Alienware owners with Samsung PM800 SSD - TRIM now available!

I have followed this thread for quite some time now. It's time to participate.


Nearly 2 weeks ago, I got a used Samsung 256GB SSD


Specifications:

MMDOE56G5MXP-0VBD1
FW: VBM15D1Q (unfortunately)
SSD came originally from a DELL laptop


At first, I didn't want to flash as the risk of bricking my SSD was really scary, I hardly could afford buying this used SSD. After all, curiosity conquered caution, and I started trying the procedure described in this thread.


SSD NOT detected on this hardware

At first I tried the procedure on my HP tx2510us (which I bought the SSD for). my HP has a AMD 780G northbridge + 700 southbridge. My SSD was not detected, and I believe it didn't work because BIOS options are very limited.


SSD detected with this hardware

Later, I tried in my Desktop. I have a Gigabyte GA-MA69VM-S2, based on the AMD 690V northbridge + SB600 southbridge. Though it only supports ACPI 1.0b, choosing the right combination in BIOS, and trying several SATA ports, my SSD was detected.


Flash did not work - Steps

I am attaching pictures I took while performing the procedure (sorry for the low quality, I modified them to reduce size as much as possible)


I think it didn't work because

I read a lot, but I'm not an expert. I wish I knew why it didn't work. I think it is one of these possibilities:

1. The flash program (intentionally or by mistake) doesn't support flashing SSDs with old firmware (remember the program is originally made specifically for SSDs released later from manufacturers like OCZ, Corsair, Mushkin, etc, while Samsung SSDs were shipped much earlier before that to Dell, Lenovo, Apple and other OEMs)

2. The old firmware itself actually requires different, specific instructions (ie, different code) to be flashed, other than what's in the flash program we got from mushkin

3. SSDs with old FW simply aren't capable of flashing by users (I think it is a very remote possibility, especially considering that Samsung SSDs from previous generation were flashable by users)

IMHO I believe the first possibility is the most probable, in such case maybe someone experienced could hack the program and modify it.


Can Dell FW for older Samsungs help?

Older Samsung SSDs (from previous genenration) already had flashable FW, and it was released by Dell, and probably other OEMs as well. Did anyone try them? Could they be useful for us (people stuck with VBM15D1Q) in a way or another?


.

 

Mk4ever

well, at least you know why you want to do all of this.....but please pardon my ignorance...

everyone talks knowing what TRIM is and what is it good for, etc...

I tried searching the web for what all of this meant, but I could not find an explanation.

Could some one spill out the newbie explanation?
What the heck is tony-trim, what is it for?, and why this whole hype about our SSD drives?

I get the sense that all of you are doing this because of a "reason" that after you do this the hardrive will be faster? or will what?

Sorry, I know I may be very annoying asking this, but everyone here knows what's going on, I guess except for me, but I too have the samsung ssd and would like to learn what going on. I just downloaded crystaldiskmark and got the following readings:

Seq 206.5 171.8
512K 165.1 130.9
4k 13.5 6.373

So what? what's the benchmark?.... on the upper selections there was preselected a "5" and the 100MB

Thanks for all your help guys,

I'm running the ssd in my AW m15x.

 

In crude terms TRIM is a Windows 7 technology that cleans up deleted data in the background to workaround a limitation with SSDs that can cause slow writes when overwriting previously written data

 

Try here and here.

The anandtech one is fairly simple to understand.

 

I found the specs for the drive, I guess the advertised sequential read/write are
"up to" 220 / 180

that would mean that mine is going at 206 and 171 of those "up to" speeds right?

 

Mk4ever,
You and I are having the EXACT same problem and are both using VBM15D1Q firmware drives with very similar serial numbers (perhaps even same batch). I can select option 1 or 2 for download main or initialize firmware and get the same results of "Erase Fail." I have ensured IDE (also tried all other options), reformatted the USB boot disk with 3 different bootfiles and tried multiple computers. I have tried the firmware files from both Mushkin and OCZ and neither work.
People successfully updating are you all coming from 18 series firmwares or are any of you from the 15 series?
Thanks!
Paypal coming for anyone to solve...

 

Can you flash this new firware without wiping the drive?

 

No the firmware update wipes the drive

 

Just got off the phone with Alienware tech support to ask about the official Dell firmware update for our drives. Rep knew what I was asking about and proceeded to put me on hold while he "checked with the engineers." He was gone for a few minutes and either took a donut break and just lied or actually talked to them because he had good news when he got back.
"The engineers have the update and are putting it through validation testing right now." He proceeded to tell me that it should be "a couple of weeks" according to the engineers if all goes well.
I'm not always that confident with customer service rep answers, but if he is correct our wait for official support for the Dell PM800 series SSD is almost over!

 

@ littlezipp

Thank you for the news. I really hope it's true, although I still don't get why it's taking so long with Dell specifically.

AFAIK:
- OCZ, Corsair, Mushkin, SuperTalent, Lenovo all released FW.
- Only Samsung and Dell (Apple, IIRC, don't need TRIM yet as the OS still doesn't use it) haven't released FW.

Are there other samsung rebranded SSDs that I forgot?

Now FWIW:
- Dell supported customers with older samsung generation, and released firmwares which I saw on their website.
- For the current samsung generation, Dell SSDs so far have the biggest number of different firmware versions (On ebay and other places, I've seen Dell's SSDs shipping with at least 5 different firmwares). This shows that they have a special relationship with samsung regarding firmwares .
- And considering users reports that TRIM isn't working as it should, maybe DELL indeed skipped releasing this version, and is testing the next version.

Guys, please don't take anything I wrote in this post as a solid fact. I am just trying to think out loud and share my thoughts with you.

.

 

Pesonally, I don't think the reps have access to the "engineers", directly, so everything said after that sounds like bull to me! Validation testing? Unlikely. Sounds like an excuse to me, but let's keep our fingers crossed for something!

 

So, I don't have an Alienware (don't hate me!), but I got lucky and just scored a PM800 256GB SSD from Dell. Here's to hoping it's got this magical "24" firmware that may or may not have TRIM, lol.

~Ibrahim~

 

Fill us in! Did you buy the SSD by itself or did you pick it up via a great deal on an Outlet PC??

Is it the normal SSD or the Encrypted Mobility SSD?

 

A quick recap of how I got it: this will have been my 3rd SXPS 16. The first one had a failed hard drive and the second one was sent in to Dell's engineers so they can work on the throttling issue. So, I got this brand-new one like two days ago as a replacement for the one Dell has now to test. I ran a BIOS update and, would you believe it, the laptop BSODed during the BIOS update. I didn't even know that was possible. Long story short: I called Dell, they're sending me a new motherboard. The manager wanted to talk to me and asked if I had anything to tell Dell. lol, he probably shouldn't have said that because I started the whole story from my failed hard drive in August '09. He mentioned upgrades, I said SSD, he said yes, and here we are.

I think it's just the regular kind, but yeah, definitely, I'll let you guys know.

Quick question: would it be a "bad" idea to image my 500GB (only 47GB used) and then paste that image onto the SSD? Will Windows 7 recognize the SSD and do all the little changes?

~Ibrahim~

 

Anyone have any updates on when Dell will officially release this update?

 

What does the TRIM offer? Why is it better that we enable TRIM?

 

I have the same firmware, I contacted samsung directly but after being nice the first few times, they ended up having the typical response, sir we cant help you please contact the place of purchase, at first the samsung support said there would be a website that would be launched in the near future, and they just refused to help as I got a little impatient, however I was never rude in my emails. The last email I got the tech said that I would have to send the drive in to whoever I bought it from to get it flashed, but yet in two diffferent emails they said they were launching a ssd support website where all the tools would be made available. I really could care less I bought the drive for 350 from someone it is used as my secondary drive will all my games on it, and I use intel gen 2 80gb as my OS drive.

 

http://windowsitpro.com/article/art...state-disks-ssds-and-why-is-it-important.html

 

Just a quick question then. So if/when they release this TRIM firmware update, will it fix the current "degredation" that my SSD has been apparantly suffering? like can it fix the damage which has already been done?
Thanks!

 

Yup.

It may or may not require a destructive flash (i.e. format), though.

The SSD comes tomorrow (with a new mobo). We'll see how it goes!

~Ibrahim~

 

When will it be expected and will the official one be on Dell's site do you think?

 

I legit have no idea. Didn't someone say that Dell was working on it?

Oh, I'm sure it'll be on Dell's site if it ever comes out.

Dell's currently captured my SXPS 1645 and there should be some Dell engineer's poking around, so I can contact my liaison to see if he knows anything.

~Ibrahim~

 

User Visioneer posted this in the SSD thread, I will test as soon as my M15x motherboard is replaced!!!

Official Samsung firmware and updater for Samsung OEM SSD driver is ready to download: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/products/flash/ssd/2008/business/business.html

Just read the attached PDF and think people on the 15D firmware are still out of luck.
"- Old version : VBM18C1Q or VBM1801Q (Before Update)"
"- New version : VBM19C1Q or VBM1901Q (After Update)"

 

I may try this when I get home tonight as well

but last I read the Dell drives are custom, and may require a factory reset before the flash can be done.

The present firmware and flashers I tried did not reconize the Dell SSD

 

The latest 256GB I got from Dell (a supposedly Encrypted model, but I cannot confirm), has VBM94D1Q. It does not support TRIM according to CrystalInfo.

I suppose I have to wait for Dell to get around to releasing something to update that version?

 

Any luck on the VBM15D1Q FIRWARE? I have the same problem.

 

Nothing yet (that I am aware of) unfortunately.

I just tried Samsung's firmware in my HP tx2510us, but the SSD was not detected. I'll try later in my desktop. If I don't report back, assume it didn't work, too.

littlezipp contacted Alienware's support and they said they are working on releasing something within the next couple of weeks, if their word is to be trusted.

Even if Dell releases a firmware upgrade, there's a possibility that we (people stuck with VBM15D1Q) won't be supported. I say this because everywhere I read, SSDs with older firmware of all types from all vendors need to be sent back to be flashed, and only SSDs with newer firmware can be updated by us.

I really hope Dell will release something soon and support us. I don't have a warranty on my SSD since I bought it used and it was extracted from a Dell laptop, and even if dell decided I'm still covered by warranty, I live in Saudi Arabia, customer care here is next to none, and shipping the drive to another country will cost a lot of time and money.

 

Ugh...Dell should get their act together.

No reply from my liaison and, unfortunately, the SSD won't be here until Thursday morning.

Sucks it only works on 18, though. And the update should work on a laptop; I don't see why everyone has to use desktops. The SXPS 1645, at least, has AHCI for the SATA ports. Is there another reason it wouldn't work with a laptop?

~Ibrahim~

 

@ Ibrahim
It's all about luck. Either you use hardware with settings verified to work for flashing your SSD, or you try with different hardware and settings and report back.

As for us with VBM15D1Q:

So far future for us is not so bright, especially considering that newer dell SSDs were able to flash with firmware from other vendors, but we couldn't.

I have an idea. what if we open a thread at dell's support forum, and we all show up and request that SSDs with VBM15D1Q are supported for any future firmware release? I suppose if a lot of people showed up, this will encourage dell more to include us for updates, instead of going through RMA for every drive, supposing our drives do support flashing by users.

.

 

Ohh, got it. All right, I was just curious.

Definitely like the idea of creating a thread on Dell's site. That usually gets at least some attention.

~Ibrahim~

 

How do you find out what your SSD is, like VBM15D1Q or the other one? Where do I look? Thanks!

 

On windows:

Control Panel --> Device Manager --> Disk Drives --> Samsung PM800 blah blah

Right-Click --> Properties --> Details tab --> Hardware Ids.

It will list values. You should be able to find your firmware version there.

 

I found the list, I see the VMB1 but nothing is after that, is this the 'good one'. Does this look right? Thank you!

 

That's weird. After searching, I suggest you open this link:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=429972


And read posts: #737, #739, and #740

Good luck

 

Thanks for the direction. I got the same problem that the guy had though, I uninstalled the drivers (theres not a box to delete the drivers), and Win7 automatically installed the standard drivers, after the system restart there has been no difference, Im still getting the same thing in the id....

 

Well I'm not an expert on the issue you are having, but if it is just a driver's problem as they pointed out in the other thread, it's not a big deal.

It's a bit tricky to guide you how to know if you're using the right driver or not, and how to force changing the driver, add to that the posibility of crashing your Windows install (whether once, several times or even permanently), so I'll just suggest a relatively easy trick: try changing the settings for sata ports in your BIOS and see what happens by rebooting to windows and reading hardware Ids for each option (these options are usually something like IDE, SATA, Legacy etc, supposing your BIOS provides such options).

If you are afraid it's more than just a driver's problem, try your SSD in another computer and check hardware Ids again.

If you are not worried (i.e. you believe it's just driver issue) but still want to know the firmware version of your SSD, you could simply check the label on the drive itself (supposing you didn't change/flash it to another version).

Finally, even if you believe it's just driver issue, you should check your SSD's performance with some benchmarking tool such as CrystalDiskMark, to make sure your SSD's performance is not limited or altered by weird drivers.

Good luck.

 

Doesn't Crystal Disk Info tell you the firmware?

~Ibrahim~

 

I hate to keep posting, Im a noob, but judging from this score Id say the performance is being altered. Could you please be a bit more specific about the BIOS thing? Thank you.
View attachment 43298

 

it really blows, I have the original samsung driver with VBM15D1Q firmware, and I believe that samsung has totally screwed me over but I really dont care as I only have games installed on the samsung ssd and I use intel gen 2 for os, but it sucks not having that feature anyways. the samsung rep told me that my drives firmware is locked and it has to be sent in to whoever I bought it from to get it flashed, pretty much sucks as this is original samsung drive that i got off someone and that guy bought it from a legit website selling samsung drives and I even have the reciept of purchase, dont know why we can't flash it if they can, I am pretty good a following instructions you know, lol. Anyways I think all of us with the older firmware are pretty much screwed if samsung doesn't include the support for older firmware good luck getting dell to include that in there, it is all up to samsung now. Tried the new samsung update utility from their website and no go, it just doesn't see my drive at all, tried it in three systems.

 

That's curious...I thought TRIM only fixed slow writes, which should be the only speed going down. For some reason, your reads are low, too.

In the BIOS, under SATA there should be an option for AHCI or ATA/IDE. It's like different modes. Try switching those.

~Ibrahim~

 

Samsung has said the same thing even for the latest Dell OEM SSD Drive with VBM19D1Q, that it would require a Factory Reset. Dell is supposed to be working on a firmware release. so who knows how it will pan out until we see when Dell does here. I would be pissed if i have to return both my SSD drives to dell. unless they are going to do an exchange.

here is a copy of the reply fom Samsung


Thank you for your inquiry to Samsung Semiconductor.

Again, we did not sell that type of drive to general customer on the market as explained earlier. Please send us your proof of invoice as you commented. We´ll review your source of purchase and provide the service accordingly.

As explained, VBM19D1Q FW drive can not be updated to Trim FW because it configured as DELL specific design. The only way to update the FW is we have to reset the drive in the factory.

And I´m supervising all of SSD technical support in Samsung US and please contact in here if you have any further question.

If you have any further questions, please send us more question again or visit our Homepage( http://www.samsungsemi.com).

Sincerely,
Semiconductor Business
Samsung Electronics Co,.Ltd.

 

It sucks. I also have Dell SSD and its so slow. (at the beginning this drive rocks!)
Now I'm waiting for the Dell Samsung SSD Firmwareupdate :-(

 

I dont know what they mean by factory reset for the older firmware that I have, lol, I mean do they have to open it up and press a button or something haha, I am sure it is all done via software.

 

Yeah, it's probably some special software that can overwrite the EROM or whatever that has to be replaced. Might even need a special connector. IDK....but that's how Sony Ericsson phone works if you want to do more than upgrade the FW.

~Ibrahim~

 

Guys I am sure it should be possible see this post:

Re: SAMSUNG 256 gb SSD Firmware Update for Windows 7 TRIM?
12 Jan 2010 11:48AM
I was able to upgrade my Dell OEM SSD to VBM19C1Q which supports TRIM by downloading fimrware and update tool from here - http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=444979&page=1

The update tool did not recognize the SSD drive on my XPS 13 or M1330 or Latitude D630 but worked on a Latitude D620. It sucks that the tool is so finicky. Hopefully you guys can find a machine that works with the tool and update your firmware too.

Post Points: 20 ( http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19310219.aspx)

 

yes I seen that, one Q? is would this have warranty issues flashing a non dell Firmware update?

Some have bricked thier drives as well with this

 

Got the new SSD...the firmware on the drive says:

VBM9LD1Q

Date of manufacture: 2009.12.26

It is refurbished, though, so IDK. Haven't put it in yet, still some files to backup. Will do ASAP.

~Ibrahim~

 

I would like to thank Joker for providing us with a solution for TRIM on our current SSDs. I received my Alienware M15x yesterday (01/13/10) and have run CrystalDiskInfo, I can confirm that TRIM is not available on my SSD (VBM19D1Q).

I am interested in giving Joker's solution a go, what would be the best way to get to the SSD inside of the laptop? Which screws should I access and should I be aware of any ribbons..etc

tl;dr Is there a guide to opening the AW M15x?

 

Here is a great video which shows you how to get inside the M15x and you will see the HD when he removes the bottom cover ... It is all very easy to do yourself..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6wv2V5wbOk

 

already done that with that tool it sees my drive but it refuses to flash, just gives error after waiting like 5 mins, samsung rep now responded to me and said oh the drive should be able to flash with that tool, and another one before that told me that it is locked and I have to send it in to get it flashed to whoever I bought it from, lol. I am just going to sell the damn thing, it works fine but I have been using the intel gen 2 for 2 months now and I love it, but with trim support I might have kept the samsung but I dont really have any reason to keep it anymore.