ATTENTION Crucial M4 SSD owners

[smarteyeball]

M4 customers,

We are aware of an issue that is currently affecting a small number of users whereby their m4 causes their system to require a restart. This issue occurs after approximately 5,000 hours of actual “on time” use. Following the initial reboot, the system then requires subsequent restarts after each additional hour of use. However, the data on the SSD is unaffected and will not be lost due to this condition.

Crucial Forum:

Yesterday, Crucial announced that they are on schedule to provide a firmware update for their M4 SSD series. The update is supposed to fix a firmware bug that is causing the BSODs after about 5000 hours of active use. The BSODs are not random and occur roughly every hour, which definitely affects productivity. Luckily, the data on the SSD remains unaffected. If Crucial is able to meet their schedule, the update will be available the week of January 16th.

AnandTech:



Needless to say as both an owner and one who has whole heartedly recommend this drive for it's 'reliability' - I'm rather disappointed and less than impressed to say the least.

However since Crucial are on to it and a 'fix' is in the works, it will hopefully be a non-issue for those are nowhere near the 5000hr usage mark.

 

[whs]

We better follow this one.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Corsair went through a similar thing with their Force 3 & GT series a few weeks back. Two firmware updates in a matter of days. Working solid now.

Things have cooled off at the corsair support forum. For SSDs anyway.

 

[profdlp]

M4 customers,

...This issue occurs after approximately 5,000 hours of actual “on time” use...

Since I leave my computer on 24/7 that works out to 208 days for me from when it was installed last August. Guess I should hope for a fix before March rolls around. :shock:

 

[Sardonicus]

Thanks for the heads up. I was just considering purchasing an M4 or a Samsung 830.
I think this timely post just made my decision for me.

 

[Britton30]

The FW update is targeted to be released the week of Jan 16th 2012.
I will still buy one and use the one I have. Many SSDs with Sandforce have had many issues, attested to by several threads here.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Thanks for the info -- I'm nowhere near 5,000 hrs but I'll look for the firmware -- at least Crucial have kept their eye on the ball.

cheers
jimbo

 

[Hopalong X]

Crucial Dude
Employee at Crucial, USA
BSOD Crucial M4 - Crucial Community

Forum Discussion.
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/0x00000f4-error-on-M4-64GB/td-p/76392/page/15

 

[Wishmaster]

Hopefully they will get this all worked out quickly and it will all be OK.
It may not be as bad as it seems on the surface now that they know what to do to resolve it.


Intel had a issue as well but all OK now.

 

[smarteyeball]

It may not be as bad as it seems on the surface now that they know what to do to resolve it.

Aside from this unpleasant 'surprise' - it's been a fantastic drive. So fingers crossed that new firmware will indeed nail this issue so it can continue to be one.

Crucials rep is on the line here, but their handling of it is promising.

It's starting to get harder and harder to suggest products without supplying a list of caveats these days

 

[whs]

It's starting to get harder and harder to suggest products without supplying a list of caveats these days

That is certainly true. All manufacturers seem to have their share of problems. With my Intels and OCZs I have been lucky up to now (the oldest being appr. 4 years old), but this M4 worries me - especially since I have not yet figured out how to set my Sata3 port to IDE (which is required for the firmware flashing). All I have is AHCI and Raid0.

 

[smarteyeball]

especially since I have not yet figured out how to set my Sata3 port to IDE (which is required for the firmware flashing). All I have is AHCI and Raid0.

Sounds like a Sata 3 controller chipset limitation perhaps.

If desktop, putting it on the sata II controller should be enough to trigger the IDE option. If it's one of the laptops, a quick transplant into a desktop may be required.

It looks gymnastics may be unavoidable...

 

[whs]

It looks gymnastics may be unavoidable

I am afraid you are right. Britton was so kind to research the Sata setting options for my motherboard and it appears that there is no IDE option at all.

I already called Dell 4 times but was cut off every time. I think they know that they have no good answer. I will try their live chat and see whether that yields something.

 

[GeneO]

It's starting to get harder and harder to suggest products without supplying a list of caveats these days

That is certainly true. All manufacturers seem to have their share of problems. With my Intels and OCZs I have been lucky up to now (the oldest being appr. 4 years old), but this M4 worries me - especially since I have not yet figured out how to set my Sata3 port to IDE (which is required for the firmware flashing). All I have is AHCI and Raid0.

Their firmware updater now works in AHCI mode. Their documentation on this has lagged behind. I upgraded t0 FW 009 in AHCI mode and they confirm that it is now supported.

 

[whs]

That is great news. Thank you for finding it. No more gymnastics in my future. My M4 is still on 002, so I have to upgrade one day.

 

[Britton30]

Has anybody read which firmware is affected, 002 or 009?

 

[smarteyeball]

All firmware apparently.

Most of the failing drives would have shipped with 001 though, however those that have updated in the interim and are still affected.

 

[Lemur]

Yikes!

 

[Big Tom]

jeez, theres always something

 

[mjf]

jeez, theres always something

You are right there. I was about to buy one in the next couple of days!