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A Few Problems with Falcon 128GB

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  • A Few Problems with Falcon 128GB

    Good Evening everbody (in Vienna it's about 9 pm),

    1.
    2 weeks ago I bought a G.SKILL FALCON 128GB SSD...
    I got it on Tuesday 2nd, one week ago...Then I tried to install Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit - it didn't work, I had problems over problems (but I've to say that I had NOT installed all drivers at that point).
    On Friday I installed Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 - inclusive all drivers - it worked quite fine, everything was really fast - and then the system kinda froze. I shut my pc down (computers don't work without electricity =D) and restarted it... It worked about 2 hours and then it crashed again.
    I've got a freeze/crash every 2-3 hours, or sometimes even after 10 minutes =D
    It's just a biiiig freeze, I didn't try "doing nothing".
    Normally it's happening when I'm playing Games - but sometimes I just open the Explorer or Firefox an it crashes.
    I do not know if this belong to my SSD, but I think so...

    2. Can I update my SSD per DOS ? Like flashing a Graphics-Card or the Mainboard (ok, for the Mainboard I'm using Asus EZ Flash =D) ?

    Main System Specs:
    Intel Core i7 920 (atm not overclocked)
    XFX GTX280 XT (48?C now, about 74?C when I'm playing a game where a crash/freeze happens)
    Asus Rampage II Extreme
    Gskill Falcon =D, WD 6400AAKS
    Be Quiet DPP 750W (before you ask if my PSU is just not able to bring enough power to my Graphics-Card)

    I really like the Falcon, everything is really fast, working with Photoshop, JDownloader, ...

    And if I made grammar/vocab-mistakes - I'm from Austria and still learning English =D
    And i'm quite tired, even if it's just 9pm =D

    kindly regards

  • #2
    DOS won't work

    You have to use XP or vista.

    http://gskill.us/forum/showthread.php?t=820

    Comment


    • #3
      yes, I would first try to update your firmware first. I remember reading about someone with a similar problem and resolved it by updating the firmware.

      I would follow the directions for updating exactly to the letter; don't take any chances. Although, one person reported the updated went successfully using Windows 7 with AHCI, I still wouldn't take the chance. But that's just me.

      good luck

      Comment


      • #4
        So you guys have tried the new firmware on 128GB Falcon and it worked?
        As you can see in the benchmark thread, my Falcon 128GB only gets 189mb/s read on vista ultimate 64 bit. My mb doesn't have AHCI, so I can't use wiper.exe. I would really want to try the new firmware but not sure if it's stable for 128GB since it's announced only for 256GB

        Don't wanna fix what's not broken

        Comment


        • #5
          I applied the patch to my falcon 128gb. It's quite stable. Be sure to get the right version (not the 256G version).

          Comment


          • #6
            The Problem is - I do not really understand the manual ... =D

            Step-by-Step

            1. I download the 128GB Firmware Update Package
            2. I plug in the Jumper (of course only when the PC is shut-down)
            3. I start start.exe and then i plug in the SSD.
            4. I press OK
            5. (Blablabla =D) The Firmware is installed?
            6. I have to press install.exe / start.exe ??
            7. After "change the jumper settings ..." appears I power off my pc and unplug the Jumper ?

            And ... all data will be lost ?
            Why there is no data loss when you flash a Vertex ? (maybe...)...
            ...and why are you able to update the OCZ one with a DOS-Flash Tool (that's so easy buhuhuhu xD) and the G.SKILL Falcon not ?

            Is there a chance for a DOS-Flashtool ?

            kindly regards

            Comment


            • #7
              Here's the way I did it (as I recall)

              first I tried DOS on my win7 machine. No love.
              then....
              went to another machine that was running xp and had a spare sata port.

              remove the ssd from the win7 machine
              plug in the jumper
              plugged in power connector of ssd to xp machine
              boot xp
              run start.exe
              observe 'ok' message box
              connect the sata cable to the ssd (ok, I admit that this a deviation from the instructions but I didn't have the confidence to 'hot swap' the power)
              click ok
              say a short prayer
              on a good day, ssd is wiped clean and firmware is installed

              Comment


              • #8
                I have the 128 GB version too and updated to 1571 and had no issues so far. Though, I have not benchmarked my drive yet.

                I just powered off my PC, put the jumper in then powered on my computer with the SSD still plugged in. I just manually booted into the drive that had the operating system I was going to use for the update, which was Vista 32 bit.

                Yes, click on start.exe and continue on. When it prompts back a second time to when it says "plug in units" then you can cancel because you already did that part. It's done.

                Yes, all data will be lost

                As for why OCZ vertex series is easy to flash. I'm thinking both companies made their drives different, not all parts, design and programming are the same between the drives. Although, you probably could flash a falcon the same way you can with a vertex. It depends on how they designed it. I don't think the vertex has a cache like the falcon does.

                good luck
                Last edited by razzlejon; 06-10-2009, 07:29 AM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I thought that the Falcon and the Vertex (and some other SSD's) use exactly the same Hardware (just a few optical and software differences...)...

                  I'll try what you said...THX ! =D

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by kAnton View Post
                    I thought that the Falcon and the Vertex (and some other SSD's) use exactly the same Hardware (just a few optical and software differences...)...

                    I'll try what you said...THX ! =D

                    They are All of the guys selling these drives are building them off the reference design so far.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Extide View Post
                      They are All of the guys selling these drives are building them off the reference design so far.
                      Ah =D

                      ...it would be a lot easier to update a Falcon in DOS-Mode, but ... yeah =D

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Yeah...it took me about 3 hours to install the new Firmware =D
                        But now it's done, oh my god am i happy xDDD

                        First i searched a PC with SATA in our house...just one was here - SATA didn't worked =D (it's quite an old one ^^) - the other computers in our household are laptops =D

                        Then i installed Windows XP...twice . . . (it didn't worked well the 1st time)

                        Then Windows XP worked - and the Firmware-Update-Tool worked =D

                        Now i'm restoring my backup =D

                        ...With a DOS-compatible Flash-Tool it would have taken approximately max. 2 minutes =D

                        kindly regards

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          The problem has not gone away, there are still freezes and "crashes" :-(

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            1. Sorry for 4-times-post =D

                            2. Now I installed Windows Vista Home Premium x64 - And there are still crashes ...

                            Should i RMA it ?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              kAnton,

                              yeah, it sounds like you need to RMA it.

                              you can also try updating the Bios to your motherboard.

                              Does your motherboard have different IDE mode settings like IDE compatibility mode or IDE enhanced mode? Or are you using AHCI mode? If so, you may want to try each one and see if it resolves it.

                              Did you try all the teak guides? disabling Pretech, Superfetch, auto-defrag, moving the swap file to another drive ect -- Basically trying to gear your SSD more towards reading than writing. It's a suggestion, but I don't it will resolve anything in your case.

                              If you go to maximumpc.com and click on the "how-tos" link there is a guide to show how to move your user profile account to another drive.

                              Comment

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