a drive (no longer present in OS or BIOS). If I'm lucky, I can remove all power to them and they'll come back for awhile (luckily, long enough to copy and image them). But once each of them started failing, they just continued to fail with even more frequency until it's no longer worth my time to roll that dice and try to boot my machine with them.

 

Any idea what's causing this and if it will be resolved sufficiently to have confidence in RMA'd SSDs?

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tI2ouI3LeSoIVIe

tI2ouI3LeSoIVIe

Posted
Posted

I know you read my post, but maybe the disk image is the problem. Wipe both SSDs with HDD ERASE (secure erase) then create new RAID, then install Win 7 from disk and only put in what you know works MINIMAL INSTALL, For the sake of argument leave the sound card (Creative) out so it's just like my system, basically.

 

Pre-Install Sequence

1. Clear CMOS on motherboard by pulling battery and pulling power cord for a minute or so.

2. Hit Esc on Restart to pull up one-time boot menu and set to where UBCD or HDD ERASE is located (USB, Floppy, or DVD/CD Drive)

3. Boot to UBCD or HDD ERASE

4. Run HDD ERASE

5. Wipe both SSDs Individually using secure erase

6. Restart system and enter RAID utility (CTRL + I)

7. Create RAID array again w/ all default settings DON'T CHANGE DEFAULTS and save (option 4 I believe).

8. Restart again and enter BIOS and set SATA to RAID

9. Set Disk Priority and Boot Priority

10. Put disk or usb in to prepare to install OS (F10 to save and quit)

11. Upon restart hit Esc key to get one time boot menu and choose where the installation software is, i.e. USB or DVD Drive.... Move on to next part.

 

 

Installation Sequence

1. Install OS let Windows Installer partition and quick format, choose to let you choose when to do Automatic Updates.

2. Install Intel 1020 chipset package

3. Install Intel RAID driver

4. Install nVidia display driver

5. Install Realtek sound driver

6. Install Microsoft Updates that DO NOT INCLUDE ANYTHING FROM INTEL

7. Perform the tweaks that you want from the forum's tweak section.

 

Your problem sounds just like mine and I feel your pain. After all this, let it run for a day or so to wait for crashes. Honestly, I don't believe it's the drives, I believe it's the RAID controller and it's interaction with the OS. I've been in your shoes. If all else fails CALL EVGA, they are good and will sit and try to help you.

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dugn

dugn

Posted
Posted

Thx RamGuy - I spoke to Kitty (RMA) and John (Support) earlier today, so I'm taken care of. Before filing the RMA, I performed an HDD Erase on each of the two SSDs and put them in separate machines (one in a USB dock, then into another machine altogether, and proved that the drives had, indeed, failed.

 

In the meantime, I've downgraded to Intel Matrix driver 8.8.0.1009 that, although not certified on WIndows 7, have proven in other forums to have fewer (or no) incidents of RAID and non-RAID (AHCI) seizing issues.

 

Thanks for taking care of me and my Corsair investment.

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  • 2 weeks later...
spacecadet610

spacecadet610

Posted
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Ram Guy,

 

Since there have been a lot of frustrated users of the x256 drive, do you mind sharing with us what exactly was wrong with these drives and how they were fixed?

 

I find it hard to have my faith in Corsair restored when there has been no attempt at all to explain what happened, other than "ok it's been fixed with a new firmware".

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  • 2 months later...
pfile

pfile

Posted
Posted

hi,

 

i've posted upthread about my experience with a macbook pro and the X256. that drive is still doing well after applying apple's "performance update".

 

back then i had actually bought 2 x256's with the intention of using the other as a boot disk for my mac pro. tonight i finally got around to installing the OS on that x256. during a software update it locked up, and after rebooting it is no longer recognized even after power cycling the disk.

 

i assume that i've got a bad disk here. was there ever a firmware update for x256? if i RMA this disk will i get one back that works?

 

thanks.

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  • 1 month later...
septone

septone

Posted
Posted

Well, it looks like this is still an issue. I just had this issue happen on my macbook pro. I am using the X256 for the system drive, and a 500GB spindle drive installed in the optical bay. I use this machine for work. When the dreaded 'beach ball' appeared, I had a bunch of terminal tabs open (UNIX geek), and doing ls or any filesystem based operation on the SSD failed. Unfortunately I could not sudo to root to run dmesg and verify the drive dropped from the bus, but all the symptoms are consistent. It's also worth noting that my other drive was working fine, as that is where all my mp3s and virtual machines live. VMware and iTunes chugged along ok, but everything running from the SSD froze up and I had to force a reboot via power button press.

 

I just got this macbook a week or two ago and decided to upgrade it with the X256 to treat myself, since I work an insane amount of hours, and I am therefore on my laptop a *lot*. I'll be pulling a backup every day from now on.

 

I'd like to RMA this drive, but I can't really go without a drive for the RMA. Do you guys do advance RMA so I can swap and send back without the downtime required to ship? Is this issue actually fixed in newer batches of X256 drives? I bought my drive from Dell, along with some other PC related purchases. I'd guess that Dell probably does not move a lot of these, so maybe I got a drive from an older, bum lot? I really can't be without this laptop, as it is my livelyhood, and as much as I love the idea of reinstalling, I'd really prefer to do an advance RMA, clone the drive, and get on with my life.

 

FWIW, I tried the suggested perf fix here:

 

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3901

 

It seems this is no longer applicable, since I am running 10.6.2. I'd guess it is included in the .2 update, as the installer complains that I am not on 10.6.1

 

Here's the drive info:

 

Mac system info reports:

Model: Corsair CMFSSD-256D1

Revision: 2.1

Serial Number: 09520202-01000004

 

BOX says:

 

S/N: 10030196-13112217

 

If more info is only on the drive itself, I can grab that too, just let me know.

 

Also, when this happened, I wasn't even doing any crazy IO or anything. Just paying bills on the web (great timing!).

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  • Corsair Employees
RAM GUY

RAM GUY

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  • Corsair Employees
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I would not suggest using X Series drives with OEM systems our P-Series would be a better choice as many OEM's have chosen Samsung for the systems using SSD Drives including Apple. Can you use the X series drives in another system?
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septone

septone

Posted
Posted

I put it in a windows laptop when I got it so I could run ATTO. It seemed to work fine then, and so far I have only had the single incident with it on the MAC.

 

Your reply doesn't really address most of the questions in my post, and putting the drive in another system doesn't solve my problem.

 

What else can we try? Can I get an advance RMA for a P series? If X-Series is not recommended for OEM systems (every system except build it yourself), why is that not in the FAQ/tech support bulletin?

 

 

 

Troubleshooting Tips for CMFSSD-256D1

 

Here are some common tips that you should try before proceeding with an RMA Submission.

 

...snipped for the most relevant...

 

Q: Are there any platforms that may have issues with SSD drives?

 

A: There are no known issues with Corsair SSDs and any SATA I or SATA II compatible platforms. We are constantly testing compatibility with legacy, current and new platforms to ensure compatibility.

 

I did a fair amount of research on this before buying, and now you are telling me it is a bad match? Why is that not stated on your website if it is a known issue?

 

I saw this thread, but based on the drop in activity, and the few posts of people saying the Apple update resolved the issue, I figured it was no longer a problem. I guess not....

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  • Corsair Employees
RAM GUY

RAM GUY

Posted
  • Corsair Employees
Posted

This is not a problem with the drive but more limitation of the system, What does Apple suggest for using or upgrading your NB with SSD Drives? And no where on our site do we suggest using X-Series drives with an OEM system.

I would suggest talking to the reseller and see if they will let you send the drive back and if not then you can contact our customer service and see what they suggest.

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septone

septone

Posted
Posted

wow, that seems to contradict the statement that there are no known issues with any sata I or sata II system....

 

I never said that x-series was suggested for use in OEM systems. My point was that there is also no "don't use this in a OEM box" warning. In my opinion, it should not make a difference. SATA is SATA, regardless of if I build it or if Apple, HP, or any other OEM builds it. Apple's EFI layer makes it 'special', sure, but any PCs running a normal BIOS seems to be the same, and at the controller/bus level, they should be no different. That's the whole point of standards.

 

Plenty of other people in this thread are not running macs....

 

I'll see what the reseller says. Thanks for your reply.

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sahin_denmark

sahin_denmark

Posted
Posted

I have absolutely the same problem with my brand new X256 like the other Mac users.

 

I've installed X256 SSD drive to my macbook pro unibody 2.8 (2009) with Mac OSX 10.6.2.

 

After a couple of hours work, some of the apps failed and computer frozen.

 

Then I've formatted drive and installed everything again, but same unstability, same problems..

 

Any suggestions?? Solutions? Firmware update??

 

This drive is very expensive, but it can't supply my expectations. I'm totally unsatisfed with it!

 

Please help...

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  • Corsair Employees
RAM GUY

RAM GUY

Posted
  • Corsair Employees
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While I see your point, and yes there is no statement on the drive to not use it with any one specific system; a little research and you will see that I have suggested on many occasions that users who have Apple systems use our P-Series SSD Drives as the Apple systems like with many OEM systems can be picky at best with more aggressive parts like this. I am sorry but there is not a lot we can do at this point. If you have an X-86 Desktop system I would use the drive in that system and I doubt you would have any problems.
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septone

septone

Posted
Posted

ok, I'm returning the drive to my retailer. For the record, I also spoke with Apple, and their support agreed that it sounds like a bad drive. I've had great luck with Corsair RAM in the past, and used it in several PCs, but the response I got here (or lack of support) is reason enough for me to steer clear of anything made by Corsair in the future.

 

Congratulations on losing a customer.

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sahin_denmark

sahin_denmark

Posted
Posted

I've research the market when I planned to buy an SSD drive to my macbook pro (inclusive your website) and there was not any information about this incompatibility!!

 

This is totally unbelievable.. Why should I buy an old technology product instead of the newest? And why do Corsair nothing about this issue?? If your old model P series drives working on mac, so then the newers should also work and maybe better and faster.

 

OCZ vertex turbo 250 series are Identical with my X256, the only difference is firmware..

 

I hope you technical guys will find a solution soon. I don't want to waste my 1000 euro drive on a X86 based laptop.

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