Holy crap.. Crucial M4 SSD Line.. Stay the flip away from it!

[illriginalized]

WTF man..

So yesterday I came home from work to discover my PC claiming that it cannot find the OS (Windows 7).

I reboot my computer go into BIOS, there's my drive. Ok so wtf is the problem I say..

Reboot my computer, Windows loads. Just in case my drive is failing I decide to quickly made a backup before SHTF. 90% into finishing the backup, Windows starts to bog down and come to a crashing halt, not even giving me a blue screen (fuuuuu I depend on that ish for researching problems when it occurs, first time ever since owning Windows 7), instead just reboots. This time, Windows cannot start because it cannot access the drive. Fuuuuuu

Disconnect all drives including including optical and my external drives in case power supply is failing and is causing my OS drive to shut down from lack of power (1200w PSU mind you), start up computer again, Windows boots up, attach 1 external drive, and start backup process again. 32% complete, effin' computer instantly restarts again, I go into BIOS, drive is missing, can only see my external drive.

Quickly install Windows 7 onto a new SSD, leave my Crucial M4 SSD attached so I can run some tests on it.. Windows installs, restarts, boots up, log in, waiting game begins.. not even 10 minutes later I watch my drive disappear again. I shut my pc off, detach my SSD, take it to my HTPC / Linux box, check partition alignment assuming the worst (damn near dead SSD of only 8 months of use), partition alignment is correct.. I then attempt to run some disk tools. As soon as I attempt the first diagnostic, the freaking drive becomes inaccessible, while machine is on.. I unplug power cable, reseat power onto SSD, SSD pops up again. Before I can start diagnostic the f*cker disappears again!!!

At this point I'm concluding the drive is nearly dead and I need to do anything possible to back up the drive, at least the user profile, bring it back to my Windows box, boot machine up... drive is there, finally got to copy the user profile and begin my research on the stupid drive.. only to find out that Crucial decided to troll its customers with some stupid form of TRIM called, "Garbage Collection". This stupid technology puts the drive into off mode, unmounting it, and not having any way of re-mounting it within Windows. Instead you either have to reboot and hope it doesn't shut off again or unplug the power cable and reseat it again and even that doesn't work.

This crap just started last night... I've owned this SSD for 8 months and now this stupid crap wants to start this? There wasn't even an update for the damn SSD. I review every single update before downloading and installing.. never have I had one for the drive -.-

Now I have to find and install a firmware update.. because the 5200 hour bug (the shutting off at random crap) has been met -.-



Crucial never again.

[tapout17]

cliffs? srs I'm lazy right now and this looks like it can be fixed. Does it show up in your bios? If it does it's not dead. Or you can update the drivers for your mother board and check for drivers for the SSD.

[illriginalized]

cliffs? srs I'm lazy right now and this looks like it can be fixed. Does it show up in your bios? If it does it's not dead. Or you can update the drivers for your mother board and check for drivers for the SSD.

It was the effin' firmware. The symptoms pointed towards a failing HDD.. except with an SSD, since there's no moving mechanical parts you can't feel any vibration nor are they audible in any way. So I couldn't just label it as a dead drive too soon. Finally I started to look into the event viewer and started to see symptoms of a drive going into sleep mode but with this SSD, there's no, "wake up" option. Researched a bit on the make/model come to find out I needed a firmware update.

Just finished the update, now to play the waiting game and see if it sleeps again. If it doesn't in the next 24 hours, I'll move forward with installing my games on it <_<;

[FunSize1990]

It was the effin' firmware. The symptoms pointed towards a failing HDD.. except with an SSD, since there's no moving mechanical parts you can't feel any vibration nor are they audible in any way. So I couldn't just label it as a dead drive too soon. Finally I started to look into the event viewer and started to see symptoms of a drive going into sleep mode but with this SSD, there's no, "wake up" option. Researched a bit on the make/model come to find out I needed a firmware update.

Just finished the update, now to play the waiting game and see if it sleeps again. If it doesn't in the next 24 hours, I'll move forward with installing my games on it <_<;

I'd be returning it after i rage quit in frustration.

[mackd]

Lol, I have a crucial M4 128gb SSD.........uhoh. So you saying that at 5200 hours this bug is known to happen on these drives?

[HungLAH]

OP this bug is old as, there was a big commotion about it like 8-10 months ago but everything's good after the firmware update. ^ no need to worry but it really depends on when you bought the drive. If you bought it recently then you're good.

[TheObjectivist]

damn cuz - the EXACT thing happened to me. created a thread a while ago: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...#post904243103


Note: its is NOT a firmware problem (at least not in most of the similar cases) Its simply the drive failing. I had 000F when mine failed

Read the reviews from newegg, amazon, tigerdirect etc - anywhere large numbers have been sold. Ill say that ~10% of these drives are guaranteed dead after 6mo to a 1year even with ALL firmware updates.





One thing you can try (crucial made me attempt 3x before they would RMA):

We recommend you perform this procedure on a desktop computer because it allows you to only connect the SATA power connection, which improves the odds of the power cycle being successful. However, a USB enclosure with an external power source will also work. Apple and Windows desktop users follow the same steps.

1. 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.

2. Power the computer down and disconnect the drive for 30 seconds.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 one more time.

4. Reconnect the drive normally, and boot the computer to your operating system.

5. If the latest firmware has not been updated to your drive, do so. You can find our firmware update page here.

A laptop computer will also work, but you’ll have connect the drive and navigate to the systems BIOS menu. (Please refer to your system manufacturer’s documentation on how to access the BIOS.) Allowing the drive to sit in the BIOS will improve the odds that the power cycle will be successful. For laptops, we don’t recommended using a USB enclosure powered via USB. In addition, Apple laptop users must boot the system to the open firmware.

1. Laptop users will need to be in the BIOS menu, or open firmware as stated above. The computer will need to stay powered for 20 minutes. We recommend you don’t use the laptop during this process.

2. Power the computer down and disconnect the drive for 30 seconds.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 one more time.

4. Reconnect the drive normally, and boot the computer to your operating system.

5. If the latest firmware is has not been updated to your drive, do so. Click here for our firmware updates.







Good news though: if you do get Crucial to RMA, its a painless process that will get a new drive in your hands ~1week. Just note though, that they dont send a new drive, rather a remanufactured unit. From what I have read, this could mean a rather old drive (many write cycles)



Final notes: its not just Crucial - all of these #@$%^& SSDs are riddled with problems.
Patriot - bad
Corsair - huge hit or miss
Samsung - fairly good
OCZ- fuking forget it - srs


Intel is the only drive company that had highly positive reviews concerning reliability, but the price/performance was so far below M4 is threw me for a loop

[mh22]

damn..hope my 128gb doesnt die

[Archangel_Lost]

got a 128g one of those kunts sitting in my optical bay doing jack sheit because I've been too lazy to switch over the OS. Guess it's gonna stay that way..

[SynapticCleft]

I have 2 crucial 128gb ssd, no problems here. Had these 2 drives for a year now.

Have you tried RMAing the SSD?

[KilaByte]

And here I thought these were pretty reliable. Sammy 830 it is then. Supposedly Intel ones are not bad reliability wise as well, I'm not interested in any other ones since I've read ALOT on these lately because I'm shopping for one. I'm not losing data again. GL with the drive OP, hopefully it's just the firmware (read about issues with that) and reps for kind of making my mind

[SOPAbrah]

getting one of these next month
ahh yeah

[illriginalized]

So far so good.. looks like the firmware update was exactly what I needed. Will start installing games tomorrow after work -.-

Wish I knew about this while I had my previous windows. Have so many damn registry modifications to make, which is tedious enough beyond software, drivers, and settings (for the OS/drivers/software).

I have 2 crucial 128gb ssd, no problems here. Had these 2 drives for a year now.

Have you tried RMAing the SSD?

I have the M4 0009 firmware.. which updated to 000f. For 0001 and 0002 firmwares the 000f firmware unlocked the speed limitations so now they're as fast as the 0009 version. Only thing 000f fixed for my SSD was the stupid random sleep/off mode.

And to think... I was thinking of even RAIDing my SSDs. That would have been hell in that setup.

[-=Zeus=-!]

Posting from 256 M4, good thing I have my chit backed up daily on an usb 3 external

[mh22]

One thing you can try (crucial made me attempt 3x before they would RMA):

We recommend you perform this procedure on a desktop computer because it allows you to only connect the SATA power connection, which improves the odds of the power cycle being successful. However, a USB enclosure with an external power source will also work. Apple and Windows desktop users follow the same steps.

1. 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.

2. Power the computer down and disconnect the drive for 30 seconds.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 one more time.

4. Reconnect the drive normally, and boot the computer to your operating system.

5. If the latest firmware has not been updated to your drive, do so. You can find our firmware update page here.

Does this really help/work to extend the life of the SSD?
I updated to the newest firmware 010G that they have on their site. Just today I turn on my PC and it turns on and shuts off. It didn't even boot up Windows or nothing. Just turns off..and I try to turn it on again and NOTHING. I disconnect some of the cables on the motherboard and reconnect my RAM and it works again like there was no problem....WTF? Now I'm not sure if this is the problem with my SSD or something else on my PC...mind is full of phuck

[mackd]

Does this really help/work to extend the life of the SSD?
I updated to the newest firmware 010G that they have on their site. Just today I turn on my PC and it turns on and shuts off. It didn't even boot up Windows or nothing. Just turns off..and I try to turn it on again and NOTHING. I disconnect some of the cables on the motherboard and reconnect my RAM and it works again like there was no problem....WTF? Now I'm not sure if this is the problem with my SSD or something else on my PC...mind is full of phuck

Also just updated to 010G on my M4, if any problems will post here but so far so good!

[RusnConcussion]

brb on my second OCZ vertex drive with no problems to date.

[Taikun]

brb on my second OCZ vertex drive with no problems to date.

I'm on my 2nd as well, but I bought my current drive (vertex 3 128) early in it's lifecycle and it had terrible problems until I flashed the firmware a couple times. It's been rock solid ever since and I'm in the market for another.

That sucks you had such trouble, OP. Hopefully you get whatever you need from the drive, then call them up and shout at them until you have a new drive in your hands.

[RusnConcussion]

I'm on my 2nd as well, but I bought my current drive (vertex 3 128) early in it's lifecycle and it had terrible problems until I flashed the firmware a couple times. It's been rock solid ever since and I'm in the market for another.

That sucks you had such trouble, OP. Hopefully you get whatever you need from the drive, then call them up and shout at them until you have a new drive in your hands.

the vertex 4 drives are a steal imo. they have enterprise grade mlc flash since the consumer grade was in short supply during manufacturing. and the new firmware really boosted read performance on them.

[Taikun]

the vertex 4 drives are a steal imo. they have enterprise grade mlc flash since the consumer grade was in short supply during manufacturing. and the new firmware really boosted read performance on them.

My body is ready... I can get the 256 gig vertex 4 for about $200 locally right now, really tempted to go for it since my 128 is constantly running out of space, even with a platter drive attached. I might have to wait a month or two though since I just spent multiple thousand dollars on camera equipment fml

[mackd]

My body is ready... I can get the 256 gig vertex 4 for about $200 locally right now, really tempted to go for it since my 128 is constantly running out of space, even with a platter drive attached. I might have to wait a month or two though since I just spent multiple thousand dollars on camera equipment fml

Just updating. My pc hanged at shutting down last night, anyway powered off by holding the power button.
Started up this morning, some reason my boot priority had changed and it was booting old windows copy off my HDD and my SSD was now set to secondary boot. WTF.
Not sure if its from Firmware update on M4 or windows being crayzzzy

[crsarellano]

didnt read, just looked at picture. as far as the crucial m4 goes, i do not have it but it has some of the highest reviews on it as being one of the most reliable SSD's out there. so this is the first ive heard of someone complaining about it


as far as your picture goes, your drive isnt showing up im assuming cuz u did a fresh install of the ssd being your primary drive. mine did the same ****.... i forgot what i did but i had to go into some nooks and crannys of my computer to get the drive to show up.

[illriginalized]

didnt read, just looked at picture. as far as the crucial m4 goes, i do not have it but it has some of the highest reviews on it as being one of the most reliable SSD's out there. so this is the first ive heard of someone complaining about it


as far as your picture goes, your drive isnt showing up im assuming cuz u did a fresh install of the ssd being your primary drive. mine did the same ****.... i forgot what i did but i had to go into some nooks and crannys of my computer to get the drive to show up.

Should have read. My PC never had an issue first recognizing my drives. It's a known firmware issue. ^_^

[Taikun]

Just updating. My pc hanged at shutting down last night, anyway powered off by holding the power button.
Started up this morning, some reason my boot priority had changed and it was booting old windows copy off my HDD and my SSD was now set to secondary boot. WTF.
Not sure if its from Firmware update on M4 or windows being crayzzzy

I had that happen constantly with mine. Windows would freeze so I had to hard shut down, but when it booted back up the drive wouldn't get detected by the BIOS. The BIOS then just defaults to the next valid boot device, the other hard drive. Even once you reconnect the original failed drive, the BIOS won't change it back because it already has the new (wrong) boot disk set. This behavior is entirely the fault of the drive, not Windows or the BIOS.

[jinda628]

I have an M4 128gb as my boot disk on my laptop too. I hope its fine, have it and no problem so far 6 months. OP just in case, Crucial SSDs have 3 years warranty anyway. I think most SSD brands have.

[RyanGrob]

tl;dr

Crucial fixed the issue with a firmware update.

If you have a SSD, check for firmware updates monthly. SSD's still have issues/bugs since they're kinda in the infant stages of replacing HD's on desktops/laptops.

I have 2 M4's and they are rock solid.

[mackd]

Reviving thread.

After having updated to 010G(Latest firmware) and never having problems before. I've been riddled with shutdown hangs, Drive not being detected in BIOS/Stalling on boot logo.
With SSD disconnected everything boots/works fine on my HDD. Finally got it to to detect, re-flashed the drive to Firmware 0309 (Old as **** firmware) and drive is back to normal.
Update to the latest firmware they said, it would be good they said.

Will keep a close eye on it, hopefully problems are gone.

[KilaByte]

Wipe it, list it

[Fire8085]

Don't get this as a second hard drive.

I bought mine end of 2011. Had to return one, new one is having same problems. Takes forever to load anything.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

So far my OCZ SSD 64gb has been solid for the past year or so.

Crosses fingers...

[mackd]

Don't get this as a second hard drive.

I bought mine end of 2011. Had to return one, new one is having same problems. Takes forever to load anything.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

So far my OCZ SSD 64gb has been solid for the past year or so.

Crosses fingers...

The old Hitachi DEATHSTAR. These drives used to have a really bad name, im guessing this is still the case.
Think my next SSD im gonna go for an OCZ. Will see if my Crucial M4 plays up after this firmware rollback, still not impressed that the latest firmware version caused my SSD to go full retard.