Update on Samsung SSD 840/840 Pro Failures

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• jwilliams4200 - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - link

  The full version for the retail 840 Pro firmware is DXM03B0Q.
  
  For mine, Device Manager displays the whole thing. I am not sure why the screenshot here only shows the 3B0Q, or why your Windows is truncating the part after DXM0.
  
  You can also check the firmware version with a program like Crystal Disk Info. That should definitely display the whole version for you.

• jwilliams4200 - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - link

  By the way, I think I know why your firmware version is truncated. I think you are using Intel's IASTOR/RST driver rather than the MSAHCI driver. I can tell becuase of the "SCSI" part. MSAHCI starts with "IDE".
  
  Anyway, MSAHCI seems to show the full version string, whereas IASTOR seems to truncate it.
  
  But you can always check the full firmware version by reading the SMART information, using something like Crystal Disk Info, gsmartcontrol, or just smartctl.

• Beaver M. - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - link

  Good to hear, now all we need is availability on the 512 GB one. Anyone know when they will be available?

• Beenthere - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - link

  Another day another SSD rushed out the door without proper validation. Will the insanity ever stop with these SSD makers? It's completely unscrupulous to ship improperly validated hardware to reviewers or customers.
  
  Often review hardware is hand-picked and sometimes even tweaked to give better than normal performance in benches. This can mean millions of dollars to an SSD, mobo, RAM, etc. maker, so you can understand why this consumer fraud is common and systemic.

• Death666Angel - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link

  Aehm... the thing that is being sold does not have that issue in all likelyhood. Are you expecting all pre-released hardware and software to function without bugs? Do you know why there are (pre) alpha and beta releases? But please, continue your ranting, it makes you seem smart and well balanced.

• Metaluna - Friday, November 30, 2012 - link

  It should be a little alarming that they are catching and fixing major, showstopper, data destroying bugs only a few months before commercial release. The lack of firmware stability has been an endemic problem in the SSD industry. This kind of thing only reinforces the theory that there is a rather cavalier attitude towards quality control in the industry. One that you don't usually see on mechanical drives, for example (it happens, but it's more the exception than the rule). Granted, SSD tech is moving pretty fast these days, but the stuff they're doing to push magnetic recording into extreme high densities isn't exactly simple either.
  
  You don't usually see major crashes or stability problems on Windows 7 or 8, OSX, etc in the same pre-release time frame, for example. If Intel was having Ivy Bridge chips crash and melt down in the socket a few months before their stated release date it would be a disaster.

• Mr Perfect - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link

  You took until page three today, I was starting to get worried.

• mayankleoboy1 - Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - link

  Is slightly that Samsung gave reviewers a pre-production firmware , and did not inform them. Only after Anand revealed the the drives failure,did Samsung make a clean chit.
  
  Of course, the retail SSD have the final firmware. SO thats OK.

• Rick83 - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link

  Maybe the review firmware is...faster :O

• damianrobertjones - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link

  Did they ever fix the Samsung series 9 Wi-Fi problems? No
  Did they ever fix the Samsung 7 slate screen separation issues? No
  
  Two VERY expensive items so HEAVEN knows how they deal with cheap items.
  
  ...and now this: (At least there's an update)
  
  "All retail samples should ship with a newer firmware revision (3B0Q/6B0Q) that have this bug fixed" - The word SHOULD strikes me with FEAR as so many people won't bother updating the firmware and literally moments after moving their backups onto the drive it'll fail. I can see it happening.