What exactly is OCZ's "sleep/hibernate" issue and do I have it?

[GodisanAtheist]

First the obvious: People talk about OCZ drives having problems booting from sleep and something about hibernating, but how does this problem manifest itself?

My primary rig (see sig) has a strange, EXTREMELY intermittent issue (probably happens once every 2-3 weeks, if not longer) where I put the computer into sleep mode, and just before the computer sleeps I get a BSOD that flashes by with "Internal Power Error" splashed across the top of it, then simply shuts off. It boots up afterward with no problems and works fine for the next good long while before having the same problem again.

My PSU is a relatively new Corsair HX650W (and far below load) which is routed through an APC USP, and I've just come off an Antec TruePower killing two of my video cards so if this relates to the PSU then I dunno what to think about the supposed "cream of the crop" manufacturers.

However, I do have a Vertex 2 120gb pre-NANDgate drive with whatever firmware it originally shipped with. I've had it for about 6 months now with literally no problems (sleeping, it had always gone to sleep and woken up no problems). Is what I'm experiencing related to all this I hear about Sandforce/OCZ drives having sleep/hibernate issues?

I finally got a Lanbox up and running (with a Momentus XT hybrid drive, BTW, fantastic little drive) that has an hot swap tray to allow for easy firmware flashing. Will update my Vertex 2 to the latest firmware, but won't know for a few weeks if that makes a difference. Just want to know if what I am experiencing is whatever this OCZ sleep issue is.

Thanks.

 

[SickBeast]

If you flash the firmware, I recommend doing it under Linux. When I flashed mine under Windows it borked my drive and it was a bit of a PITA to get it working again.

 

[curlysir]

If you flash the firmware, I recommend doing it under Linux. When I flashed mine under Windows it borked my drive and it was a bit of a PITA to get it working again.

OCZ has a new toolbox (2.36) that allows you to flash the boot drive and worked great for me. Mostly positive results on the OCZ forum and the one that are having problems are not having their drives borked.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Wow Ok, that was about the easiest firmware upgrade I've ever done, but no answer to my original question: is what i may or maynot still potentially experience the OCZ sleep/hibernate issue or not? I'm thinking no, but given the general animosity to OCZ around these parts I kinduv expected a host of people willing to rain hate and pity down on my choice of SSD....

 

[SickBeast]

I was under the impression that the "sleep" issue caused the drive to go to sleep and then not wake up, essentially bricking it. Perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong here.

 

[Zap]

I thought it meant the drive won't wake up from sleep, which can lose any unsaved data and require you to reboot.

???

 

[frostedflakes]

Pretty sure it can brick drives too. These sleep issues can cause the SandForce controller to go into a panic mode, which requires special tools that aren't available to end users to recover from. Easy fix for OCZ and other vendors I'm sure, but obviously involves sending the drive in for RMA which is a hassle.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Thanks. So clearly whatever issue my computer is having, its not related to the OCZ drive.

 

[Drsignguy]

Doesn't Sleep/Hibernate mode use the memory to store the data before it shuts down? You just might have some memory issues that you haven't taken into consideration? Run memtest to make sure and if no errors then at least that issue would be solved.

 

[curlysir]

I was under the impression that the "sleep" issue caused the drive to go to sleep and then not wake up, essentially bricking it. Perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong here.

This is one of the major issues that the firmware updates were supposed to fix. There were other minor issues but the "bricking" of the drive was the big one and rightly so.

 

[curlysir]

Wow Ok, that was about the easiest firmware upgrade I've ever done, but no answer to my original question: is what i may or maynot still potentially experience the OCZ sleep/hibernate issue or not? I'm thinking no, but given the general animosity to OCZ around these parts I kinduv expected a host of people willing to rain hate and pity down on my choice of SSD....

Most people (including me) that have OCZ drives are for the most part satisfied with the product. Just don't much care for their business ethics (or lack of). They do have good products and decent tech support but also have a lot of negatives from a business stand point.

 

[possaka]

If you flash the firmware, I recommend doing it under Linux. When I flashed mine under Windows it borked my drive and it was a bit of a PITA to get it working again.

Oh good fellow SickBeast,
please, tell us HOW did you revival your OCZ!
I've tryed firmware update, (1.14.1), secure erase, but couldn't format it.
Today, it appears to have only 32mB (that's like only the reserved partition alive)...
Can you please help me???

Thanks very much!

 

[possaka]

Pretty sure it can brick drives too. These sleep issues can cause the SandForce controller to go into a panic mode, which requires special tools that aren't available to end users to recover from. Easy fix for OCZ and other vendors I'm sure, but obviously involves sending the drive in for RMA which is a hassle.

Good Fellow frostedflakes,
and isn't there some software tool to make this? (for us, mere mortals) and I live in an distant country from OCZ factory to send it back.

Or any device, like those people used to crack printers ink (or toner) cartridges ???

Thanks for any information !!!