Falcon II FW upgrade failure

[mfearby]

I keep getting "Upgrade Failed, please choose the right parameter for your SSD" when trying to upgrade the firmware on my G.Skill Falcon II 128GB. The drive is being recognised as Disk No 0, have attached the jumper, shows up as "YATAPDONG BAREFOOT-ROM", and choosing SSD Model No "G.SKILL FALCON-II 128GB SSD -1 (Recommended)" and "G.SKILL FALCON-II 128GB SSD -2" takes a very short time to give up, but if I choose the last one, "G.SKILL FALCON-II 128GB SSD -3" it takes much longer, actually looks as though it's doing stuff, including yellow DOS text, but ultimately still fails with the error mentioned in my first sentence.

OS is Win 7 64-bit because I use Linux at home, so I've got it plugged into my brother's PC. Some instructions written in English (not Engrish) would be nice, and some firmware update software that wasn't written but a rank amateur would also be very helpful!

I will never buy a G.Skill product again!

[mfearby]

I brought the drive into work and it still won't upgrade. OS is Windows XP, and I've tried both SATA connectors on the machine. It's a year old Lenovo desktop PC (7360).

Is there another way to flash the firmware? Can I flash it from Linux or a DOS boot disk, perhaps?

As with Windows 7, only the third option for 128 GB would look like it did anything but it still failed after the counter reached about 6,000-ish. Windows now cannot format the drive, so I guess it's got to the RMA'd? I only tried this firmware because Windows was bat-sh*t unstable with it, now it's definitely unstable. it don't work!

[G.SKILL]

please try it again to run as administrator
this issue should be solved
thanks


G.S

[mfearby]

Thanks for the reply but I right-clicked "Run as Administrator" when trying on Windows 7 and on XP I was actually logged in as the Administrator. Both machines/logins, same result.

[trkr]

check this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl9ppwW3urI

[GSKILL TECH]

I will attempt to replicate the issue and find the solution. Thank you for the feedback as it helps us improve.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[trkr]

When we will have a solution? i m waiting until 2 mounth. Please just improve your support before you release new SSD disk series. I bought my ssd from Japan and japan shop is stopped to sell your products for user comments and stabilty problems.

Please just explain really what happening to your FALCON II series SSD disk. Why they are failing or have stabilty problems and why we are unable to update firmwares.

Thanks,

[GSKILL TECH]

We are almost complete with the clean tool that should fix the block errors for you to flash your firmware. Of course, it will be in the sticky section once we release it, so be on the look out.

As far as support, we will surely improve. Like I have said in previous posts, we do read all threads and use every bit of information to our advantage. For example, we have already added a couple SSD specific engineers to our team, so this will enhance our testing and troubleshooting capabilities. In the near future, we will be able to provide great support as we do for our memory products.

To answer your question, many failing and stability problems can be user attributed. SSD's are still young, and many programs and such have not been written specifically for them yet. The problem is SSDs and platter drives are completely different, and can not utilize the same settings/functions/features, so when programs or users treat the SSD like one, it can harm the drive. For example, with the "please choose the right parameter for your drive" issue, that is just damaged blocks, so the firmware can not update. As stated above, we are almost complete with the clean tool, so the clean tool will fix the error blocks and then you will be able to flash firmware like new.

Thank you for your patience through all this, and like always, we are working for you continously.

Thank you
GSKILL TECH

[djmorgan]

It's good you do watch the forums!

It's good you NOW have some SSD engineers however, I would have thought that would have been a requirement before you started selling your product!

The average user cannot update the firmware, and that is the first thing you should address, the ability to flash via a CD or external USB caddy would be most useful.

My investment in your product is now lost as I moved on to Intel and I can tell you my SSD experience is now terrific, you should really investigate how Intel market and support there products.

David