hox Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 I had to return one of my 2 P256 SSD drives as it was not being recognized by the system. I received the refurbished replacement today. Installing it I noticed that it has a strange firmware number VBM1901Q. My other P256 has the firmware VBM19C1Q. Both seem to support trim but I want to have the same firmware on each drive. The P256 FAQ section says the VBM19C1Q is the most current but the last post to this FAQ is quite old. You would think that a refurbished drive would have the most recent firmware on it. Could you please let me know what the most recent firmware is for the P256 drive and if it is what is on the refurbished one I received how would I flash my other drive to have the same firmware? Thanks Hox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synbios Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Old versions: VBM18C1Q and VBM18O1Q VBM19C1Q and VBM19O1Q are the latest versions. You need the latest update to support TRIM. I would follow this guide to update it: http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=83708 I'm almost positive that the Performance series update tool wipes the drive when it updates, so make sure you backup your data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hox Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 Thank you I am not sure what think the Refurbished P256 drive does not seem to be recognized by the Samsung update utility posted on the corsair forum?!! I used the same computer, utility and boot usb stick that I updated my original P256 drives and now the replacement drive does not seem to be recognized. What I get is a no supported drives detected for firmware...... statement? Any thoughts out there RAMGUY? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hox Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 I orginally posted asking which firmware is correct for my P256 drive History 2 P256 drives purchased about 1.5 years ago. Updated firmware on both to VBM19C1Q following the excellent guide in the P256 FAQ section. 1 of these stopped being recognized by any system, had to RMA it as it was my laptop's boot drive. OK received a replacement drive from Corsair today, it has refurbished on the sticker. It also has firmware VBM1901Q. This is an older firmware so I wanted to update it. The same computer and usb stick that I used to update the original 2 drives with nothing changed was used. The samsung utility loaded from the bootable USB stick and after pressing any key the program stopped saying that there were no supported drives for firmware .... The drive is seen in the bios. I was even able to format in my system. I have also tried updating on several other computers A dell running an intel 975 chipset and two others running p45 chipsets drive modes were set to native and IDE for all machines. Sooooo why can't the firmware be updated? At this point it would appear that the P256 drive sent to me as a replacement cannot be updated. Moreover why would corsair send a P256 replacement drive with an old firmware on it? I would really like to get my laptop back up and running so could RAMGUY or someone else at Corsair please help sort this out. Also I would appreciate a PM from the moderator if my post about this issue is deleted as I could not find the original post about this issue 1 hour after I put it up on the SSD forum. HOX Interesting, I just used google to search for this issue and found this: trim update not working on refurbished p256 drive - The Corsair ... trim update not working on refurbished p256 drive Solid State Drives (SSD) ... by corsair to replace a drive under warranty not support a firmware update? ... forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?p=480811 This thread is deleted from the corsair forum but still shows up in the google search engine history so at some point it was at the corsair site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Looks like it was removed because it's a duplicate of this very thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synbios Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 I would try a secure erase first and then try updating the firmware. If you are still having problems then you should send the drive back and have Corsair update the firmware or they'll send you a new replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hox Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 Thanks for the suggestion. Could you explain how a secure erase would allow the drive I received to be updated? It was unpartitioned and unformatted when it arrived. Thanks Hox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hox Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 Corsair Tech Support called me back this morning and said that the reason the firmware update tool would not work with my replacement P256 drive is because the firmware version on it, VBM19O1Q is more recent than the VBM19C1Q. So I guess its good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synbios Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Corsair Tech Support called me back this morning and said that the reason the firmware update tool would not work with my replacement P256 drive is because the firmware version on it, VBM19O1Q is more recent than the VBM19C1Q. So I guess its good to go. Yeah the post/guide should be updated, when I originally I read your post I read it as 80 as I didn't know there was a 90 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted December 17, 2010 Corsair Employees Share Posted December 17, 2010 I just spoke with our Flash Engineer and Firmware version VBM19C1Q and VBM19O1Q are the same version with the same features just a different BOM (Bill of Materials). The drives are the same spec and performance and will run together with no problems. Some internal components are slightly different. There is not need to update the firmware as its the latest already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 The main difference here is that it was mentioned here as a zero (not the letter O as it actually is in the firmware version) and therefore thought it was older. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hox Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 You are right regarding the zero vs the letter O. It sure looks like a zero to me using crystaldisk. Sorry for not being savy enough to know that a letter is invariably in that position of the firmwares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synbios Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 The main difference here is that it was mentioned here as a zero (not the letter O as it actually is in the firmware version) and therefore thought it was older. It's actually listed as a zero in the Samsung-printed firmware guide, so I believe the typo originated from that side. O definitely makes more sense though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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