Anyone else own a Crucial M4 SSD?

[Malphas]

Apparently I'm in the first wave of owners afflicted by some weird bug where the SSD causes constant BSODs after it hits 5200 hours of usage.  As far as I know Crucial haven't announced anything yet, but a bunch of people are all experiencing the exact same symptoms: "0x000000F4" and "0x0000007A" blue screens about an hour after booting; drive not detected by the BIOS during a reboot until you power the whole system on and off; generally all bought our drives in Q1 last year; and weirdly everyone's just hit the 5200 hour mark, or thereabouts (I'm at 5224).

It'll be interesting to see how things pan out over the coming months and if more people start running into the same issue.  Hopefully it's something that can be fixed with a firmware revision.  
If you're running one of these you might want to make sure you've got all your stuff backed up, check your SMART data, and have a spare drive on standby.

[alaricljs]

You've got to be kidding me... I recently replaced my failed OCZ Vertex 2 PoC with an M4... I'm at 785 hours, suppose I could write a script to warn me when I'm approaching 5200.  As it is because of the OCZ fiasco I am snapshotting my LUN and rsyncing my data every 2 hours and backing up the full system every week.

[elbowglue]

Omg.  You've got to be kidding me.

I have an intel 510 I hope this dosent choke in the same manner.

[bienc]

What firmware are/were you using? That sounds like a really bad problem...

[Malphas]

Revision 0009.  Other users on the Crucial forums are having the same thing happen with 0002 as well though.

[bienc]

Oh man that's terrible. I recommended an M4 to a friend. I hope that they get a patch to fix this soon or else their reputation will be tarnished badly.

[elbowglue]

Someone reported here:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1842223
That he has an intel 510 which did not have the error beyond 5200 hours..

User #79590   4281 posts
Alan L
Whirlpool Forums Addict
ApfDaMan writes...
apparently – its only a firmware thing likely. though hardware wise i beleive the Intel 520 series and the crucial M4 series are almost identical.

Crucial and Intel both wrote their own firmware however.

Whilst the Sandforce drives, everyone is using the reference Sandforce firmware. So if an issue affects Sandforce, it affects all Sandforce drives.

I have Intel 510 series SSDs that are well past 5200 power on hours and they are perfectly fine.

[laffindude]

C300 is on the same controller as well.

Bienc: Keep the hysteria to a more reasonable level. Pretty much all SSD maker right now had issue one time or another. Intel 320, C300, SandForce controllers from both generations, big foot controller, etc etc. Some of the issues are much more serious than BSODs regularly (like completely wiping the drive, and/or bricking). People still buy them buy the buckets.

[TranscendingLogic]

I've got one of these. Not in a production machine at the moment, so I wouldn't shed too many tears if the thing up and died one day.

[bienc]

C300 is on the same controller as well.

Bienc: Keep the hysteria to a more reasonable level. Pretty much all SSD maker right now had issue one time or another. Intel 320, C300, SandForce controllers from both generations, big foot controller, etc etc. Some of the issues are much more serious than BSODs regularly (like completely wiping the drive, and/or bricking). People still buy them buy the buckets.

I may have overreacted, but I don't think it's hysteria. A drive death at a common hour-usage is kind of a big deal. I know there were frequent BSODs and the occasional drive wipe/brick but those were (mostly) random right? This looks like it will be widespread once people start reaching the time limit.

[Malphas]

I should clarify that the drive isn't completely bricked, you can still power off your system, turn back on again and boot normally with all your files intact (for now at least).  What's also weird is that it will BSOD again exactly 1 hour later, which I didn't realise when I made my first post about this.

[elbowglue]

Fix in the works:

http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/0x00000f4-error-on-M4-64GB/td-p/76392/page/15
Post 146

Thank you crucial.

Re: 0x00000f4 error on M4 64GB [ Edited ]
Options
01-05-2012 02:45 PM - last edited on 01-05-2012 02:50 PM

We are aware of an issue that is currently affecting a small number of users whereby their m4 causes their system to require a restart. This issue occurs after approximately 5,000 hours of actual “on time” use. Following the initial reboot, the system then requires subsequent restarts after each additional hour of use. However, the data on the SSD is unaffected and will not be lost due to this condition.
 
Through our investigation, we have determined the root cause of the problem and will be releasing a firmware update that rectifies the situation. We are currently running through our validation and compatibility process. Once this process is complete, the firmware will be made available to our customers. Although we understand the desire of some people to start using unreleased firmware now, we want to ensure that our solution works across multiple chipsets, systems, and operating systems before publishing the release code. We are currently targeting the week of January 16th, 2012 to publicly release the new firmware update.
 
We understand the impact that this is having on some users right now and apologize for this inconvenience. We appreciate your continued support, feedback, and patience as we finalize code and resolve this issue.
Dude, Crucial Employee, US
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[lightsout714]

Thats crazy people are at 5000 hours already.  I have a c300 that I have had for some time and its only around 1200 (if ssd life is to be believed). And my pc is on always when I am home.

[laffindude]

I may have overreacted, but I don't think it's hysteria. A drive death at a common hour-usage is kind of a big deal. I know there were frequent BSODs and the occasional drive wipe/brick but those were (mostly) random right? This looks like it will be widespread once people start reaching the time limit.

It is a hyperbole meant as a joke. This may be a more wide spread issue, given it is a time bomb, but not as big of a problem as bricking. I'll take hourly BSOD over completely losing data. I had 2 sandforce drive bricked on me (a returned drive bricked on me again). 3 bricked drives out of 4. Um ya. I'd buy more if I need the space.

@lightsout714
My C300 has ~13000 hours on it already. Some of us has our computer on 24/7.

[alaricljs]

My surviving Vertex 2 is at 12854 hours.  Which is why it's still alive... System doesn't reboot, doesn't power off... just hums along in my basement.

[laffindude]

My Vertex2 is running my fileserver/HTPC's OS. It is a very default install of Win7 using mostly default drivers, and mostly portable apps that I backed up the configurations to already. If the drive dies AGAIN, I can have the system up with the other RMAed Vertex2 in an hour with minimal data loss.

[alaricljs]

Aaah, mine is running xen with 2 Gentoo installs and an XP install.  XP for doing unsavory things in an easily rebuilt environment and the Gentoo installs are my internal and external servers.  The soon to be RMA'd Vertex 2 I'm trying to decide whether to bothering to do RAID 1 or just keep as a hot standby.

[laffindude]

Out of pure curiosity, how's the health of your SSD on your 13000hour Vertex2? My C300 is surprisingly high @ 97% life left (SMART attribute). That Vertex2 is 100% @ 3800 hours. I wouldn' be surprised if it is still 100% when it passes 10k hours.

[alaricljs]

Code: [Select]


ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   118   099   050    Pre-fail  Always       -       0/177765020
  5 Retired_Block_Count     0x0033   096   096   003    Pre-fail  Always       -       352
  9 Power_On_Hours_and_Msec 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       12864h+03m+30.950s
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       28
171 Program_Fail_Count      0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
172 Erase_Fail_Count        0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
174 Unexpect_Power_Loss_Ct  0x0030   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       18
177 Wear_Range_Delta        0x0000   000   000   ---    Old_age   Offline      -       0
181 Program_Fail_Count      0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
182 Erase_Fail_Count        0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   000   000   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
195 ECC_Uncorr_Error_Count  0x001c   118   099   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0/177765020
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0033   100   100   003    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
231 SSD_Life_Left           0x0013   094   094   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
233 SandForce_Internal      0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2176
234 SandForce_Internal      0x0000   000   000   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1984
241 Lifetime_Writes_GiB     0x0032   000   000   000    Old_age   Always       -       1984
242 Lifetime_Reads_GiB      0x0032   000   000   000    Old_age   Always       -       5632


This disk is under LVM control and has a mail/web server with postgresql and all 3 linux OS's (xen, mail, home server) are Gentoo and I am not shy of emerging updates.


Here's my M4 w/ Gentoo in my work laptop, really uninformative actually...

Code: [Select]



ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   100   100   050    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       796
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       145
170 Grown_Failing_Block_Ct  0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
171 Program_Fail_Count      0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
172 Erase_Fail_Count        0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
173 Wear_Levelling_Count    0x0033   100   100   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       5
174 Unexpect_Power_Loss_Ct  0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
181 Non4k_Aligned_Access    0x0022   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       11 2 8
183 SATA_Iface_Downshift    0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
184 End-to-End_Error        0x0033   100   100   050    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Command_Timeout         0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
189 Factory_Bad_Block_Ct    0x000e   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       81
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x003c   100   100   001    Old_age   Offline      -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   100   100   001    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0
202 Perc_Rated_Life_Used    0x0018   100   100   001    Old_age   Offline      -       0
206 Write_Error_Rate        0x000e   100   100   001    Old_age   Always       -       0


[lightsout714]

@lightsout714
My C300 has ~13000 hours on it already. Some of us has our computer on 24/7.

I understand that, I have a server that handles anything that needs to run 24/7. This rig is too power hungry for that.  I thought mine was up quite a bit though, I guess not.

[laffindude]

I guess aside from firmware issues, I doubt I will ever wear out an SSD. The question is, when will we get drives that are reliable when shipped, without having to go through a few firmware revisions... Buying a just launched SSD feels like playing roulette with your data.

It may be superstition, but I find that I have less hardware failures (particularly HDD) if I don't shut down. Shutting down at night made no difference on my power bill.

[ktkr]

Derp. I just bought a 128GB m4 so I could put my OCZ Vertex 2 (lol OCZ, never buying their products again) to my laptop.

[alaricljs]

Um, understand that the typical failure mode for a Vertex 2 is it turning into a brick when you suspend the system.  This is a very typical use case for laptops.  Sure you want that thing in your lappy?

[ktkr]

Um, understand that the typical failure mode for a Vertex 2 is it turning into a brick when you suspend the system.  This is a very typical use case for laptops.  Sure you want that thing in your lappy?

I have no other uses for the OCZ SSD, so yes. If it breaks, it breaks and I'll purchase Crucial or Intel. I can't stand the slow 5400 rpm hard drive in my EliteBook 2540p, it makes the whole system sluggish.

Do you mean hibernate or sleep? It's working great with sleep (= stuff gets stored to RAM) so far, I have hibernate disabled because I think it's absolutely useless.

[alaricljs]

Well, as I said.. 'typical' and yes, suspend==sleep.  My own failure was quite the opposite.  I had it in my lappy for 8 months worth of sleeping it 2-3 times a day.  I went on a business trip and on the home-bound leg I shut down the system so as not to have the battery die while it sat in my bag for a few days.  It never came back after that.

Needless to say sleeping isn't an immediate death for the thing, it's just that when it does fail it's usually when you go to wake the system up that you find out it's a brick.

[ktkr]

Well, as I said.. 'typical' and yes, suspend==sleep.  My own failure was quite the opposite.  I had it in my lappy for 8 months worth of sleeping it 2-3 times a day.  I went on a business trip and on the home-bound leg I shut down the system so as not to have the battery die while it sat in my bag for a few days.  It never came back after that.

Needless to say sleeping isn't an immediate death for the thing, it's just that when it does fail it's usually when you go to wake the system up that you find out it's a brick.

Damn. That's OCZ quality for you. To be honest I'm surprised my drive has lasted for a year already on my desktop PC.

[Deverica Wolf]

OMG. I feel so bad for you guys but I am happy for me. I was building my first gaming PC back in April and I had to pick my first SSD and I wanted a Crucial because of the price. I went with the 128GB C300 over the M4 for $190 because of the $45 price difference. Since then, it's gotten even cheaper than the C300 and I've felt kind of bad because I didn't want to wait for it to go down and I've read about it being faster than the C300. But now I guess I am glad. My C300 is fast like a cat and gives me no problems. Sometimes I leave it on all night and it goes on sleep a lot. :playball:

[RickyJ]

Good to know that before my new 128GB M4 hits 100 hours there'll be a nice new firmware to flash to.  Thanks for the speedy solution Crucial/Micron!

[JimBobMorris]

I have a M4 128GB that i got not too long ago,

Originally i bought it because it was one of the SSDs with a decent reputation and didn't seem to have the problems that plagued similarly priced Sandforce drives.
If it only is affecting early adopters and Crucial already has a fix in the works then i guess there is very little worrying to be had.

It's nice to know that Crucial responded promptly and recognizes that this is a problem.

[alaricljs]

The M4 firmware update addressing this issue is out.

[AKIMbO]

Amazon raised the price on the 128gb M4 by $30 today...just in time for the firmware update.

[laffindude]

Remember to always back up your data before updating firmware

[Malphas]

I didn't bother. Anyway mine appears to be fixed now.