What the heck...I just got a brand new f4 2tb samsung drive, to put in my htpc, and it plainly has 2011.07 as the manuf. date, however the drive says REV. A, and the firmware is still showing to be the troublesome 1AQ10001 firmware, which as I understand it can cause problems if a smart device capacity command is issued while the drive is writing in Ahci mode, or in other words NCQ...I have been formatting my new drive which is a lengthy process, and while doing so I actually did view the smart info with disk checkup but I assume that is no problem since I was not actually writing files to the drive? At any rate, I read that even when people run the firmware updates for the Samsung F4 it does NOT change the firmware number of the drive that can be visible by viewing the smart info etc. So is it safe to assume that I have firmware that is fine, or should I flash it anyway even though this issue was supposedly fixed months ago? I know there has been a firmware issue with the f3 drives as well, and I have two of them, and my newer f3 did have a newer firmware version visible from the factory when viewing the smart info so I don't understand why the f4 does not as well...
Samsung F4 2TB HD204UI firmware?
- Thread starter 86waterpumper
- Start date
Any drive since December or January should be updated from Samsung, no need to update yourself.
Why the time wasn't taken to update the firmware revision I don't know, would definitely be helpful.
Why the time wasn't taken to update the firmware revision I don't know, would definitely be helpful.
bryanl
Golden Member
- Oct 15, 2006
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An F4 dated 2011/7 needs the firmware upgrade, and to see the version number change you can flash to the Japanese version of the firmware:
http://www.samsung.com/global/busine...=QI&faqKeyword
The file name is 089312HD240UI_JP.zip, also available elsewhere.
Wow....so you are saying that even brand new drives, samsung has not taken the time to fix before they are shipped out? 
If that is so, then that is pityful. Heck the new firmware is dated dec. of 2010 HAHA. It is a shame, because I love how fast the samsung drives are, and they are very quiet, but they certainly are eaten up with firmware issues, heck even the older f3 1tb drives need a firmware flash to work properly on the intel chipset controllers. Anyway I did try last night to flash with the u.s. firmware upgrade, F4EG.exe and it would not work and said I did not have the proper drive or some nonsense. I will see if the japanese version will work thanks for your help!
If that is so, then that is pityful. Heck the new firmware is dated dec. of 2010 HAHA. It is a shame, because I love how fast the samsung drives are, and they are very quiet, but they certainly are eaten up with firmware issues, heck even the older f3 1tb drives need a firmware flash to work properly on the intel chipset controllers. Anyway I did try last night to flash with the u.s. firmware upgrade, F4EG.exe and it would not work and said I did not have the proper drive or some nonsense. I will see if the japanese version will work thanks for your help!
fleshconsumed
Diamond Member
- Feb 21, 2002
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Are you sure this firmware is compatible with the HD204UI/F4EG drives sold in the US? I flashed my 204UI, but I'm still paranoid as it didn't update firmware number.
See that's the kind of crap I am talking about. How many people do not even know about this being necessary in the first place? The same is true for the F3 drives. I actually have one of the affected F3 drives in a system that I am getting read to sell to a buddy of mine, so heck I guess I need to update it before I give it to him also.
Samsung dang well needs to get the number changed on these F4s and the firmware applied before the drive is shipped, and they need to be offering more than a dos exe file. I have never in my life heard of flashing a firmware and the number not even updating. You never know if the thing took or not. Most of us here are pretty tech savvy, but your average bear can't begin to prepare a thumbdrive to boot to dos and apply this patch...For sure they need to release a program that will do it right from windows, heck even system bios can be done that way now for years, you can't tell me they couldn't write a app to do the same for this.
Samsung dang well needs to get the number changed on these F4s and the firmware applied before the drive is shipped, and they need to be offering more than a dos exe file. I have never in my life heard of flashing a firmware and the number not even updating. You never know if the thing took or not. Most of us here are pretty tech savvy, but your average bear can't begin to prepare a thumbdrive to boot to dos and apply this patch...For sure they need to release a program that will do it right from windows, heck even system bios can be done that way now for years, you can't tell me they couldn't write a app to do the same for this.
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The firmware version won't change, after you update the firmware and you get the message "Download completed successfully" then you know that the firmware was updated, unfortunately this is the only confirmation on a successful firmware upgrade.
I got my F4 2 weeks ago and it was also manufactured on 07/2011 but I applied the firmware (US version) anyway.
I got my F4 2 weeks ago and it was also manufactured on 07/2011 but I applied the firmware (US version) anyway.
Well right, and I agree better safe than sorry so apply it if you can. As I say I tried last night to apply the F4EG.exe U.S. firmware and it did not work, it scanned the drive and said it was not correct or some such. I even unhooked every other drive on the system first! Now I have read where many people say that if it doesn't work that means the drive is up to date, and plenty others' say that no the drive is dumb and you can apply the firmware however many times you like, if you power off and then back on again. I guess I will just try the japanese firmware and hope it doesn't hurt anything. I do not want to load this thing up with data and then have it screw up. Heck for all we know, samsung has come out with newer firmware on it's drives that shipping now than is even uploaded, and since it doesn't change the version you are actually putting older crap on it
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Oh well...I cannot flash the japanese firmware either. I get the same error. This software not applicable etc, and something about responding only to ATA commands...So I do not know if something in the bios is set improperly or what. I have the other drives disconnected and the 2tb set in ide mode. I mean the flasher finds the drive and even reads out the model and firmware etc, so I do not know what else to do except just start using the drive and hope it was updated at the factory . I don't know that I will fool with more samsung drives after this, it is friggin ridiculous
. I don't know that I will fool with more samsung drives after this, it is friggin ridiculous
gevorg
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bryanl
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bryanl said:
I've flashed 4 US version HD204UI drives with the Japanese firmware update, and they're all been working for several months now.
For now I am just loading mine up, and I have write caching disabled which is supposed to fix the problem anyway. I will just keep a eye on the smart info I guess. I did read that if the flash was not working like in my case, you could put the bios settings in legacy ide mode, instead of normal and it would allow it to work, so if I see any problems I will do that. On a side note, on my smart info there is raw value of 67 on the write error rate so this can't be good I am using speedfan, which is shows the health of the drive to be good, so I don't know...
I am using speedfan, which is shows the health of the drive to be good, so I don't know...
fleshconsumed
Diamond Member
- Feb 21, 2002
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Oh well...I cannot flash the japanese firmware either. I get the same error. This software not applicable etc, and something about responding only to ATA commands...So I do not know if something in the bios is set improperly or what. I have the other drives disconnected and the 2tb set in ide mode. I mean the flasher finds the drive and even reads out the model and firmware etc, so I do not know what else to do except just start using the drive and hope it was updated at the factory
If your controller in in AHCI mode, try putting it back into IDE.
Sorry, no source, just what I've read in other forums. I went ahead and flashed all my new drives just to make sure.
Mine will not flash period for whatever reason. I have tried to flash in every mode there is including ahci, regular ide, and legacy ide. I have also tried in two different systems. I am not sure why this is I know other people are saying they are flashing drives still that they get..Raider what manuf. date do yours have? I am going to email samsung for the heck of it and see if they will bother to answer. I know though from doing some more research that even people that have flashed still alot of them get the raw write (c8) smart errors increasing, but I guess is not a huge concern unless the threshold, worst or current values change etc. I mean the drive has a write error, but corrects itself, so I guess it just hurts your speed. It is troubling, but seems to be a common characteristic of this drive, even for some people that have rmaed or gotten replacements and had several drives.
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Mine were purchased over 6 months or so, some were made late last year, some from middle of this year. All had the same firmware revision, but I flashed them again anyway before use.
Flashing should be easy.... I did mine by booting off a USB drive into FreeDOS. Flashed with the EXE firmware onto the drive (only one connected to my motherboard).
Oh I know it's a easy process...I'm well aware of how to do it. I am doing it off a thumbdrive too. I also disconnect every other drive. I am just saying the flasher utilities, or exes in both cases, the japanese version and the u.s. one will NOT flash my drive. It launches, shows the drive so it finds the samsung drive, but then gave the ATA error. When I switch it to legacy ide mode, it does not give this error, it just finds the drive and then sits there doing nothing, till doomsday but never do I get the completed successful message that others say they get.
I sent samsung a question about it we will see if they care to respond...to make matters even sadder, when you send a technical question on the F series drives, they don't even have the HD204UI as a model of drive you can choose so I had to choose a F3 drive just to make it work. I put the proper drive I was asking about in the body of the message but who knows if I'll get a proper answer heh.
I sent samsung a question about it we will see if they care to respond...to make matters even sadder, when you send a technical question on the F series drives, they don't even have the HD204UI as a model of drive you can choose
so I had to choose a F3 drive just to make it work. I put the proper drive I was asking about in the body of the message but who knows if I'll get a proper answer heh.This is true. Any drive after Dec is updated. We've talked about this on like NAS forums and stuff. It's confirmed.
code65536
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- Mar 7, 2006
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Just as a reference, there was another thread about this about a month ago:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2181030
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2181030
Mine is dated 2011.07 so I am going to leave it alone. I am doing this because Synology's site says so:
"If your hard drive was manufactured before 2010 December (could be identified with serial number xxxxxxxZ7xxxxx, xxxxxxxZ8xxxxx,xxxxxxxZ9xxxxx,xxxxxxxZAxxxxx, or xxxxxxxZBxxxxx), you must upgrade the firmware of this hard drive before the installation. Please consult with Samsung Technical Support (or a computer technician) for further details with regards to updating the HDD Firmware."
My serial number is xxxxxxxB7xxxxx so I must be ok then.
I just got a 2TB F4 dated 7.2011 and I started having some pretty serious problems with it after copying about 1TB to it. (Reading from the drive has become extremely slow, sometimes I can't read from it at all). I have no idea if it's the firmware or just a dud drive though.
bryanl
Golden Member
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The REV. A drives with that manufacturing date had the defective firmware, and the update that will work for your drive and will show a different firmware version can be downloaded from here:
http://www.samsung.com/global/busine...=QI&faqKeyword
Sorry to resurrect.
I just found out about this issue. I have a Samsung HD204UI rev A drive dated 2010.12. The links to firmware in this thread are dead so I went to the Seagate site. It has a page to download files based on a drive model and serial number. It says my serial number doesn't have any available firmware updates but I don't trust Seagate's competence.
Does anyone know how I can REALLY confirm if my drive needs new firmware? And if so, where can I get the firmware since Seagate won't provide a link unless they THINK you need it. Preferably a version that also updates the firmware id.
I don't know when the problem was discovered and when Seagate bought Samsung out so don't know who to add to my "never buy from again" list for NOT updating the firmware even years later to INCLUDE updating the version number. It speaks volumes about their competence, concern for the customer and even pride. /rant
I just found out about this issue. I have a Samsung HD204UI rev A drive dated 2010.12. The links to firmware in this thread are dead so I went to the Seagate site. It has a page to download files based on a drive model and serial number. It says my serial number doesn't have any available firmware updates but I don't trust Seagate's competence.
Does anyone know how I can REALLY confirm if my drive needs new firmware? And if so, where can I get the firmware since Seagate won't provide a link unless they THINK you need it. Preferably a version that also updates the firmware id.
I don't know when the problem was discovered and when Seagate bought Samsung out so don't know who to add to my "never buy from again" list for NOT updating the firmware even years later to INCLUDE updating the version number. It speaks volumes about their competence, concern for the customer and even pride. /rant
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