Quick Crucial M4 Firmware Ques

[AppleGoat]

Just got my Crucial M4 up and running. To the best of my knowledge, despite having been purchased within the past week, my SSD is not running the latest firmware (002), does that sound right? Anyway, I've gone ahead and downloaded the firmware from this page:

http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx

If you take a look at the attachment, you'll see that 'CDROM' icon. Should I just throw that on a CD and burn it or should I take the folder labeled 'ISOLINUX'?

I just got the dreaded beachball, hang-up, so I guess that answers my first question. Thanks

 

[Macjames]

Mine shipped with version 1 firmware.

Go to disk utility (applications > utilities), in the left hand menu CDROM should be there (if not drag it from the desktop into the left hand menu). Click the burn button.

Reboot holding down the c key with the disk in.

 

[Fugue]

Are there still beachball issues with firmware 2?

 

[Macjames]

Nope, none, upgrading the firmware cleared it all up for me!

 

[Fugue]

Nope, none, upgrading the firmware cleared it all up for me!

Awesome, I plan on purchasing one soon.

Does it wake from sleep almost instantly as does a HDD? Also, what can you say about power consumption?

 

[AppleGoat]

Firmware 0002 successfully installed for me. The computer can be, at times, lightning fast. Boot up is nearly as fast as awaking my old computer from sleep (maybe a slight exaggeration but you get the idea).

However, I still periodically get the 15-20 second beach balls, what gives? Also, according to iStat, my computer is running, on average, 10-15 degrees warmer than it was with the 5400rpm HD. Any quick fix for this?

 

[Macjames]

Odd. You running Lion?

 

[AppleGoat]

Odd. You running Lion?

No, Snow Leopard.

 

[AppleGoat]

Update: Since I've installed iLife '09, my computer has been utterly unusable. It beach balls constantly, I've rebooted a couple of times, no luck. Crucial's customer support said to let the computer sit idly for 4-5 hours. Apparently, it needs to work some things out after the firmware update. He said Plan B would be to reformat the disk, install the firmware then let sit for 4-5 hours...then, after that, reinstall OS X. Frankly, I'm not gonna even try Plan B, too much of a hassle. The other day I furtively uploaded my 13 gb iTunes collection to the server at work and then copied it to my computer today, after which I deleted the collection from the server. If I were to reformat the disk, I would have no way of accessing my iTunes collection, short of reinstalling my old 5400rpm drive. I'm beginning to become disillusioned with SSDs. Apple's short shrift of TRIM support for non-Apple installed SSDs doesn't bode well for the future of my SSD either.

 

[AppleGoat]

Another Update: I let the computer idle for 4 hours. So far so good, snappy and beach ball-less...so far. I'll cross my fingers.

 

[AppleGoat]

Still beach balling...ugh. I don't know what to do at this point, I really don't feel like reformatting my drive and starting over.

 

[Fugue]

Still beach balling...ugh. I don't know what to do at this point, I really don't feel like reformatting my drive and starting over.

Are you sure firmware 2 flashed correctly?

 

[AppleGoat]

Are you sure firmware 2 flashed correctly?

Yeah, at least it said it had. Did you install the firmware before installing OS X or after? I read on the Crucial form to disable S.M.A.R.T. update on the iStat widget. I had it checking every 15 minutes. Perhaps, that is the antidote (doubt it); yesterday afternoon aside, the beach balls seem to come at 15 minute intervals. The computer has been pretty good of late -- hopefully, the drive has a bright future and doesn't go bonkers like it did yesterday.

 

[AppleGoat]

I just download a 662 MB tiff from the server at work. It beach balled for like 10-15 seconds before opening it then generated the image from top to bottom at about the same rate as my 5400rpm drive.

 

[Fugue]

Wish I could help more, but I don't have the an SSD yet, just about to buy one.

Check the Crucial Support forums, and if that doesn't help, a fresh re-install never hurts - it just takes forever.

 

[Macjames]

Don't think I can help, I did a fresh install of Lion then copied over all my stuff from a HDD.

Also, Lion took fifteen minutes to install!

 

[AppleGoat]

Thanks for the concern. It's working now before spazzing out before. It was unusable after installing an OS X update. Shutting it down never remedies the problem, you must let it idle for a considerable amount of time to workout the kinks. It seems like the SSD is sensitive to large installations, it usually has a hissy fit in wake of them.

 

[AppleGoat]

MacJames -- which Mac do you have? When did you purchase it? I bought my 13-inch 2011 MBP in early March, close to the release. I wonder if my computer has a faulty SATA III cable or something?

 

[polbit]

Well, all I can say that my M4 hasn't beachballed once since firmware 002, however the wake time is about 2-5 seconds, so longer than before. However, everything else is super fast.

 

[AppleGoat]

Well, all I can say that my M4 hasn't beachballed once since firmware 002, however the wake time is about 2-5 seconds, so longer than before. However, everything else is super fast.

Really 2-5 seconds?? You put your SSD to sleep? I was advised not to. The boot time is ultra fast and all the apps launch in a single bounce. I see this drives potential in between stuttering phases; makes it hard to return a SATA III drive. Before it was almost a foregone conclusion that I would either swap it out for the ever-reliable Samsung 470 or resign to the fact that the Solid State Drive may yet be too unrefined a technology. However, after work, I'm gonna get in touch with Crucial and do whatever they suggest. If problems persists, who know which route I'll take.

 

[AppleGoat]

Well, all I can say that my M4 hasn't beachballed once since firmware 002, however the wake time is about 2-5 seconds, so longer than before. However, everything else is super fast.

Polbit, one other question, when did you buy your 15"?

 

[Macjames]

15" MacBook Pro - bought July.

First thing I did was flip it over, install the SSD and then Lion (made a CD from the App Store download) then did the firmware update.

 

[Macjames]

I also used a terminal command to enable TRIM in Lion (only works in Lion) and have had no issues.

 

[polbit]

I got mine back in April, and had a 128Gb C300 couple of weeks later - not a single issue with it, never had to perform an update. After a while, I realized it was too small though. I then moved the C300 to the DVD try and installed the original HD back. Ran like that for a while, and again, no issues, other than the drive was slower in SATA II bay, and I missed the DVD drive few times, and it was a pain to install some software to two drives.

Anyway, I got the M4 with firmware 001, installed fresh Lion from USB stick, and it was a beach ball city. Burned a CD with the new firmware, rebooted, it worked on the 1st try. Never another beach ball.

I never shutdown my MBP, just close the lid to put it to sleep (have mode 0 select, so no saving RAM to disk). Much faster that way. Now M4 seems a little slower, not sure why, but I can live with it. It seems that sometimes it is faster, then other times it seems like it takes forever.

 

[AppleGoat]

I got mine back in April, and had a 128Gb C300 couple of weeks later - not a single issue with it, never had to perform an update. After a while, I realized it was too small though. I then moved the C300 to the DVD try and installed the original HD back. Ran like that for a while, and again, no issues, other than the drive was slower in SATA II bay, and I missed the DVD drive few times, and it was a pain to install some software to two drives.

Anyway, I got the M4 with firmware 001, installed fresh Lion from USB stick, and it was a beach ball city. Burned a CD with the new firmware, rebooted, it worked on the 1st try. Never another beach ball.

I never shutdown my MBP, just close the lid to put it to sleep (have mode 0 select, so no saving RAM to disk). Much faster that way. Now M4 seems a little slower, not sure why, but I can live with it. It seems that sometimes it is faster, then other times it seems like it takes forever.

Thank you guys for your accounts? Could you tell me precisely what sleep settings you use? "Mode 0" where? By the way, my computer has been running fine for a few hours and I've been toggling back and forth between applications. I was assured I'd be reinstalling everything this evening, but now I'm not too sure.