• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

PSA: Samsung Magician 4.6 & 840 EVO "D" firmware update available

Still no love for the TLC-based 840 non-EVO? If that's the way that Samsung treats their customers after the sale, then no Samsung SSDs for me.
 
Just downloaded 4.6 and checked for firmware and it's saying the EXT0CB6Q is the latest. Looks like the pulled the D update?
 
Just downloaded 4.6 and checked for firmware and it's saying the EXT0CB6Q is the latest. Looks like the pulled the D update?

I don't know about you, or why you didn't get "D."

I was initially mystified that my version 4.5 didn't just update itself to 4.6.

So I went to the Samsung site, found the 4.6 upgrade and did some reasonably careful reading.

Finally, I unzipped the file and installed 4.6. It then showed that the new firmware version " . . . D . . . " was available, so I went through that hoop, also.

Everything seems to be just happity-joy and wonderful.

The 4.6 version is apparently good for the 840 Pro as well. I've therefore got two more machines to putz around with and get this behind me.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Maybe you spoke too soon. The installation process meant at least two reboots, and the firmware update required a third. Re-enabling RAPID needed a fourth restart.

Also, I don't think it will update the firmware with RAPID enabled. Like I said -- I DID do some reasonably careful reading before jumping into this.
 
Last edited:
Try it again. The firmware update didn't work for me yesterday, but worked today.

Maybe I misread the Sammy website, but it seemed to require turning RAPID off. Then again, you may be among the many who abjure RAPID with a sneer.

Maybe it just needed to reboot after the SW install.

Thing is, you'd expect that version 4.5 would auto-download/install 4.6. But it doesn't. It's not as though they appear to be encouraging folks to take advantage of the new release.

On the up side -- I got through it OK and it works tip-top. So like I said -- one down -- two systems to go.
 
AFTERTHOUGHT: Maybe you spoke too soon. The installation process meant at least two reboots, and the firmware update required a third. Re-enabling RAPID needed a fourth restart.
I remember only one power off required and that's it. The magician software was able to install/update itself over the old version without a system restart, and asked for a system power off immediately after the firmware update. The reason why some off you guys need at least one reboot is because rapid requires a reboot after each enable/disable procedure. I don't use rapid.
 
I remember only one power off required and that's it. The magician software was able to install/update itself over the old version without a system restart, and asked for a system power off immediately after the firmware update. The reason why some off you guys need at least one reboot is because rapid requires a reboot after each enable/disable procedure. I don't use rapid.

I updated all of my 840 EVOs to the new firmware without issue, there's also a trick you can use to avoid the restarts between each firmware update.

1) When you see the 20s countdown, just kill the Samsung Magician in the task tray. Keep track of which SSD you updated.

2) Re-launch Samsung Magician. The SSD you just updated may or may not reflect the firmware update. Just skip it and update the next 840 EVO you have.

3) Repeat from Step 1 until all your SSDs are done, then let the last one turn the system off.

4) Relaunch Magician and all of your drives should show the update.

If you have one or two drives no biggy, but if you have multiples this can save you quite a bit of time and tedium.
 
Was on Magician v4.5 and received no prompt to update to v4.6 so did it manually. Flashed onto EXT0DB6Q, shut down, powered up and ran advanced performance optimization.

Everything worked fine and my boot time has dropped by about 8 seconds. I knew my boot time was far longer than it should have been and I suspected this would be the cause so I'm glad it did turn out to be.
 
I wish and I hope they stop selling their crap SSDs (crap due to their firmware issues)

SanDisk / Crucial / Plextor / Intel SSDs FTW

SanDisk - used the same buggy SandForce controllers everybody else was, had similar problems. (2012-2013)

Crucial - V4. It was a joke of a product but I'll give them points for honesty anyway. (2012)

Plextor - Okay, you get this one, but... they're still in business?

Intel - 8MB firmware bug - effected multiple models with different controllers, including the X25M and 320/330. Bricked the drives. (2011-2012)

So I guess it takes ~3 years and two product generations for a company to go from "OMG NEVER AGAIN" to "FTW!"*

*Offer void for OCZ Vertex and IBM/Hitachi/HGST DeskStar/DeathStar, which will never had nerd cred again, apparently.

If Quantas starts making SSDs, sign me up!
 
You forgot about the Crucial m4 5184 hours on BSOD bug. That was a big one.

Despite all the hate on Samsung over this, at least it didn't cause data loss like some of the ones mentioned.
 
SanDisk - used the same buggy SandForce controllers everybody else was, had similar problems. (2012-2013)

Crucial - V4. It was a joke of a product but I'll give them points for honesty anyway. (2012)

Plextor - Okay, you get this one, but... they're still in business?

Intel - 8MB firmware bug - effected multiple models with different controllers, including the X25M and 320/330. Bricked the drives. (2011-2012)

So I guess it takes ~3 years and two product generations for a company to go from "OMG NEVER AGAIN" to "FTW!"*

*Offer void for OCZ Vertex and IBM/Hitachi/HGST DeskStar/DeathStar, which will never had nerd cred again, apparently.

If Quantas starts making SSDs, sign me up!
I agree with you. Maybe I am a bit biased towards SanDisk now that I own 2 of them but hey, they use MLC NAND and are NOT Sandcrap based controllers so ATM they are FTW 🙂

just my 2 cents worth

PS: Wanna buy my two almost brand new 850 PRO 1TB SSDs? 1 has 3TB written to it and the 2nd one has 6TB written to it
 
I agree with you. Maybe I am a bit biased towards SanDisk now that I own 2 of them but hey, they use MLC NAND and are NOT Sandcrap based controllers so ATM they are FTW 🙂

just my 2 cents worth

PS: Wanna buy my two almost brand new 850 PRO 1TB SSDs? 1 has 3TB written to it and the 2nd one has 6TB written to it
Sorry, it's just... these conversations get me because, well, everybody has made mistakes, nobody is making garbage products on purpose, and everything breaks eventually anyway.

So I get... yeah.
 
Back
Top