Samsung 850 Pro SSD 256 gb slower after firmware update EXM02B6Q. Original firmware EXM01B6Q worked perfect!

soewhaty

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I contacted the Samsung support in the country where I bought my Samsung SSD [in my case Denmark] and they said they were unable to solve my problem and told me to call 00 800 8010 8011 and the support person there told me to contact samsungmemory@hanaro.eu via email.

I have a notebook laptop HP Pavilion dv7-6b76eo. The laptop came with an HDD, but not long ago I bought the Samsung 850 Pro 256gb SSD MZ-7KE256BW and it worked perfect until today’s firmware update. [Just for the record, the SSD is produced in China, not in Korea. That’s what is says on its box.] After today’s firmware update EXM02B6Q the SSD is now slower according to Samsung Magician’s Performance Benchmarking tool, if we are to trust this! As of yet I cannot notice and real slow down, but I guess I'd trust the fact that Magician is reporting lower speeds and iops. I performed the firmware update while within Windows, from the Magician interface, after which I rebooted to see the effects take place. After the firmware update EXM02B6Q the benchmarking tool shows approx.. seq. read/write 300/500 MB and IOPS 55.000/55.000. Original firmware EXM01B6Q, on the other hand, worked perfect and with it Magician’s benchmark tool showed approx. seq. read/write 520/530 MB and IOPS 90.000/90.000 and that is, according to the product description, how fast the SSD should be! I run Windows 7 x64 Pro +SP1 on the Samsung SSD in question and have the latest updates of everything.

No changes to the settings of the SSD inside or outside the Magician software took place before and after the firmware update. Also, I did a test before the update and speeds were perfect and also did a test after the update and speeds were lower. Clearly before the firmware update the speeds shown in Magician were as they should be and after the firmware update they were not.

I tired reinstalling Magician software, but after reinstalling it I still got the low benchmark results. I also did a bootable CD of the .iso file [found here http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html] of the newer EXM02B6Q firmware just to try to re-do the update to see if that helps, but when I booted to the bootable cd all it did for me was to confirm that I already have the latest firmware, so I wasn’t able to re-update the firmware. So I am still stuck with this new and obviously bad firmware. Help is welcome!!!

Could you please provide me with the *.iso file of the original firmware EXM01B6Q and also inform me if yet a newer firmware update, to fix the issues with EXM02B6Q, is going to be out soon?

This here is just one forum out of a few out there showing others having issues with the new firmware update too - http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37195512
 

Palorim12

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For drives that had the FW update fail and then upon rebooting the drive shows up as gibberish. I seem to have figured a fix.

Just gonna let you know, it does require a second 850 Pro, of the exact same capacity that has not had the FW updated. Also, you need the ISO of the new FW, which is no longer available on Samsung's site.

1. Create Bootable CD out of the ISO

2. Have just the old FW working 850 Pro connected and boot to the ISO

3. When you get to the point where it asks if you are sure you want to do the FW update, do not press anything

4. Swap the good 850 Pro with the bad one

5. Continue with FW update

6. After it completes updating, it may say read error mismatch

7. exit FW update

8. reboot computer to previously broken drive

9. everything is as it was before FW update error

10. drive has new FW on it

11. ???

12. Profit!

Tried it on all my 850's Pros that stopped working after the FW update failed through Magician. All are up and running again.
 

Palorim12

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The FW isn't junk. The issue is caused by how the Magician program tried to push the update. I have 850 Pros running with the new FW from the ISO and they are running perfectly fine.

Also, the link still works, they just removed it from being seen on the site. If someone posts the direct link for the ISO, you can still download it from their server.
 

soewhaty

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Well yes .. did read it is not possible to revert to an older one, but then what to do? Will I not be able somehow to ... for example get the old iso of the old firmware and force install it over this new and bad one? Or perhaps Samsung will just come up with a still newer release of FW to fix this ... ???
 

mrchips1

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If you got thru the firmware update intact you are lucky. My Samsung SSD 850 Pro 512GB failed the update and bricked the drive. All Samsung could do is issue me an RMA and cross ship a new drive, which to this moment has NOT BEEN SHIPPED. If this is your boot drive you are hosed. Fortunately for me I was backed up by Paragon and was able to mount my whole drive to another drive albeit much slower. I hope the new drive they are sending me has their best solution (firmware) because I'm not going to update anymore of their software once I get it set up. I own two items from them: a refrigerator and this drive. Both have had software issues. They need to hire some knowledgeable code writers or something because this is getting ridiculous. I think it should be made a crime to put out firmware/software that has not been properly vetted.
BTW: The tech at Samsung said these drives would fail anyway without the firmware update. And mine was running so well before they put out this update. Sad really very sad.
 

soewhaty

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Agree with you! Very very VERY BAD SERVICE FROM SAMSUNG!!! THEIR REPUTATION JUST WENT DOWN .. BIG TIME! Now everyone is going to pay a couple of more bucks and just get a stable Intel SSD instead... too bad Samsung.
 

Palorim12

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When i spoke to Samsung tech support, the rep told me that all the FW update does is optimize the drive on SATA 2-3gb/s connections and workstations. So if i didn't meet either of those requirement, then i don't need to update the FW update.

Also, Mr. Chips. I've done Advanced with them before. It typically takes up to 2 days for them to ship out the advanced replacement. At least here in the US, IDK about outside of the country.
 

mrchips1

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This is even sadder. If what you say is correct, then they should have had the common courtesy to let people know they didn't really need it. For me this has been just short of a nightmare. I am however, waking up. At least I'm back up albeit very slowly. I just upgraded to X-99 with everything and now I'm still fixing things.
Coming here from Carlstadt, NJ should only take a day or so, once they actually ship it. I'm in South Carolina just below Charlotte, NC.
 

mrchips1

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mrchips1

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I had to totally disconnect the drive to even get computer to boot to another drive even after making all the adjustments in BIOS. I had to connect the bootable drive to the same SATA port as my SSD in order to get it to boot and completely disconnect the SSD from the machine even if attached to another port. Now that's downright weird, don't you think?
 

mrchips1

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BTW: I just signed up for this forum and have been waiting for that e-mail to come in to verify my authenticity. Anyone know why? Says it the sent an e-mail , but none ever arrives. Been getting others from other sources.
 

soewhaty

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No, that is only a link to samsungs website. Samsung removed the crappy FW a couple of days ago from their site, knowing that it is a junk FW ... at least they prevented others from downloading it ...
 

soewhaty

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No, that is not true.. you cannot download the iso file. At least in my country the direct link to the iso file is not allowed to be downloaded cos it is removed ... pretty sure it is not psbl to download elsewhere either...

As to the firmware ... yes it is JUNK, BECAUSE I managed to update to the new firmware from within the Magician desktop utility and it worked out without any problems. The only issues is that Magician now shows the ssd in its performance benchmark tool to be almost a third slower. I cannot say that from my experience it really feels a third slower, but just don't understand why magician shows that then ... in other words, be4 the update - 550/550; 90k/90k; after the fw update - 300/500; 55k/55k ... conclusion - junk FW
 

soewhaty

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Palorim12 might be right. A FW update for a drive ... especially a system drive, being used and active in the time of update should take place thru DOS in preboot environment, because the OS itself is running on the SSD at the time being, in case one decides to do the fw update from the desktop utility Magician. HOW STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE, IN SAMSUNGS CASE, to allow a FW update of the CURRENTLY-USED, ACTIVE, SYSTEM DRIVE TO TAKE PLACE WHILE IN WINDOWS .... IT MUST TAKE PLACE OUT OF WINDOWS, COS THE C;\ IS BEING USED IF WINDOWS IS ON. MAKES NO SENSE THAT MAGICIAN SHOULD ALLOW FOR THE FW TO BE INSTALLED WHILE IN WINDOWS. IT SHOULD ONLY BE DOABLE USING THE ISO IMAGE FILE ... THAT'S WHAT SIMPLE LOGICS LEADS TO. THAT IS ALSO WHY IN THE DEV. MANAGER IN WINDOWS YOU CANNOT DO EXTEND [CAN ONLY SHRINK] THE C:\ PARTITION ... COS IT IS BEING USED, FOR CRAP'S SAKE, SAMSUNG! LOADS OF OTHER EXAMPLES ... CHECKDISK, PARAGON DEFRAGMENTING AND PARTITIONING ... LOADS OF TASKS THAT HAVE TO HAPPEN OUTSIDE THE OS ENVIRONMENT ... FW UPDATE SEEMS TO BE NO EXCEPTION OF THOSE TASKS.
 

mrchips1

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I RMA'ed the bricked SSD to Samsung and they overnighted me a new (refurbished) one. From total annihilation to back to running with the new Firmware.__5 Days. Word to the wise---Back your stuff up always before you do any of this type of update. You are altering something while you are actually running it. I mean do a full disk mount Backup. If you don't,,, get ready to loose it.