How do I flash my SSD firmware?

[lozina]

So I have two SSDs - one a OCZ Vertex 3 the other a Corsair CSSD F120GB2.

I get BSODs which I am convinced are due to them (KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR)

I went to each respective company's site and downloaded the relevant tools to flash the firmware

In both cases, the tools cannot see my drives!

I did:

• Run them as Administrator
• Confirmed my BIOS SATA is set to AHCI mode (it wasn't at first!)

So what gives?


This is a Windows 7 64-bit box.

 

[Goros]

Make sure your controller is set to use the standard Microsoft AHCI 1.0 driver. If it says Marvell or another brand, you need to change the driver being used.

Also, chances are that you will need to secure erase those drives and start over to restore function, Marvell and JMicron drivers cannot pass the TRIM command to the drives (even when enabled in windows) so Garbage Collection never happens and it has probably damaged the drives at this point.

It's not definite, but IS a possibility, especially with the OCZ V3 Sandforce drive.

Either way, the firmware isn't the problem on old drives, the lack of TRIM is.

Run a checkdisk to see if you have issues that can be repaired.
1. Click Start.
2. In search window type 'cmd' and ENTER. Right click and select 'Run as administrator'.
3. Type at the command prompt CHKDSK /P and press ENTER to scan the disk.
4. Then type CHKDSK C: /F /R and press ENTER to repair corrupt sectors, if there are any

Good luck,

 

[lozina]

Make sure your controller is set to use the standard Microsoft AHCI 1.0 driver. If it says Marvell or another brand, you need to change the driver being used.

Doh - I have the Marvell one. Marvell 91xx STA 6G Controller

How do I change it to the Microsoft one? When I click Update Driver and choose Search Automatically, it forces the Marvell one saying its the best. If I choose the second option "Browse my computer" and "Let me pick" I only have the Marvell one and one called "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller" which sounds quite wrong... expecting a SATA controller

 

[Goros]

You on a p45 or 790i chipset? The IDE controller is fine and will pass trim, but see if the "AHCI 1.0" driver is present.

Also, if you were set to IDE in your bios and switched to AHCI you should be blue screening on startup (if windows was installed in IDE mode) unless your drives are plugged in to the wrong ports on your motherboard and aren't effected.

Check all the controller drivers and change as many as you can to AHCI 1.0 or IDE, as long as it's the Microsoft driver and not JMicron or Marvell it will pass TRIM.

Since a secure erase is a good idea in this case, I'd say check your mobo owners manual and make sure you are hooked into the AHCI compatible ports on the board.

NOTE - secure erase cleans the drive and wipes all data while overwriting it. Back it up first.

 

[ryderOCZ]

For the OCZ drive, use the bootable tools: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?105168-NEW!!-OCZ-Bootable-Toolbox-PC-Edition

Just make sure you are in AHCI mode, you won't have to worry about drivers this way.

 

[lozina]

My mobo is this one: http://www.asus.com/Motherboard/P6X58D_Premium/#specifications so looking at the specs I dont think the chipset is either of the ones you listed?

The Marvell controller I mentioned before was under the category "Storage controllers"

There is another category called "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" which lists a "Standard AHCI1.0 Serial ATA Controller"

Yeah BIOS was in IDE and when I rebooted Windows had no problem...

 

[lozina]

For the OCZ drive, use the bootable tools: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?105168-NEW!!-OCZ-Bootable-Toolbox-PC-Edition

Just make sure you are in AHCI mode, you won't have to worry about drivers this way.

AHCI mode in the BIOS right? OK will try to burn this and see how it goes

 

[Goros]

That's weird. Hi Ryder, what's shakin?

And yes, the bootable tools from OCZ make life simple. However, they still don't address the fact that you aren't passing TRIM. Get rid of the branded driver and use whatever you can off the menu. When you change the storage controller over to Microsoft, it will move to IDE ATA/ATAPI category under the device manager.

You didn't blue screen on boot because your drives are on the Marvell 6Gb controller as your native intel controller only supports 3Gb. When you changed to AHCI in your bios, nothing changed because you aren't using those ports.

 

[lozina]

That's weird. Hi Ryder, what's shakin?

And yes, the bootable tools from OCZ make life simple. However, they still don't address the fact that you aren't passing TRIM. Get rid of the branded driver and use whatever you can off the menu. When you change the storage controller over to Microsoft, it will move to IDE ATA/ATAPI category under the device manager.

You didn't blue screen on boot because your drives are on the Marvell 6Gb controller as your native intel controller only supports 3Gb. When you changed to AHCI in your bios, nothing changed because you aren't using those ports.

Oh cool, I tried that and it works. It went over to the IDE ATA/ATAPI category as you said and now my Corsair tool - which is first one I tried - detected both drives. So now I will proceed with updating my firmware!

BTW its ok to leave it like this right, dont want to go back to the Marvell ones later?

 

[lozina]

Well that was painless, but the Corsair was my secondary drive.

Now for the OCZ which is not going to work like this because it is primary drive. I guess I am forced to use the boot up disk for that one?

 

[Goros]

Yes. Also, leave the Microsoft driver on because without trim enabled your drive will slow down and life will shorten.

 

[ryderOCZ]

Well that was painless, but the Corsair was my secondary drive.

Now for the OCZ which is not going to work like this because it is primary drive. I guess I am forced to use the boot up disk for that one?

Yes, the Windows Toolbox can't update an SF based drive when Windows is running from it. Bootable tools allow the drive to be secondary and update anything.

 

[lozina]

You didn't blue screen on boot because your drives are on the Marvell 6Gb controller as your native intel controller only supports 3Gb. When you changed to AHCI in your bios, nothing changed because you aren't using those ports.

Thanks for the help!

I currently went off on a tangent struggling to make a bootable image of my current c: before I continue since I want to completely wipe the OCZ drive as suggested and reinstall cleanly. But thats for another thread...

I wanted to ask you would you suggest before I reinstall Windows to plug my drives into the regular 3Gb slots instead of this Marvell one?

I am pretty ignorant when it comes to what passing TRIM means, all I know is some Corsair PDF asked me to run a cmd command once to see if I have TRIM enabled and it came back positive but no idea how much that is telling me.

 

[lozina]

Yes, the Windows Toolbox can't update an SF based drive when Windows is running from it. Bootable tools allow the drive to be secondary and update anything.

Thanks for you help, soon as I figure out how to make a bootable image of my current C: so that I can freely pull stuff off of it later I will use the boot tool and flash my primary drive and wipe it clean

 

[Goros]

Thanks for the help!

I currently went off on a tangent struggling to make a bootable image of my current c: before I continue since I want to completely wipe the OCZ drive as suggested and reinstall cleanly. But thats for another thread...

I wanted to ask you would you suggest before I reinstall Windows to plug my drives into the regular 3Gb slots instead of this Marvell one?

I am pretty ignorant when it comes to what passing TRIM means, all I know is some Corsair PDF asked me to run a cmd command once to see if I have TRIM enabled and it came back positive but no idea how much that is telling me.

No, just leave it on the 6G port.

 

[Goros]

Thanks for you help, soon as I figure out how to make a bootable image of my current C: so that I can freely pull stuff off of it later I will use the boot tool and flash my primary drive and wipe it clean

Acronis true image. Copy to other ssd, then copy back. Cake.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

disconnect them from your RAID card