Firmware update for Core V2?

[fsilveira]

Hi,

I just wanted to say that highly recommend the above upgrade.

I own an OCZ Core V2 250GB which has been completely useless with enormous stuttering problems for the past six months since I purchased it. Now after the upgrade the stuttering is completely gone and the drive is snappy in its overall response. No system hangings whatsover.

Considering the way OCZ treats their customers I will never buy OCZ technology again. Intel, here I come!!

emil,

Could you please tell me which updater you used to flash your OCZ Core v2 250GB?

I have 5 of them choking up, tried two updaters (one for Windows - USB-only - and another for DOS) and none of them could update it. They say they support only up to 4 banks (of memory?) and my drive apparently has 8.

Please help me.

Best regards,

-Fernando

[jludvig]

Interesting with the new firmware. Personally i'll wait at least a couple of weeks for the official ocz version before attempting the flash.
In the meantime i really recommend FlashFire - it solves the stuttering issues by buffering all writes to system memory and flushing the buffer when the disk is idle.
In not only removed the stuttering from my Solid v1, it also improved 4 random writes by a factor 10. http://flashfire.org/xe/
Only caveat is it does not work with 64 bit windows.

ATTO bench of my 30gig solid and flashfire

[saint-francis]

Well I installed this FW. I never had any real "stuttering" problems any how. What I did have was incompatibility with a motherboard and lots of time on my hands while software was being installed. Now installing software goes much faster and the PC is usable while doing so (which it wasn't before). I just popped a 30 GB Core V2 in my kid's new Windows 7 mini ITX build and it's smoking fast. No tweaks or anything like that at all.

[yenik]

This thread has been VERY informative. Thank you for all posting what you know, and thanks to OCZ for not deleting it.

I went ahead and flashed my 60GB Solid Series. I was getting a lot of stuttering, in regular Windows 7 (32bit) use. With FlashFire (!)
As a reminder to laptop users, don't forget to put your power settings into High Performance mode.

Some info from one of the flash logfiles:

System mode !
Auto detect...
Flash model=K9LBG08U0M
(Ch,Bank,CE,DrvCur)=(8,2,1,2)
Part 1 : SATA
Part 2 : USB
Create original setting file : old.txt
FW updated count : 0x01
Current firmware version= 081016
New updated firmware version : 090508S
Preformat...pass
Download code...pass
Upgrade firmware : completed
Please restart the system.

ISP End.

I'm very happy with the result. I backed up my Win7 RC install using the built-in system restore feature before flashing.
A note for everyone, the DOS based utilities you might come across will not work on the OCZ Solid at minimum. The one I tried detects if you own that brand. The GUI utility that I used doesn't seem to care. I had a friend investigate the Taiwanese forum posts on this, I had trouble finding the link to the integrated firmware GUI update.

I HIGHLY recommend this firmware update to people who would not mind if they bricked their gen2 drive, or lost their warranty. I did notice drops in my ATTO scores, some big and some small.. all acceptable though. The system FEELS much better now. It's pretty clear they traded max speed for more ops per second and this is a great thing for this drive. As this benchmark shows well- http://forum.notebookreview.com/show...11#post5122311. I'd say this drive has been dog slow since day 1, until I did the update.

I don't hold the fact OCZ doesn't have this update against them. My guess is they don't have an agreement with JMicron to carry their future controller releases, while the competitors who do have this firmware update, have agreed to such terms. OCZ and Indilinx are very much in bed together, and probably didn't leave much room for great relations longterm with JMicron.
So they might not even have access to newer firmwares. They wouldn't tell us that if it were true.

I just ordered a Vertex 60GB the other day too. I think it's going in my desktop though, rather than my laptop now that the drive works a little closer to how it's supposed to. I think OCZ does everything they can to help out their customers, obviously they want us to buy from them again. My Vertex 60GB for my desktop gets here Wednesday.

[Jackboot]

I don't hold the fact OCZ doesn't have this update against them. My guess is they don't have an agreement with JMicron to carry their future controller releases, while the competitors who do have this firmware update, have agreed to such terms. OCZ and Indilinx are very much in bed together, and probably didn't leave much room for great relations longterm with JMicron.
So they might not even have access to newer firmwares. They wouldn't tell us that if it were true.

This is not accurate. If you look at the current product description page for the OCZ Solid series SSDs, it claims:

The addition of a mini-USB port also makes it possible for customers in the field to update the Solid Series’ firmware should new versions become available, to further enhance compatibility or performance with future platforms.

If OCZ knew in advance that they would not support their JMicron products with future firmware releases then they should not have advertised (nor still advertise) their JMicron products as being firmware upgradeable "should new versions become available." So the fact that OCZ is ignoring their customers with expensive drives running defective firmware has nothing to do with their ABILITY to directly offer and support new firmware. They could offer support if they wanted and they are choosing not to - despite their promise to do so written right on the box. I think we can be sure that the reason that we are being left to support ourselves with the new firmware is totally a financial decision, i.e., OCZ is saving money by not supporting their last-generation SSDs.

[RyderOCZ]

Most of the reason is that JMicron does not support OCZ.

OCZ has never received this update from the controller manufacturer, despite recent requests for it. They provide it to other companies, it seems, but not OCZ.

[iaTa]

JMicron doesn't support OCZ?!

Come on Ryder pull the other one.

Tony has already stated that you would not officially support this firmware because you don't have enough old stock to fulfil RMAs when flashes go wrong.

These blatant contradictions aren't doing OCZs reputation any good at all.

[RyderOCZ]

How is this a contradiction. This FW was never sent to OCZ, yet our competitors have it.

How else do you want me to explain it?

We can't support this FW because it is not ours, nor approved by us.

[RyderOCZ]

Last official word.

There will be no update for Core V2 drives from OCZ.

Thread closed.