Win 8.1 freeze caused by SSD ?

newstar

Hi, I've a Predator G3622. The original SSD it came with broke and I got it replaced under warranty, I don't know what model it originally came with but now there is a Micron C400 64GB SSD. Anyway, it freezes pretty regularily, the system stops responding and needs to be restarted with the power key. I've gone through everything else - device drivers, sleep timers, BIOS updates etc., and pretty much the only thing I'm left with is whether the firmware for the SSD needs updating. I saw a thread on some other forum about Micron SSD's causing regular freezes. The thing is, from Micron's website I can't find a UEFI compatible update (though they say that seperate updates are needed for UEFI systems), and I don't know if there is one available from Acer because I'm not sure if it a standard part of the system (or whether it was an equivalent replacement). Any ideas what to do ?

IronFly

As far as i know you can flash the Crucial M4 firmware to Micron C400, since they are the same unit.

 

You can ask to Crucial support just to be sure.

IronFly

As far as i know you can flash the Crucial M4 firmware to Micron C400, since they are the same unit.

 

You can ask to Crucial support just to be sure.

newstar

Thanks for the suggestion IronFly; going through the documentation of the Crucial M4 it kind of said something like "..and whatever you do, DON'T use a Crucial firmware update if you've got a Micron"...so I guess I'd rather not risk it..

newstar

An update:

 

So, it's pretty clear that I need to update the firmware on the SSD. I found the right update from Micron, BUT I can't get it to work because of UEFI. There are two ways to update the firmware - from a Micron supplied utility within Windows OR by creating a bootable disk (either USB or CDROM) with the update image on it, also supplied by Micron.

 

I've tried the first, no use at all because it can't get round the UEFI (Windows stops anything interfering with the boot sequence even when secure boot is OFF). 

 

I can't get the second method to work either. I've made bootable USB's with UUI and Rufus and even "by hand", manually formatting and creating a Linux boot disk using syslinux. Despite turning off all the secuirity options in BIOS, the boot manager refuses to recognize any bootable device except Windows Boot Manager. My problem is now one of, how do I get Windows to boot from a Linux USB ?

 

I've written to Micron asking them for advice but so far they haven't replied..

IronFly

so you have set Legacy instead of UEFI and disabled Secure Boot, but you can't still boot from USB?

 

The image from Micron is a linux based .iso?

if so, try this:

https://github.com/jfwells/linux-asus-t100ta/blob/master/boot/bootia32.efi

 

download bootia32.efi, copy that file on EFI\BOOT folder of the USB, if this path is available and try to boot from the USB pen.

 

Be sure that USB pen is listed on F12 menu when booting.

newstar

I've disabled secure boot and enabled CSM, which is the only way to get the legacy options enabled. Bootloader then gives the option of booting from CD/DVD, which is more than it did before but it's still not giving me the boot-from-USB option..I have copied the efi file over.

newstar

Ok, solved it I think - by going back to your original idea, downloading the Crucial firmware update..like Micron, crucial also has a USB bootable (in principle) update based on syslinux. I compared the Crucial ISO file with the Micron one and saw they were the same (same size, but I guess to double check I could have opened them in a hex editor)..anyway, I thought, what the hell, even though the Crucial documentation says the update isn't for Micron branded devices I'll give the Crucial Windows 8 utility a go and save myself the headache of trying to get the PC to boot from USB, and it worked !!

 

Checked the firmware version number in Device Manager under Details -> Hardware ID and it had updated to the correct version. Thanks for the suggestion Ironguy; no thanks to Micron and Crucial for making this much more of a job than it should have been !!