Alienware owners with Samsung PM800 SSD - TRIM now available!

Many thanks man!

 

Now we know the marking of brand like:

VBMxx Dxx DELL
VBMxx Hxx HP
VBMxx Lxx LENOVO (I have few of this)

but, what is this code for SAMSUNG OEM?

I haven't see yet...

Any advice?

 

according to the site posted above

VBMxxCxxx

 

did mushkin pull the download link? i'm having trouble trying to download maindiag.exe... error 404... can someone maybe upload it to mediafire or something?

edit: nevermind. just saw the megaupload link. trying to flash the drive for the last 2 hours mustve messed up my eyesight

 

I managed to flash my two drives using the method here

Took alot of trial and error with various computers here but finally got it done with my desktop

EX58-UD5 Mobo

had to use port 0

Disabled the Sata Raid/ACHI mode, and the Sata port 0-3 native mode

Enabled Onboard Sata/IDE device, and Set Onbaord Sata/IDE Cntroller to IDE mode

after that worked like a charm

i could not get any of my laptops to work, m6300, M6400, Studio 1537, and a HP CQ61

 

I did the same thing lol

 

that is too long...

Do you mean VBMxxC xx ?

 

if you have a D in the firmware name, than you cant flash it period, dont matter how many system you try it on, it is dell speific firmware and you cant flash it until dell releases a firmware update. Ocz and patriot and corsair are using generic samsung firmware.

 

Flashed mine no problem ...

VBM19 D1Q

 

So only the Samsung VBM15Dxx (from Dell) which can't be flashed?

 

Sorry but that is not correct

I just flashed 2 Dell SSD drives, it can indeed be done, but it takes a specific setup and the files on page one of this tpic.

 

I am going to try this tomorrow at work....I have 2 dell desktops with intel chipsets. (crosses fingers that this works!) I also have a d19 256gb ssd.

 

OK! VICTORY!! I had no problem updating to the latest firmware using all of the instructions in post 1. You do NOT need to ebay your drive and take a loss! I had the dell VBM19D1Q firmware and flashed over to c19 very easily. If you are having problems you probably need to try another computer. I used an old IBM Thinkcentre 8090-21u desktop I had laying around at work. It probably took all of about 3 minutes once I found the dos information. Special thanks to quadzilla for all the help! I would be glas to help anyone if I can but, if you are not connecting to the drive it is a problem with the chipset of the computer you are using. Good Luck to all!!

 

Has anyone performed this procedure on a Studio 16 XPS (1645) Lappy? I have the PM800 with this system.

 

It was 128GB or 256GB type?

 

256gb ssd....

 

yeah, thanks, one x to much

 

Maybe the letter C means "common" or something similar.

 

Seems to be just the VBM15D1Q that cannot be flashed. I found a computer that the flasher works on just fine, but get write errors when trying to update the firmware (either initial or main). Clear NAND option does work, just not firmware write.

Dell sold these drives and needs to get their act together and either replace them or offer a suitable flash utility. They have everything they need from Samsung, but seem to be in absolutely no hurry. I like XPS Studio 16 but probably am done buying Dell because of this (lack of) technical support.

 

sorry, I meant to say on the 15D1Q can not be flashed, bad on my part, I know others can flashed, if you have firmware number 18D1 or above it can be flashed, because thats all the samsung, maindiag, ocz, corsair tools offer, update form the the 18c1 or 18d1, whatever you have, if you have the number 15 than you are SOL

 

you are absolutely correct, I was able to get the flash going too but the older firmware is not supported with any of the third party tools, I believe only dell drives were the ones that shipped with firmware with the number 15, even samsung told me that, they said I have to deal with dell.

 

I would suggest to those with the 15D1Q firmware call dell and tell them the drive performance is crap and request a replacement.

 

Is the VBM24D1Q firmware later than VBM19C1Q?
Also does VBM24D1Q support TRIM? I have this firmware, and crystalinfo shows it supports TRIM, but some people say it doesn't. Does anyone know for sure?

 

everything I have read says it does support TRIM

 

can i flash SSD in laptop by using winpe to start system?

 

congrats to all of you who has sucessfully gotten a drive with Trim support. now the questions is, how do you enable GC or is that already enabled? how do you find out if your drive has gc enabled. I seem to remember reading somewhere that TRIM without GC is basically worthless. I could be wrong though.

Also, those who have gotten the new firmware, how did you load your old drive onto the new firmware drive? I was thinking of using windows 7 backup and restore "create a system image" option. This is essentially the same as ghosting the drive correct? Do you know if you've already enabled encryption in the bios, if that encryption will also be imaged over? What if you also used the dell control point software to encrypt the drive?

Finally, what are you doing to maintain the speed of your ssd drive? this is what I have compiled for windows 7 so far:

SSD Optimization Checklist for Windows 7
* turned off superprefetch service to manual (what does this do exactly? See more details below, would option 2 in registry be better?)
* turned off windows search service to manual (will library dependancies for programs break? according to windows shell programmer, this should be left on)
* verified disk defragmenter service turned off to manual
* disabled scheduled task - disk defragmenter
* disabled hibernation in cmd with this command - "powercfg -H off"
* disable write caching for hdd in device manager (does not make sense, not sure why? not doing this one right now)
* disabled system page file in system properties (debatable, should it be set to 2MB instead?)

(superprefetch alternative:
rather than disable superetch altogether, a better way would be to set it to cache boot files only.
regedit: hkey_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\contro 1\session manager\memory management\prefetchparameters
"enableprefetcher"
disable caching: 0
cache applications only: 1
cache bootfiles only: 2
cache everything (default): 3

reboot
clear out old cache files in \windows\prefetch folder - next boot will be slower when new cache files recreate)

Dell has agreed to send me a new drive with the new firmware so I should get that tomorrow. my current firmware is vbm94d1q

thanks for your input.

 

Your SSD optimization points, looking them over briefly, look like the normal changes to make.

I have found that "ghosting" an image is no good, as Ghost does not create a properly aligned partition, resulting in less than optimum performance. I doubt that Windows Image (restore) does anything any better. What I do is a fresh, basic install of Windows 7 on the SSD, deleting whatever is on the SSD and creating a new partition (which is then aligned correctly by Windows 7), let it install, and then "ghost" the partition from the backup image to the newly created partiton (or if doing drive-to-drive, just "ghost" partition to newly created partition), then you are good-to-go.

I have three (Dell) Samsung 256GB SSD's now, and none of them have the current firmware that has TRIM, so I cannot comment on any of that! They do perform great though, so I cannot really complain yet.

UPDATE: Just inspected my 3rd Samsung 256GB SSD that I got in a $900 Dell Latitude E6500 (great deal, if you ask me). It has firmware VBM9LD1Q and is dated 12/24/09 (and is FDE). I think this one is trim enabled. Can anyone confirm?

UPDATE2: This new Samsung 256GB SSD has a completely black plastic case, instead of the silvery metal one the previous two had. This one's P/N is MMDPE56G5DXP-0VBD7. I'm pretty sure I will put this one in my Windows 7-based 1640 since it supports TRIM (according to others with this firmware version).

 

As I understand, Garbage Collection = TRIM. (please correct me if I'm wrong)

TRIM
- command allows an perating system to tell a solid-state drive (or "SSD") which data blocks are no longer in use, such as those left by deleted files.
- An OS operation such as delete generally only means the data blocks involved are flagged as not in use. TRIM allows the OS to pass this information on down to the SSD controller, which otherwise would not know it could trash those blocks.

EDIT: TRIM is not GC

 

It's interesting your is 19, lancorp, yet has TRIM. I think all the FDE drives have TRIM, no matter the revision?

 

"19"?? If you're referring to the latest one, it's "9L", not 19. The other FDE drive I have is VBM94D1Q (which does not have TRIM according to CrystalInfo), and my first drive, a non-FDE is one of the 15's that no one can upgrade yet.

I have not hooked my lastest VBM9LD1Q drive up to run CrystalInfo, but others have and said it was TRIM enabled. I'll for sure run it this morning and check.

 

That is a new Firmware (to me at least lol) version if indeed is a 9LD1Q

 

Someone else here also posted that version from Dell. I believe it might only come with the FDE SSD's from Dell (the drives that can be encrypted).

 

Yeah, I have that version.

Sorry, my bad, right. 9L, not 19.

~Ibrahim~

 

Can someone make a post with all of the settings that should be used to optimize your alienware m17x with a samsung ssd 256gb with trim please....

Should I have the bios set to ahci with legacy or native for best performance?
Any windows settings that should be changed etc...Something in a step 1,2,3 for all of us to have. I am very computer literate and keep running in circles as there are many opinions on what is right or wrong. I am just looking for some advice from a member that has a m17x and has found the optimum settings with this drive. Thanks in advance!

 

The SSD drives support AHCI so I would suggest using it.

I also have mine set to Native and have had no issues as far as data speeds go.

 

What is the difference between native and legacy?

 

Hi, any update on your VBM9LD1Q? This is the exact f/w version I'm buying, please confirm if it is TRIM enabled. Thanks!

 

@lousy

I have that one and it's TRIM-enabled, too: VBM9LD1Q. For sure.

 

Cool! I got a lil confused on few posts back

Gonna order one now.

Thanks for the quick response!

+rep

 

That confusion was probably because of me, anyways, lol.

Thanks.

 

The terms Native Vs Legacy usually refers to the compatibility, native being the stock mode and legacy having some changes in the device support for older drives which may have some impact on overall performance. ( Usually legacy = slower)

there are various generations of drive interfaces out there so they try to cover all the versions they can

 

Wow, lots of great info in this thread. Two days ago I knew practically nothing about SSDs. Yesterday my Dell Adamo 13 arrived and I started doing some research.

It came with the Samsung PB22-JS3 unit (128GB). Firmware on the SSD was VBM19D1Q which I found does not support TRIM after reading this thread and a few other online forums. At least one person said they got VBM24D1Q with their Adamo, mine was retail stock from 11/9/2009 so it did not have the newest.

After backing up the drive, I attempted to flash it with the Samsung tool and also with the Mushkin tool, but neither one worked with the drive in IDE or AHCI mode. Guess I have to wait and see if Dell releases a utility eventually. If not, I am saving the benchmark numbers from when the laptop was new so that I can file a warranty claim if they drop substantially.

From looking at photos on iFixit the Samsung SSD used in the Adamo is just an exposed circuit board to cut down on the physical space required. Not very simple to just take out and move to a desktop to try flashing there.

 

I had the same firmware and needed to use a desktop. Actually I used an old ibm, probably one of the first with sata and it worked great! Found the drive and updated in minutes. Good luck!

 

yeah, I had to use a desktop as well

 

Hello !
This is my first post on this very interesting thread.

I have a 128 GB Samsung SSD with the VBM19D1Q firmware.
I attempted to flash the drive to VBM19C1Q using the method described in the first post. I have tried on 3 different desktop PC with different mainboard chipset, setting SATA to IDE mode, but I didn't manage to flash the drive. My USB key boots perfectly, I can run "maindiag" but it didn't find my drive at all...

It seems that flashing the 256 GB drive works, but it's not the case with the 128 GB one.

 

if you have any other Sata drives connected dis-connect them.

Find which Sata port is Port 0 and use it.

 

Hi Guys,

I'm a first time poster but have been following this thread with much interest.

Can someone tell me if I should be able to flash the firmware of the following drive. The Firmware version is one that I haven't seen anyone else mention, but the model number on the drive is MMDOE28G5MPP-0VA which from what I can tell is a PM800 drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Cheers

JT

 

Hi, can someone give me a link to the mushkin file as it is no longer available on the link on page 1.
I have just got a dell drive and want to flash it.
I take it the same thing applies to HP drives as I got a 128Gb that is a HP sourced one and the samsung util does not update that either

Cheers

 

it's there on page one look for this line below

UPDATE:fr0x has graciously created a .rar file with everything needed to flash the Samsung SSD: Get it here

 

This still needs the dos files...