Crucial M4 New firmware 010G

There is new firmware!
Crucial m4 firmware 010G is now available - Crucial Community

Release Date: 09/25/2012

Firmware for the Crucial m4 2.5” SSD is being updated from version 000F to 010G.

The m4 is updatable to this new firmware starting from any previous version in a single step.

This is an OPTIONAL update for any drive in the field. It is only recommended if the end user is experiencing an issue related to the following items.
Do NOT use any other m4 firmware update for your 2.5” SSD such as the 01MG firmware for the mSATA form factor.

Version 010G includes the following changes:
Improved Trim response time
Improved power-on-to-ready time (known as POR, or TTR for Time-to-ready)
Improved resume-time from low power modes, and improved reliability of warm reboot
Improved power consumption by disabling HIPM (Host Initiated Power Management)

Additional details can be found in the firmware guide

 

I was getting a bsod every time i resumed from sleep with my Crucial M4 128GB , with the latest firmware, i tried numerous clean installs, so i sold it an bought an Samsung 830 256GB , and i have had zero problems, i wonder if this update would have fixed my problem, i suppose i will never know.

John.

 

I have Crucial M4 working for an 4129 hours and I had only one BSOD, no problem with this SSD! I think it is one of the best SSD!

 

Wondering if anyone has any before/after results with this firmware update vs. the previous 000F version?

I will be able to do this myself by the end of this weekend and report back.

After reading the PDF's of what is changed, it seems like that the M4 is being made compliant with Win8 specifications too.


BTW, with IRST 11.6 officially released, this may be what is really being 'tweaked' to work better with this firmware version? (They never tell us what is really 'fixed').

See:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=21852


Running IRST 11.6 on a few different platforms with a Sandisk Extreme 256GB SSD, an Intel 520 240GB SSD and an M4 256GB SSD has proven to be a nice (real world) improvement in my uses. (Mostly in 'snappiness' of the O/S and the storage subsystem).

 

I just did the firmware update a few hours ago and am seriously regretting it. EVERY window that I open seems like a slow animation. I thought it may be coming from integrated graphics, so I switched to dedicated GPU. Trying to update IRST, then going to secure erase and reinstall if none of that works.

UPDATE -- Drive seems completely dead now. Was in the process of restarting to do something and all I got was a flashing cursor before BIOS. I thought "Oh god, my computer is dead!" So, I put my OEM HDD in and everything booted up. Even went back to OEM RAM. Everything works, until I try to put the M4 back in the system, then just a flashing cursor. I've booted into Parted Magic and Windows 7 disk management. The M4 is not recognized either internally or in a USB enclosure. Ugh!

Call to Crucial to get it replaced. Just what I was looking forward to doing with my day.

FINAL UPDATE -- talked to tech support and was sent instructions on how to power cycle reset the SSD. Took over 40 minutes, but everything is working just fine now. Windows are also opening properly, too.

 

Can you explain how? Thanks!

 

anseio, I too would be interested if you could detail a 'proper power cycle' here.

Thanks in advance.

 

Happily!

I thought the instructions were kinda vague, since I couldn't boot into BIOS while the drive was connected. All I'd get was the evil flashing cursor. So... I'd remove all drives, boot into BIOS, THEN insert the drive into slot 0. Doing this 2x during the process worked and I was quite surprised.

 

Is it possible to update with the M4 when connected as secondary drive or must i boot with the SSD and update from there?

Also thanks for sharing the guide anseio! :thumbsup:

 

Don't use this firmware if you are using UEFI BIOS. It's not supported, it's in the small print of the readme somewhere.

 

You can flash the M4 on UEFI machines just fine. Simply use the iso (meaning, boot from optical or USB) for flashing. You need to switch the BIOS back to Legacy mode just for flashing. You can switch back thereafter. Worked totally fine for me.

 

look here:
Crucial.com Product Downloads - Firmware Updates

WARNING: The firmware update process is done entirely at your own risk. Before initiating the update process be sure to backup or make copies of all important files. If the firmware process is interrupted your solid-state drive may not function properly. This firmware update does not support UEFI. If you are using a UEFI based system please do not download this Firmware. As soon as we have a Firmware Update that will work in these applications we will release it.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact our Technical Support department.

 

The firmware update does not support UEFI, not the firmware itself. This because the Windows firmware update utility alters the bootloader in order to run the program to load the firmware upon reboot. This cannot be done in UEFI.

Oh well...believe whatever you want.

 

After updating to this firmware the drive was no longer recognized in the bios. Had to go through the 'power cycle' process as given on crucial's site. Power on, leave it in bios for 20 mi. Switchoff for 30sec. Repeat. After that the drive was recognised again and works smoothly.

 

I'll wait for the UEFI version.

 

Why not use the ISO and boot from CD/USB?

Personally, I have no issues with 000F so I'll be skipping this one, and probably any in the future.

 

You're lucky that it just wasn't recognized in BIOS. Mine couldin't even boot that far.

 

Just flashed from the 000F with no issues whatsoever.

 

@anseio- Yeah! Thank god for that!! My ssd is in India . I would have to courier it to the US!

 

I'm in no hurry. See if any issues arise. I'm most interested in:

" Improved Trim response time
Improved power consumption by disabling HIPM (Host Initiated Power Management)"

(I swear I posted that once before but it vaporized).

 

sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen.

ill stick with the firmware that was preinstalled....000F

 

What sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen?

???

 

well.

stuff like that.

"if it aint broke......"

 

I concur. I have 4 M4s and will wait for more data from upgraders before I take the risk.

 

Yep, I've got 3 M4's and not touching it after reading some of these stories...

 

Flashed both of mine running UEFI and they work perfectly.

 

Interesting. I have one M4 as an accessory drive in my 5 drive desktop.

So I tried the FW upgrade on it after moving its content to another HDD.

I loaded the upgrade utility and it updated the firmware, but it powered right past my entry of the "yes" permission.

So be careful with the download from the Crucial site. It won't pause long to allow you to say yes to the drive it has picked.

It did correctly skip over my Crucial C300 boot drive to pick my M4 accessory drive, so no harm to me, but it is kinda scary to have it launch itself right into a FW upgrade with no user control.

Perry

 

I'm not sure what all the negative comments/observations are about?

I have been running the new firmware for almost one week now and from the first boot up I could see a difference in real world performance.

In my heavily used system (SNB QC, dual drive 256GB M4/750GB XT 16GB RAM...); it feels like I just completed a clean Win7 install onto a new SSD. Benchmarks? Lol... yeah won't happen...

The system (O/S) is noticeably faster/snappier - much like putting in an Intel 520 Series 240GB SSD or a Sandisk Extreme 240GB SSD (vs. the 256GB M4...).

Just goes to show once again that NO manufacturer lists every improvement they include in their firmware/BIOS/software upgrades.

This firmware makes the M4 feel like a current SSD offering again (in seat of the pants 'feel') and makes recommending the M4 much easier (and more likely) even though it is 'old' at over 18 months since it's introduction.

 

In the past week the 010G thread on the Crucial forum has grown to 15 pages of disaster after disaster.

I think I will hold off until the FDA approves this change after more "clinical trials." That's you guys trying it out and reporting back.

Perry

 

Flashed my 128GB M4 the other day and haven't noticed any problems. However I did this before reading the horror stories and probably would have held off if I read them first.

Seems hit or miss and I guess I got lucky. Everything is running stable, though it's not like I'm seeing a huge difference in performance.

 

Same as me.

 

I just got that dreaded "Operating System Not Found" error message on boot. HDD was not detected by the BIOS. Performed the power reset as mentioned by other forumers. This has happened to 1 of my 2 M4s. So yes, some of you guys were right, we should stay away from 010G.

 

Just updated, no problems at all.

 

Great. The Crucial forum thread is up to 16 pages of disasters with many rolling back to 00F to recover. Most problems seem to be with Mac Pros and UEFI bios however. Yet there are plenty of PC problems also.

I have updated an empty M4 128 GB in my desktop but all of those I have in my laptops will stay 00F until a new more stable FW is out.

Perry

 

Well....Not.
I just managed to boot again after power cycling.
This happened after I had to unplug my laptop because it hung, right like Crucial is describing at the powercycling notes.

 

no problems so far, flashed the same day the update came out. i actually had a couple bsod with the 00F firmware. anyways i guess only time will tell.

 

Just updated my 256GB and 512GB Crucial M4 to 010G and my Crucial M4 mSATA to 01MG using the ISO bootable USB method without a hitch. No power cycle required.

 

I think its worth mentioning that there are two ways to do this update. First using the firmware updater from within windows, and secondly using the ISO from a bootable disk, either optical or USB.

I've always gone with ISO in the past, as it was the only way, so used that method here too. I also put my M4 into an older ASUS F3T laptop to do the firmware update, the drive bay is easily accessible, and saves me messing with all the other disks, and this time around going from UEFI to legacy in the desktop (just in case). Once its flashed I put it straight back in the desktop.

Anyway, mines been flashed with 010G since it first came out, I'm using UEFI BIOS with W8 and no problems.

 

I did mine in my P150EM UEFI BIOS and USB ISO flash had no issues. I tried the Windows version, but on reboot it gave an error, restarted again, and it booted back up just fine, so I used the ISO.

 

This happens to me multiple times a week. Its a joke.

 

Just rolled mine back to 000F since the other firmware seems buggy.

If anyone needs it. The firmware is here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByIcGJ8mz5WHck9qaFFOOGlEX0U

Regards

 

Updated my 64GB today, same thing, windows tool failed, bootable usb worked. No ill effects yet, but i do not use the drive as a boot drive.

 

Thanks for posting that. How'd you get it since the 000F is the initial FW release for the mSATA drive? Crucial send it to you?

 

Probably had the file from an older flash, i have a few older M4 firmwares on my computer as well, from 0009 to 000F

 

Aha. I have the mSATA version of the drive, where there's no fallback to 000F available anywhere.

I'll delete the file as it won't work for my drive.

 

Got it from an old flash

Yeah the mSATA drive seems to not be able to be downgraded i'm afraid.