Busiest forum - SSD problems, thats why

[jacken2]

Still no firmware updates to fix the many problems people are having with their Sandforce-based SSDs. From failures to be detected on boot to BSODs, seems like the drives have some serious issues. The BSODs are easy to pinpoint - Windows' driver stack and drivers have piss poor error handling and recovery. This is why you aren't hearing Linux users complain about kernel panics. The real problem is that Corsair still is trying to rationalize the problem and say "only a small number of people are experiencing issues."

 

Well its a growing problem... Just look at how many active users are on the SSD forum compared to all the others. Its been 40+ each night I've checked... thats pretty high at any given time.

 

Sure, some firmware update is a coming -- sometime. Of course we won't be told any of the many changes that went into that firmware update. Its a little black box with no changelog to most users.

 

Obviously there is a communication problem between the poor guys who deal with support and the fw dev team and qa engineers, because I've seen posts like "please post your system specs" and "please let us know what motherboard you have". This isn't an external timing issue. It isn't an external (SATA) bus arbitration issue. And it isn't a cable issue.

 

I've also seen recommendations that people place their BIOS into IDE emulation mode. This is freaken silly. So you want a bunch of SMIs to fire off to handle simulating an IDE controller with no queueing support? Wow thats silly.

 

Please just give us users a little more respect.

 

Just fix the issue... whether its an internal fw or hw defect -- then either RMA the drives with fixed ones or release a fw update.

[Wired]

The real problem is that Corsair still is trying to rationalize the problem and say "only a small number of people are experiencing issues."

I do understand how you feel and I am sorry but the issue is not every drive; it can happen with what seems to be less then 5% approximately and it can happen with any configuration.

In short, could be a big number, could be a small number. No one except for Corsair knows how many have been sold and therefore the 5% could be any size.

 

 

Its been 40+ each night I've checked... thats pretty high at any given time.

How are you coming to that number? Note: Counting guests will give you false numbers, as spiders hit the forum a lot.

 

 

Sure, some firmware update is a coming -- sometime. Of course we won't be told any of the many changes that went into that firmware update. Its a little black box with no changelog to most users.

Can't recall anyone asking for a changelog for any other firmware update here, but I could be wrong. Either way, if a firmware comes out w/o a changelog and people want it, I'd definitely add my vote to the request.

 

 

Obviously there is a communication problem between the poor guys who deal with support and the fw dev team and qa engineers, because I've seen posts like "please post your system specs" and "please let us know what motherboard you have". This isn't an external timing issue. It isn't an external (SATA) bus arbitration issue. And it isn't a cable issue

They can't assume that every SSD issue is a firmware issue. Some issues are indeed simple fixes. Would you rather them just assume that, tell everyone to wait for the firmware update, and then when it comes out, people find out it wasn't the cause of their issues, and that a simple cable was? No one would want that.

[RAM GUY]

You also need to take in to consideration the volume we are selling witch is a lot so even though there are 40 users on the forum with issue 99-98% of the users with FORCE series do not have problems.

[Synbios]

I've also seen recommendations that people place their BIOS into IDE emulation mode. This is freaken silly. So you want a bunch of SMIs to fire off to handle simulating an IDE controller with no queueing support? Wow thats silly.

 

What is the point of this thread? Simply to complain?

 

IDE emulation is not silly, if you're currently experiencing BSODs then it may help stabilize your system in the meantime. I personally believe that IDE emulation mode helps prevent the force drive from BSOD because it effectively disables TRIM which may help as well.

 

Of course there is no real fix right now, we know it is a sandforce fw problem and the release is coming soon.

 

Also the reason why tech support asks for motherboard and configurations is to see if there is a common denominator and for statistics..we know now that it doesn't look like there is a common denominator. However, there are other motherboards such as some Gigabytes that have OTHER issues with SSDs that are fixable with a BIOS update. I'm not sure why you're so surprised that we have to ask what motherboard and system specs people have.

[jacken2]

First of all -- I really don't appreciate you disabling access to my previous account "jacken" on the forums -- Not very nice when I actually have a very valid issue with Corsair's handling of the matter. (For those reading this that aren't the forum admin -- they blocked my previous account because I had a little harsh words...)

 

How are you coming to that number? [40] Note: Counting guests will give you false numbers, as spiders hit the forum a lot.

Could be spiders. Of course, but it seems to me like a higher number of little bots or maybe actual end users are ending up in the SSD forum above all other forums. Tonight its surprisingly below 40... must be a busy night in the offline world.

 

 

They can't assume that every SSD issue is a firmware issue. Some issues are indeed simple fixes. Would you rather them just assume that, tell everyone to wait for the firmware update, and then when it comes out, people find out it wasn't the cause of their issues, and that a simple cable was? No one would want that.

Never suggested pushing an update prematurely. I'd much rather see a good communication between their vendors (Sandforce is one of many), their engineering team, their QA team, and the poor supper guy lurking here. The firmware update is long overdue. I'm making a big assumption that its a firmware problem since they haven't done a stop ship on the faulty drives.

 

 

What is the point of this thread? Simply to complain?

Yes -- To complain and hope for a change. Corsair can fix their defunct system or they can just ignore the fact that they've mismanaged the issue and they have piss-poor internal communications from what people on the ouside can see.

 

IDE emulation is not silly, if you're currently experiencing BSODs then it may help stabilize your system in the meantime. I personally believe that IDE emulation mode helps prevent the force drive from BSOD because it effectively disables TRIM which may help as well.

 

Dang -- Dense. IDE emulation doesn't have anything to do with TRIM support unless they really botched their firmware. The "disk" (shall we call it that) itself has NO CLUE that its being accessed via IDE mechanisms or AHCI or SAS or some other proprietary solution.

 

Additionally the DATA SET MANAGEMENT command (ATA ACS-2) is not tied to AHCI (aka SATA for most PC-end users). You can issue TRIM commands with your stinkin BIOS set to IDE most on a standard PC as long as you have a bus mastering controller (well -- really a emulation of a bus mastering controller -- but thats nitty gritty details).

 

So yes -- Corsair botched their handling of the issue.

[Wired]

Your account was not blocked nor was there anything wrong with it. Since having multiple accounts is not allowed, the previous one has been merged into this one. Assumptions will get you nowhere.

[slimbrady]

An active forum can be looked at from many different perspectives and jumping to a singular assumption about the reason a forum is busy isn't usually very accurate.

I'm a member of every official forum for each of my pieces of hardware regardless of whether it is giving me problems or not.

True, I am probably more likely to trolling if I am having problems but a lot of times I'm on just to gain some insights and inspiration from the community and hopefully be of some assistance to others that are experiencing issues I've dealt with first hand.

 

Anyway, one more thought for the pot - 6gb/s sata III sandforce production is probably getting a lot more attention than a firmware update for a first-generation SSD. I am not saying that is the way it should be just saying that is probably part of.....delay(I think we're all being a little impatient for fixes to problems that have workarounds or are sporadic to begin with).

I can understand the frustration, just try to keep in mind the mass amounts of people that trust this company because of their previous experiences. I feel pretty confident that Corsair is not simply holding back fixes and firmwares for dramatic effect and want us to be as happy with our hardware as we want ourselves to be.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong please but wouldn't Corsair be more than happy replace your malfunctioning SSD(s) with new ones as many times as it takes until you got stable drives?

[RAM GUY]

While I understand your frustration and I am sorry we will have a solution soon for Force drive owners soon, please give it some more time, I am sure the issues will be resolved shortly.