SSD Frozen State Fix ??

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cjkeithl

cjkeithl

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Mar 12, 2011
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I've had issues with my Samsung 840 Pro 256gb SSD for a while now. First of all I can't install windows 7 on it at all. It either stops during expanding files or doesn't even make it that far. At first I was told this was a ram issue or my disk drive, however both check out fine. I'm easily able to install it on my HDD and even clone it to my SSD but I want a fresh install not a clone. Samsung magician won't secure erase it because it says its in frozen state. I've tried the suggested method of unplugging it and plugging it back it...no go. I've tried using parted magic to sleep mode and awake to unfreeze the SSD...no go. I've RMA'd the SSD to Samsung and when I got it back still has the same issue. So I've come to the conclusion that its a bios issue. I have an ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0. I'm assuming the bios remember the SSD and it doesn't matter which SSD I put in there it's gonna freeze again and again and again..... Is there ANY WAY to unfreeze this or fix to the bios so that it doesn't freeze the drives? I'm about to just stick with HDD cause this is ridiculous. Thanks
 
Temporarily use your HDD as your O/S drive and update your motherboard's BIOS to version 1503. http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A99X_EVO_R20/#support_Download_30

Download Samsung's Magician software to your HDD and see if it recognizes your SSD.
If it does then update the SSD to its latest firmware version and then Secure Erase the drive. If the drive is already on its latest version then Secure Erase it anyway.

Once that is done shut down, disconnect all drives except your SSD and do a fresh Windows install.

Although this really shouldn't make a difference, connect your SSD to the 1st SATA port (SATA6G_1) on your motherboard.
 


Thanks for the response. That's some good information. I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes. Thanks again!
 

That is horrible information.

If the drive is frozen you can not secure erase.

My drive is locked too... after trying to do a system recovery on a botched new install(got a virus while looking for nec usb3 driver that disabled avast before rebooting after win7 updates) ...bluescreened after that and a massive list of fixs made by chk disk then a format fail from backup OS ...but it appeared to format anyways(and did say successful format from Part Wiz) and now I can't do a fresh install of windows regardless of making the drive "new" ...and there is no firmware to try and flash an 840 evo to see if that might unfreeze it... power unplug solution a no go as well. I haven't tried the sleep mode trick OP mentioned but I have little hope of that working if powering it off did nothing.

Very upset now and finding little of any use on these forums so far...

This drive was not broken... something I did screwed it up. Something one could not forsee. I know these drives don't run at full capability in ahci compatible raid mode but my situation necessitated I do a raid instal then use a microsoft fix to make it bootable in AHCI so I could switch it back and forth when ever I need to access my raid array. It already worked once with no problems as I was up and running but had to do a 2nd os reinstall for unrelated reasons and then this crap happened!

Raid should not break these drives but I can't think of anything else that could have done it? Maybe because I recovered it while in raid mode? ...and no. I am not trying to fix it while still in raid. First thing I did was switch back to AHCI to get Sam Magic working to try and diagnose my problem.

MB: Crosshair Formula IV
 
Ok... so I tried secure erase yet again and it worked this time for some reason.

I had unplugged the power twice and twice(once in dos with the usb)and it still wouldn't erase. Can't think of anything else I did since that could have fixed it. (I waited at least a good 10sec each time I unplugged it)

No reboot... nothing. just online looking for answers.

BTW for others with a similar problem do not expect Sam Magic update the "your drive is frozen" notice after following their instructions. You have to actually try to erase again... which I had done previously twice. Seems to me that maybe the process of secure erase actually unlocked the drive?(lol just noticed it does say it will reset it to factory defaults... like there are any settings in it I could change!)

This seems like something intentional smasung has done... other threads I have read makes it sound as if this is a mode the drive's bios kicks it into to protect it?

Anyways for others having this problem... try the solution more then once and then wait and have more patience then I have had :) it may even be locked on a timer? Maybe too many OS install attempts in a short amount of time?(not sure why that would be?) Maybe something that virus affected when it tore through my premature installation? Probably a combination of things while using this drive in raid mode?

Oh and I think I forgot to mention but it is one the new samsung 840 evo 250gb. CRAZY FAST WITH RAPID ENABLED!
 
Sorry you’re having problems with your Samsung 840 EVO.

You read the title of this thread, which is "SSD Frozen State Fix??", but you didn’t thoroughly read the 1st post.





That’s why I gave the response I did.
There was no reply from cjkeithl as to whether or not the BIOS update helped, so I assume it didn’t.

Since you haven’t been able to get help on this Forum or any other Forum then you need to contact Samsung customer support to get your SSD replaced. http://www.samsung.com/us/support/
 


Sorry... it sounded like you were suggest using secure erase to fix a problem that wasn't allowing secure erase to work but I just learned that feature actually does implement a fix... not just being blocked by the problem.

I am new to this whole SSD thing and have been going nuts the last three days trying to figure out how to run raid and this SSD without sacrificing too much performance ...as I really don't want ditch my array which has quite of bit on it that I would like to continue accessing at raid speeds.

...as to getting help on the forums is this the first time I have actively engaged. I was only researching answers before as that is usually sufficient with enough search to solve these kind of problems.
 


Yes... but I'm not getting my hopes up just yet till I get my install back on it and up and working. (I plan running this as IDE with with raid on my other sata channels) as Sam magic and some features still work fine and it seems to be an acceptable loss in speed. I may come back later and post a comparison of benchmarks from all modes AHCI/IDE/RAID.

If I end up replicating the problem I will probably be able to narrow down what caused it and able to provide feedback here for other people researching these issues.
 
Ok...

Thought I was screwed. At first windows install did not like it... I tried it again in raid to see. When I first used this drive I cloned from my original OS using samsungs prog which worked fine but this time it was like I was starting new drive.

...I think the issue may be partitioning or formatting from raid mode. My drive froze back up and I unplugged it from the power twice again and it failed the erase twice again... but this time I just kept restarting secure erase. I noticed it would sometimes go alittle further so I felt like I was making progress and eventually it completed! It;s like it took time for the cells to reset or clear or whatever disconnecting and reconnecting the power did to it. So just waiting before trying again should work or if impatient like I was just restart the erase every min or so till it completes... probably people out there that think this fix doesn't work because they don't give it time.

...and for anyone wondering why I am bothering going into detail on this thread. It is for those who google the title keywords and find themselves here like I did.
 
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