New firmware for Crucial M4 - 040H

[Woomack]

Release Date: 12/04/2012

Firmware for Crucial m4 2.5" SSD. Do not use it for mSATA SSD.

Changes in version 040H:

- Improved robustness in the event of an unexpected power loss. Significantly reduces the incidence of long reboot times after an unexpected power loss.
- Corrected minor status reporting error during SMART Drive Self Test execution ( does not affect SMART attribute data ).
- Streamlined firmware update command for smoother operation in Windows 8.
- Improved wear leveling algorithms to improve data throughput when foreground wear leveling is required.

http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx

 

[Ajay57]

The big question is does this fix all the problems the members have been putting up with lately?? If so thanks for the heads up post. AJ.

 

[EarthDog]

I dont recall anything being wrong with the M4 since a few FW releases ago. Its the 840 that we are waiting for FW for last I recall....but could be wrong.

 

[Woomack]

@Ajay57, Issue in your link is probably related to SATA controller or board BIOS more than Crucial M4 SSD.

I had only one problem with all my M4 and it was compatibility with backplanes about 2 firmware versions ago. Most issues you can fix running secure erase or even better windows diskpart from command prompt.
All my M4 were running on Intel and AMD boards, LSI, Marvell and some other controllers in RAID 0, 1, 10 and AHCI without any problems except mentioned above backplane issue.

 

[Mandrake4565]

This question is more related to SSD's in general, but if you update the firmware do you lose the data on it?

 

[EarthDog]

It depends on the FW upgrade. Some are destructive, some are not. The drive MFG should have notes on that...

 

[EarthDog]

People will complain, but who knows if FW will resolve it or if its like Woomack said...Could this resolve it? Perhaps, but the notes dont state that, but the 020H does.

I found the thread, but it seems like some have trouble on the same FW while others do not... Also, crucial, a few weeks ago, put this FW out which is said to resolve the problem it seems. Not sure. But that was in the thread as a resolution a couple weeks ago.

Also, blue, red, green, post count, all are NOT barometer's for knowledge!!! It means senior member (voted in), red = admin, green = moderator, thats it.

 

[Ajay57]

look sorry ED i am having site problems can not post as i want to, so here is the thread, please be kind enough to read it! And see what you think give your opinion OK. AJ.

1, http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=721129&highlight=crucial+SSD+problems

 

['Cuda340]

Thanks for info Woomack.

 

[Bobnova]

look sorry ED i am having site problems can not post as i want to, so here is the thread, please be kind enough to read it! And see what you think give your opinion OK. AJ.

1, http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=721129&highlight=crucial+SSD+problems

Dude hasn't said anything about sleep (which causes tons of problems) or whether it happens at stock clocks, or whether power saving stuff is turned on.
It's far too soon, IMO, to even look at the SSD.
The CPU is operating well outside known-good parameters, and that can cause an amazing array of issues.

 

[Ajay57]

Thanks Bob i shall bear that in mind for next time around. AJ.

 

[txus.palacios]

I couldn't update the firmware using my rig. The boot disc refused to detect my m4, and, well the Windows utility is a POS. Spams BSODs if you're running UEFI.

I recommend you guys to update the firmware with another computer. It works wonderfully with my AMD box (M4A77TD PRO)

 

[\dev\goat]

Last firmware update caused drive to not be detected upon startup constantly, only replugging/unplugging or sitting in bios for 10+ minutes would make the sata link come online again. Crucial m4 forum was flooded with posts about it. Sometimes it is wise to point at the SSD before the overclock if you know for a fact there's an issue with it.

Hopefully this fixes it. Off to install it myself

- Fixes an issue where the system loses the SATA link which subsequently causes
an issue where the system cannot detect a SSD that is connected to the system.
- Fixes an issue that causes the SSD to become corrupted when the system is
powered off.

 

[CaNsA]

Downloaded the archive, extracted then ran the exe, rig rebooted, everyone's a winner.

 

[Ajay57]

Yeah i mentioned this the other day and nearly had my A** CHEWED OFF! So if you have a problem talk to Bobnova who is waiting to help you all.


1, http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=721129

This is the link if you want to chat about your problems!

 

[Woomack]

These are generally F4 errors related to SATA controller or connection. In most cases it's driver issue or SATA settings.
On some boards you have to enable SATA hot swap option ( it's called in different way depends from BIOS ). There is also option to make it from Windows registry but I don't remember now where was it.
However, these errors were happening mainly on Intel 6 series boards or on early firmware, not on latest versions.
Other issue could be connection via backplanes what was well known issue for 1-2 versions before 010G. 010G supposed to be working fine but I didn't test it.
Read backplanes as any backplane, sata enclosure, hot swap bay etc so generally everything where was no direct connection with 1 SATA cable. I think it was related to power loss but I'm not sure.

 

[shadowdr]

Worked fine for me even though it said no supported drives were found, continued and flashed fine. I did skip the last update as it was supposed to be for drives that were experiencing problems due to other hardware. It does seem to boot much faster like it used to and scores on AS SSD are still comperable to when they were first installed, so for me it's all good.

 

[GeneO]

The big question is does this fix all the problems the members have been putting up with lately?? If so thanks for the heads up post. AJ.

No it doesn't fix all problems and write performance drops significantly for me.

 

[EarthDog]

What problems are you having?

 

[GeneO]

What problems are you having?

Me? Low 4K 64thread scores. The drive was fine for the first few months with great scores then this started dropping over time. A Secure Erase would bring it back for a while but now it doesn't help. My 4k 64Thread performance is now less than my 4k performance (AS-SSD). Lots of customers were having this problem and Crucial initially showed interest in fixing it but then decided not to.

Also, for each successive firmware update the write performance and the latencies take a hit.

I actually recommended this drive the first few months I had it. I would not now.

I attached the performance I used to get compared to now. The first is after a secure delete and reinstall The 4k score has improved because of the improved performance in iastor drivers