New firmware for Intel X25-M is out

[ckett]

So here are some basic installation questions...

I have a new G2 drive with nothing installed on it. I plan to install Windows 7 x64.

Should I first install Windows 7 then do the Intel firmware update? -or-

Should I install the firmware update first, then install Windows 7?

For people burning the ISO to a CD, is this the only way to update the firmware, or can this be done in the Windows environment?

 

[bigi]

So here are some basic installation questions...

I have a new G2 drive with nothing installed on it. I plan to install Windows 7 x64.

Should I first install Windows 7 then do the Intel firmware update? -or-

Should I install the firmware update first, then install Windows 7?

For people burning the ISO to a CD, is this the only way to update the firmware, or can this be done in the Windows environment?

Update the firmware first.

 

[pm]

I updated my 160GB G2 last night without problems. Burned the iso to a CD, and had no issues. I had it in AHCI mode and it didn't give me any messages about changing to IDE or anything like that. Just lots of clicking yes to license agreements and such. I didn't notice any change at all.

ckett, I would install the firmware first. I don't know of any way to do it other than burning a CD - you can't do any mounting iso tricks with it because you need to boot to the CD. You could hack around and make a bootable thumb drive out of the iso, but that would probably be more work than the cost of a blank CD.

 

[Riverhound777]

Also a reminder in case anyone else runs into this issue. Disable any floppy drive options in the bios if you don't have one. I thought my issue was with AHCI when my install process was taking forever to get to the language selection and then stuck at Setup is Starting. But it was the floppy settings.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Well, at least it's good to know that you can update firmware in AHCI mode. One less hassle. I'll be giving this FW a twirl on Friday.

 

[jimhsu]

Hey guys, I'm seeing the same issue I saw with the Vertex I had. Using Office 2007 as an example as it is the clearest indicator (though this is NOT the only program I'm noticing this on):

When I first installed everything Word and Excel opened in an instant with the SSD. After using it for like a week or so, it now takes the SSD longer than my old Velociraptor to open those programs (used to be ~2 secs now takes more than 10-15 secs.) Does anyone know what I can do? Is there something in Win7 I should turn off (I thought Superfetch and its ilk were turned off auto by Win7)? Is the fault my mobo or something? I know each time it's a fresh install it opens instant but then no longer does so after a few days.

I should add: This is true before and after the firmware update.

Keep the resource monitor open while you launch office. Does the disk queue length remain significantly above 1? My hypothesis is that you're somehow doing a lot of sequential writes on startup, which unlike random writes on the X25-M do not "interleave" well. I get similar problems when copying multi-GB game folders to and from the SSD while trying to do tasks.

My startup times for the office apps has been consistently 0.5-1s. (humans are not good at timing sub second events)

 

[AlgaeEater]

Quick question folks: I just updated the firmware like everyone else in this thread... and I don't know if it's safe to use the SSD Toolbox optimizer. If I had remember correctly, wasn't there another problem with bricked drives based on the SSD Toolbox OR was it the firmware updater only by itself?

Intel still has their SSD Toolbox not download-able, hence my hesitation to run the optimizer.

http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-031020.htm

 

[PUN]

Quick question folks: I just updated the firmware like everyone else in this thread... and I don't know if it's safe to use the SSD Toolbox optimizer. If I had remember correctly, wasn't there another problem with bricked drives based on the SSD Toolbox OR was it the firmware updater only by itself?

Intel still has their SSD Toolbox not download-able, hence my hesitation to run the optimizer.

http://www.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/CS-031020.htm

it was the firmware updater which bricked the drive.
SSD Toolbox works fine with the new firmware.

 

[ilkhan]

Still in AHCI mode, I tried, it said it failed and suggested the IDE mode/etc switches.
Changed to IDE mode, it said already done. Says current firmware is 2CV102HD. :shrug:
I had NOT updated with the first TRIM firmware. So whatever.

 

[Yuriman]

I ran AS SSD Bench before and after the firmware update (2x 80gb RAID0):

 

[TemjinGold]

Keep the resource monitor open while you launch office. Does the disk queue length remain significantly above 1? My hypothesis is that you're somehow doing a lot of sequential writes on startup, which unlike random writes on the X25-M do not "interleave" well. I get similar problems when copying multi-GB game folders to and from the SSD while trying to do tasks.

My startup times for the office apps has been consistently 0.5-1s. (humans are not good at timing sub second events)

Thanks for the advice. I'll try that tonight when I get home from work. If that IS the problem, is there any way to fix it? I used to have those snappy startup times but now everything takes a bit longer (Office is just the most noticeable but my games load a tad slower too.)

 

[jimhsu]

No, except to identify what is doing sequential writes and try to a) stop running it or b) divert it to a mechanical hard disk.

 

[PUN]

I ran AS SSD Bench before and after the firmware update (2x 80gb RAID0):

Yuri, can you check to see if TRIM is enabled with your RAID?

 

[TemjinGold]

No, except to identify what is doing sequential writes and try to a) stop running it or b) divert it to a mechanical hard disk.

Oh okay thanks!

 

[Yuriman]

No trim, unfortunately. And I'm not counting on Intel to release a firmware update, even if that's all it would take, to enable it on my raid controller.

 

[DonnieT]

Forgive my extreme newbieness but i just read the posts that said to install the firmware update first, how do you install a firmware update without an operating system?

 

[Voo]

You can't upgrade the firmware in the OS, you have to do it before it is loaded - e.g. just burn the iso on a CD/DVD/USB stick and just follow the instructions (y, y, wait, remove cd, restart - nothing complicated^^)

 

[fleshconsumed]

Forgive my extreme newbieness but i just read the posts that said to install the firmware update first, how do you install a firmware update without an operating system?

Some firmware updates can be done in windows. Asus and BENQ provided windows based flashing utilities. However, majority of firmware updates are done through some DOS based OS that is loaded from floppy or more recently CD/DVD. Flashing from DOS based OS is considered safer and in general is the way to go.

 

[Thor86]

No trim, unfortunately. And I'm not counting on Intel to release a firmware update, even if that's all it would take, to enable it on my raid controller.

No, this is an Intel Matrix Storage driver that needs updating to support the TRIM commands to RAID setups. The latest SSD firmware is the TRIM support one.

 

[dc9mm3]

Motherboard Asus P5Q SE Plus, I have win 7 64 bit installed. Have 80 gig intel G2 drive as C drive the OS on it. Bios is set to ACHI. Ran update said it failed. Went into bios and switched to IDE mode. Re ran update said its allready done with firmware 2CV102HD. Intels web site says it will update it to 02HD so i guess mine was allready done or the first update i did actually did work. I say the last part because after i was done running it the second time i reset the bios back to ACHI and booted into windows 7 and it said it found new hardware and showed my SSD drive and said i need to reboot. I did and all is well. So if the drive allready had new firmware then why did windows need to reboot? My guess is it did do the firmware update . Either way i think iam all set.

 

[CEK15]

Hey everyone,

Just installed Win7 Pro64 on an X-25m G2 160GB drive that I flashed to 02HD before the Windows install. When I run the AS SSD tool, I get comparable numbers to most of the other users here except for my 4K-64Thrd time which is at 23.12mb/s and 55.28mb/s. AS SSD is reading my drive as INTEL SSDSA2M160G2GC ATA Device and with firmware 2CV102HD pciide 149.05 GB.

The only thing different from everyone else's screenshots are the ATA Device and pciide. Is this the cause for the low 4k-64Thrd times? Thanks for your help.

Edit: All on a GA-EP35-DS3R mobo.

 

[shabby]

The only thing different from everyone else's screenshots are the ATA Device and pciide. Is this the cause for the low 4k-64Thrd times?

You should of enabled ahci before installing win7, try again.

 

[Mihixson]

Does anyone happen to have a copy of the Optimizer laying around and mind sending it my way? Can PM you email address. Thanks.

 

[shabby]

You mean the intel ssd toolbox? Here you go http://www.sendspace.com/file/wxug4g

 

[Mihixson]

yep, that's what i was looking. thanks!