Samsung Evo 840 fails to boot/erase/format

[Bolland]

Hey guys,

The Samsung 840 Basic is covered in some threads but I haven't found any thread tackling my problem so far:

I have a late 2011 MacBook Pro with a Samsung SSD 840 Series installed since a couple of months. I had no errors or anything since installation and was very happy with the speed of the SSD. I installed a fresh Mavericks OS when I got it.

A few days ago my MacBook just didn't boot, I got a spinning wheel and the apple logo for hours when powering up the machine.

Thats what I tried so far:

- Went through all steps on Apple help pages such as
- SMC reset
- NVRAM reset
- hardware test (didn't work – spinning wheel again)
- save mode (starts loading, then spinning wheel again)
- Try to reinstall OS X via startup manager and then choosing Recovery boot volume: installation failed after 40-60 seconds saying "failed to download resources" (internet is working fine!). Trying again it promts: "error while preparing installation. Try again".
- disk utility:
- verify disk went ok
- verify disk permissions tells me there are some groups differ, repairing disk permissions is not possible ("invalid argument")
- repair disk: not possible (http://note.io/19nZrpe)

I managed to boot on an old OS via external HDD. I was able to access the disk and make a backup image file out of it. I then tried to repair the SSD via Disk Utility and Terminal (diskutil).
After not being able to repair it (same errors as above) I tried to format it using "erase". When choosing Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (or any other Mac OS Extended file systems) I get a "File system formatter failed" error (http://note.io/K8X6Fk).

Formatting it on MS-DOS (FAT) works funnily, but that doesn't solve my problem at all

I also tried setting up different partitions and changing the partition scheme, same problem appears with GUID, Apple Partition and Master Boot Record http://note.io/K8XXWl

Right now I don't know what else to try but getting a new one from Samsung as I still have warranty.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is a firmware update from Samsung, but I don't really think that will change anything

Did anyone of you face the same problems or has experience with it and another hot tip for me?

Thanks in advance!
Ben

 

[Fishrrman]

You might try the firmware update first.

If that does no good, and you're fully backed up, you might return the drive for a replacement under warranty.

If you have the warranty, use it!

 

[niteflyr]

I see you have 2 drives installed. Make sure SSD is installed in the main bay as 2011 MBP's have issues with SATA III drives in optibay.

 

[markx88]

I had this exact same thing happen to me, but with a Seagate Hybrid hard drive in a mid-2012 MacBook Pro. So I suspect this isn't specific to your computer/drive combination.

I went through all the steps you did and received all the same error messages. I would definitely attempt the firmware update.

I had my drive mounted in an external USB dock. I was able to make a full image of it for current backup. I kept running Apple's Disk Utility on it. I restarted my computer several times. I can't really point to anything specific that I did and say, "Ah-ha, that's what made it work!" But magically and mysteriously it began working again.

But my recommendation would be to have it replaced since it is under warranty.

 

[Weaselboy]

Looks to me like your SSD bit the dust.

If it was working fine and you did not install anything to cause those errors, that points to a hardware problem like a failed disk.

 

[Sb87xx]

I'm having the exact same problem with my MB pro 2009 13" and a samsung 840 evo 500 gb ssd.

Did you find a solution ?

 

[sbaker]

SATA cable

After not being able to repair it (same errors as above) I tried to format it using "erase". When choosing Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (or any other Mac OS Extended file systems) I get a "File system formatter failed" error (http://note.io/K8X6Fk).

Formatting it on MS-DOS (FAT) works funnily, but that doesn't solve my problem at all

I also tried setting up different partitions and changing the partition scheme, same problem appears with GUID, Apple Partition and Master Boot Record http://note.io/K8XXWl

I had a similar experience when adding an SSD (Samsung EVO 840) to a Mac mini to make my own Fusion drive; i.e. when trying to format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) I got the "File system formatter failed" error, although I could format as MS-DOS (FAT).

Turns out my issue was a bad SATA flex cable (purchased on ebay). I replaced it with a better cable purchased from PowerbookMedic.com, and everything is now working perfectly.