Cruicial M4 0009 Firmware Update

Ever said:
I notice a few people having problems with their drives showing as 3Gb/s when they should get 6, I had a similar problem when I was setting mine up.

I had it plugged into an intel port on a MSI P67A-GD53, so I expected to be running at 6Gb/s, but when I got everything sorted my benchmarks were low and the Intel RST tool was telling me I was only running at 3Gb/s :(

Turns out the problem was my SATA cable. I originally used an older SATA cable to connect it to the board and only got 3Gb/s, but when I tried a new cable it worked fine and was detected as 6Gb/s straight away. I know you're not supposed to need new cables for 6Gb/s but perhaps mine were poorly shielded or something :p

This won't help if you're controller is crappy, but it's one more thing to try!

TL;DR: Try another SATA cable if you're having trouble with your drive showing as 3Gb/s when you're sure you should get 6Gb/s
Click to expand...

I've got the exact same board and I use the SATA cables which came with the motherboard and they actually run fine for me on my Crucial M4. What cables were you using originally?

Liam
 
prt said:
there is info on their website about usb upgrade


To do a manual usb flash of the new firmware you need UltraIso (free Trial) and the Crucial Firmware 0009 ISO-File.

- install UtlraISO
- Open the Iso file with UltraISO
- doubleclick on the 'BOOT' folder
- doubleclick on the 'ISOLINUX' folder
- doubleclick on 'BOOT2880.IMG' file

Now you can see the files of the DOS Image.
You need to extract these 5 files to a subdirectory on your USB stick (by right clicking on each file and choosing 'extract to...' from the context menu).
- autoexec.bat
- dosmcli.exe
- fwa.img
- hdpmi32.exe
- mode.com

After that boot from your USB stick, change to the subdirectory you put the above files to and run autoexec.bat by simply typing 'autoexec'.
That's should do it.
Good luck! ;-)
Click to expand...

Turambar said:
Excellent. Thanks a lot. Updated now.

A few points for anyone doing it this way though:
1. UltraISO is unnecessary, extracting the ISO with 7zip works fine.
2. Your USB drive needs to be bootable, same as updating BIOS from USB. Making a USB drive that boots into DOS using Win 7 can be infuriating, there are a huge number of tools and Guides that just don't do what you need them to. I used "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool", you'll need a copy of the files from a bootable DOS floppy for this.
Click to expand...

ok so I got my 128gb on tuesday(along with the asrock extreme7, tho did open the parcle box until wednesday), have to say its much smaller than I imagined.

any way for updating the fw via the usb route(I have a bootable flash drive), I just tried opening the iso file with winrar but it wouldn't let me open the boot2880.img so got 7zip and have the 5 files mentioned extracted in a seperate folder(not on the usb drive yet but will do before I come to upgrade). does this really work and is it safe?

I've not built the new i2500k system yet as trying to decide on ram(have everything else), can I just pop the drive into my current system(q6600, p5q dlx) and update(tho not ure how I'd fit it in the case for the time being)?

not sure if I should wait until I've put the sb system together and do a before and after benchmark or just update and run the after to check its worked.
 
Just picked up a 256GB M4, here are my results on sata 2 using firmware 0009

ssd.GIF
 
Guys.

I know wrong section, but as you all own one, your the best to ask.

Would you say the M4 is the best (cheap) 120Gb ssd?

It looks good but obviously its write speeds is not up there with the Corsair Force Series 3 which is in the same price bracket.

What you reckon?

Also my mobo is a Asus Rampage Formula.

This is what it says about my sata ports on this page:

Southbridge
6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports

It will work right?
 
The Crucial M4 is by far the most reliable one at the moment, due to benefiting from having the Marvell controller. It may not be as fast as SSD's which use the SandForce controllers like the Corsair Force Series 3 that you posted, but at the same time the SandForce controllers suffer from bad reliability issues. So just make note of any other SSD's which use the SandForce controller.

Your board only supports SATA2, so you will only see read & write speeds of around 260MB/s at the most.

Liam
 
LEK-89 said:
I've got the exact same board and I use the SATA cables which came with the motherboard and they actually run fine for me on my Crucial M4. What cables were you using originally?

Liam
Click to expand...

I was using one that came with my Gigabyte DS3 a few years ago (I liked the colour better :D)
 
Just tried to update the firmware on my M4 SSD to 0009.

Burnt the ISO file to DVD.

Set the SATA mode to IDE.

It boots from the DVD fine, runs the utility.

Then it just hangs whilst detecting disks.

My motherboard is Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Z-68

anybody have any ideas why it isn't detecting the disk?

Cheers

B
 
Benny said:
Just tried to update the firmware on my M4 SSD to 0009.

Burnt the ISO file to DVD.

Set the SATA mode to IDE.

It boots from the DVD fine, runs the utility.

Then it just hangs whilst detecting disks.

My motherboard is Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Z-68

anybody have any ideas why it isn't detecting the disk?

Cheers

B
Click to expand...

Tried updating to the latest BIOS?

Liam
 
rjkoneill said:
correct

I am unsure what this stigma surrounding updating an SSD firmware is all about

updating the firmware is easy

DL the FW and burn the iso to disc

then ensure your sata mode is IDE in the bios [it should be set to AHCI so you will need to change this]

boot from your cd rom

wait for the utility to tell you that your m4 is detected and needs to be updated

type 'yes' by pressing the Y, E and S keys in that order

then press enter

walk to the oven to check if your pizza is done

then come back and see your drive has finished updating.

restart with CTRL+ALT+DEL

enter bios and change SATA mode back to AHCI

then sit back in your chair and say, "woah, that was pretty easy. I dont know what I was making all that fuss about. It took less than 5 minutes of my time and now my drive is 1/5th faster than it was before."

then sit there with a smug grin on your face knowing that your SSD update was really easy and the people who bought an agility 3 are having massive problems.
unlike yourself.
Click to expand...

If I buy one of these, and want to do a clean refresh install of windows.

Do I flash the drive first with latest firmware as listed above, then set to AHCI, and go about installing windows?
 
Benny said:
Hmm not yet. Think I will give it a go over the weekend. see where that gets me. Thanks for the suggestion.

B
Click to expand...

Mine hung and then came up with some mismatch error after a few minutes. Ended up disconnecting all other drives and the update went through fine, might be worth a try.
 
opethdisciple said:
If I buy one of these, and want to do a clean refresh install of windows.

Do I flash the drive first with latest firmware as listed above, then set to AHCI, and go about installing windows?
Click to expand...

I installed windows first and then flashed.

If you already have the boot disk you could do it before installing windows without a problem.
 
Lunawolfy said:
Hey all,

I ran the crystal benchmark before just to see speeds and something isn't adding up...



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This is a Cruicial M4 64GB plugged into the Marvel port (funny flat one) on my ASUS P8P67-M PRO. It's a 6Gb/s port, isn't it?
Click to expand...

Hi there very strange as I have the same motherboard as you

V02 Windows 7 Boot time 42sec
Read. Write
418.7 104.3
357.3 103.8
25.66 64.14
232.2 102.0

V09 Windows 7 Boot time 38sec
Read Write
518.4 104.5
418.5 105.1
27.01 64.66
297.3. 101.9

Very strange your getting the, speeds u not using the intel controller I am
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom