What's wrong with the Crucial M4 010G Firmware and why hasn't it been fixed ?

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 10/10/2012 11:30 AM | source: | 11 comment(s)

About a week or two ago Crucial released a new firmware update for the Crucial M4 SSDs, the firmware update is 010G. Last week I updated my M4 towards that firmware as I was still running the old firmware that could crash at 5000 used hours of the SSD ( a known and fixed problem). If it ain't broke, then don't try to fix it, however with that 4000 or 5000 something used hours bug in mind I figured, it is time to update the firmware. With a backup in place I re-flashed the SSD, all data was still there which made it a lovely silent upgrade. But ...

Once I posted about the firmware there was word in our forums that some Guru3D users had the problem that after a reboot or a certian while the SSD was missing from the system and BIOS.

Hunting down the issue I learned that it actually is a massive problem. The Crucial forums are invested with users complaining about this. The root of the issue is that the new firmware has a problem with UEFI based BIOSes (the new flashy GUI based BIOSes). If you have a motherboard with UEFI in combo with the 010G Firmware chances are pretty good that at random after a reboot your SSD is missing -- non detectable in the BIOS. So the secondary scenario would be at power loss or a system crash, this could drop the SSD from your system and it will not be recognized in the BIOS anymore.

Today after running this firmware upgrade for over a week it was my turn, I had a system crash and after a hardware reset, the SSD was gone rogue, missing while not detectable in the BIOS.

There are steps you try to recover the SSD. Windows desktop users follow these steps.

Connect the SSD towards power only. Once you have the drive connected and sitting idle, simply power on the computer and wait for 20 minutes. We recommend that you don't use the computer during this process.
Power the computer down and disconnect the drive for 30 seconds.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 one more time.
Reconnect the drive normally, and boot the computer to your operating system.

This method so far has worked for some and not for others, me personally still trying to revive the SSD. If you are able to revive the SSD and thus are using a EUFI BIOS based motherboard, then drop down towards firmware 000F which I made available at that link.

We are clueless as to why Crucial is still serving this Firmware actively at their website.

Tagged as: crucial, m4, firmware

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crzilla25

Posts: 4
Joined: 2012-10-10

#4428161 Posted on: 10/10/2012 04:24 PM

not to spoil but i think crucial already warn to uefi user back then that's also the reason i don't upg my firm.
and now they warned uefi user:
UEFI-based Systems: During validation of this firmware update we noticed instances where our update tools do not recognize the SSD with some systems using UEFI. The target device is not recognized as an updateable device during the reboot process. If this happens, the firmware update will not occur, and you’ll retain the firmware version you started with. Windows will then restart normally. If this sequence occurs, you cannot upgrade to this firmware version at this time, but you’ve done no harm to your system (or your data).

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact our Technical Support department.
just be patient & hope for the best.......

Hilbert Hagedoorn
Don Vito Corleone

Posts: 40821
Joined: 2000-02-22

#4428176 Posted on: 10/10/2012 04:37 PM

During validation of this firmware update we noticed instances where our update tools do not recognize the SSD with some systems using UEFI. The target device is not recognized as an updateable device during the reboot process. If this happens, the firmware update will not occur

You need to read that a little more carefully -- If the firmware update does not occur or the update tools do not recognize the SSD on systems with UEFI ... then how have so many people been able to successfully update the firmware on an UEFI system in the first place ?

Ours is UEFI ... that wasn't detected ... the firmware flashed, result: the SSD ended almost bricked.

duntuk
Junior Member

Posts: 10
Joined: 2006-02-27

#4428333 Posted on: 10/10/2012 08:14 PM

Yeah, UEFI bios wasn't detected by the upgrade on my system either Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5 TH...

Huge pain in the ass this entire thing was... And they need to make the caution warning more prominent--e.g. big bold letters, one line "DO NOT use this if your motherboard has a UEFI BIOS"

Chillin
Senior Member

Posts: 6814
Joined: 2006-01-18

#4428342 Posted on: 10/10/2012 08:20 PM

No, just update using the ISO method (USB drive).

Darren Hodgson
Senior Member

Posts: 16016
Joined: 2004-08-18

#4428404 Posted on: 10/10/2012 10:15 PM

I've updated the firmware on my 256 GB m4 twice using the Crucial Windows installer but (fortunately?) this 010G one just says there is no SSDs to update in my system even though I have the 0F firmware installed. Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay...

I contacted Crucial support about it and they came back and told me that they were working on an updated version for UEFI BIOSes. Only one slight problem there, Crucial.... my BIOS isn't UEFI as the motherboard is four years old nearly!!! I naturally sent them another email back but have yet to receive any response to it. After reading about the issues with this update I have decided to hold off updating via the ISO method.

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