Help with Kingston HyperX 3k SSD firmware update

Try a diffrent sata port and see if it is a sata 3 port. Should not make a diffrence but worth a try.

thent

Thanks for the quick response, will do!

Nope didn't work, any other ideas?

I have exactly the same issue - can't update new 120gb and 240gb drives. I have tried on three different Win 7 PCs using Intel, AMD and MS ahci drivers. I think there must be a problem with the SH103_FW503.ffp file.

Same here on 2 brand new 120g both shipped with firmware version 502. I clicked on the redx and it told this in a popup.

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Upgrade process has failed.
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The specified firmware package file: C:/Users/my user name/Desktop/SH103_503fw_win/SH103_FW503.ffp does not contain a firmware file for the seleted drive...

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OK
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Copied from the popup window and yes they forgot the c in selected not me.

I called there tech support and explained the issue. The rep put me on hold and came back 5-10 later and told me this is a known issue and that if I left my phone number and email they would contact me as soon as they had a resolution.

With a little searching I found that Mushkin Chronos had this same error with the 502 firmware. They had a fix that involved downloading a 550mb version of the firmware package. No idea how long it took them to get that fix up or what the problem was. I downloaded it just to see what was so big and it was the .ffp that was 550mb otherwise it looked just like a regular update package with the flash program and patch notes for 502.

Since this is the only post I have found that might be the same issue I get the feeling that it only showed up recently. I just hope they fix it soon.

Please run the update again and click the redx to see if it is the same issue and post here if it is.

Yes, this is the same behavior I got - same error message.

Hook it up to different computer to perform upgrade.

This update is not required and should only be applied if you are experiencing issues with your SH103S3. < if you have no issues don't update

Normally I would agree but from what I've read firmware versions 502 and 501 have a TRIM bug that keeps TRIM from working at all. That's not good for a drive that already has poor performance.

This is all about getting TRIM working.

And I have already wasted my time trying on 3 different computers, ports, MS/AMD/Intel AHCI, etc. The poster that contacted Kingston is on the right track.

Please only post if you have a known wroking solution or response from Kingston.

Has anyone tried from Linux or Mac?

I have this drive with original firmware and it runs flawless and fast.

i contacted them about that last week, their response was:

I had a problem with this too, but in the end the solution for me was to uninstall the Intel AHCI driver, reboot, letting Windows 7 install it's own AHCI Driver, at which point the firmware update utility recognized the drive and worked.

I see gsp60 mentioned that they tried both and neither worked. Just letting you know that was the solution for me. If not, I'd try hooking it up as a secondary drive on another system and updating it from there..

Is anyone managed to get this working? Seems like Kingston removed the updated firmware from their website.
I would love to be able to update my drive, and i tried pretty much everything possible to get it to update and yet, it always failed to even try to update it.

no,
i tried on 4 different mobos with either msahci or intel drivers on intel chipsets and also on marvell and jmicron ports and it never allowed me to update from my original 502ABBF0

yeah, that's really frustrating. I'm considering contacting the support directly, i'm surprised there is not much people complaining on the internet about this.

Just got a call from Kingston and they emailed me new firmware. I haven't had a chance to see if it works yet since I need to backup both SSD's and let the computer finish something else first.

If someone has a suggestion of where to upload it that doesn't try to trick you into downloading some stupid bs I will upload it. I already made a torrent but am at a loss of where to upload the torrent file.

The firmware they sent me is only for drives with this number listed on the sticker on the drive 9904447-074.A01LF as these drives are the ones with the issue I posted about previously. Warning do not try to flash a drive with this firmware unless it has the number I posted as I have no idea what will happen.

The new firmware they emailed me was still 503 but it did let me flash and now both drives report 503. They also changed the file extension from .ffp to .vic.

http://www.multiupload.nl/ ?

http://multiupload.biz/gs97ldhkxhzj/SH103_503fw_74w_Mul...

Just remember to check and make sure the numbers match 9904447-074.A01LF this should be on a sticker on the drive along with the serial numbers. If anyone is willing to risk bricking one go ahead and try but let us know if it worked or not on drives that don't match that number.

i just succesfully updated my 9904447-074.A01LF from 502ABBF0 to 503ABBF0 with that file, thanks a lot Stormsorter

I just contacted Kingston and they are still working on the problem. I have six of the 120gb HyperX drives, five of which have "990447 - 020.A00LF" on the sticker and were loaded with the 501 firmware, and one drive with "9904447 - 057.A00LF" on the sticker with the 502 firmware.

The one with the 502 FW worked fine, but the other five did not. I told Kingston about this and heard (via this thread) that depending on the model on the sticker they might be able to send me something better. They did and it successfully upgraded my five "990447 - 020.A00LF" drives. To be safe, i'd only use it if you had the "990447 - 020.A00LF" drives, however it wasn't specifically designed for that sticker number. You might want to call them first just to double check.

Here's what they sent me. http://multiupload.biz/ul_wasi59sbd3ol

All of the file names are the same, but the .ffp file does to appear to be different. Hope this helps!

I decided to post this here just incase its related to the 503 firmware.

A few hours ago my computer started acting up. To make this short and to the point cpu usage would spike every 10 or so seconds and the pc would momentarily freeze each time it did. After lots of trouble shooting and virus scans what fixed was switching to the stock Microsoft sata/ahci driver from the AMD SATA AHCI Driver.

I find it odd that five days after flashing the driver starts acting up so I did a little testing and it acted up on all 3 versions of the AMD driver I had on my system dated 2009, 2011, and 2012. Even after completely removing them and reinstalling the 2012 version 2.1.331 it would still freeze. This driver worked fine and outperformed the MS one (according to CrystalDiskMark anyway) since I got the drives late November.

For those that are curios I'll put the CrystalDiskMark results in a spoiler. I didn't bother saving the MS results five days ago but they are the same as the ones I got today. And yes I used the MS drivers when I flashed.



Sorry thought the spoiler tags would shrink it when invisible.

I'm running Windows 8 on a sabertooth x79 motherboard. I recently upgraded my bios, the SSD firmware to 503, did a clean install of Win8 and installed all the latest drivers for all of my components and haven't had any issues. I also installed the latest Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology enterprise Driver for the SATA and haven't seen any issues with that. However, did you install your drivers via some sort of driver setup file? or did you download the driver and update the SATA controller through the Device Manager (under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers")? The reason I ask is when I first did an install via the setup file and ran into big problems and had to restore back to an earlier recovery point because I was getting a black screen after boot. I found that if I went to the "Standard SATA AHCI controller" under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" and tried to manually update the driver from the files included in the setup folder, windows seemed to think it had the latest file. However, when I went under "Storage Controllers", I could update the SATA AHCI controller driver from there. I do run a raid-0 for all of my SSD's through a LSI controller, but that has it's own driver. Under my storage controllers I also have two "ASUS BOT Storage Drivers", an "Intel(R) C600 Sereis Chipset SATA AHCI Controller" driver, my LSI adapter driver, a "Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller" and a "Microsoft VHD Loopback Controller" - I imagine you'll have something similar.

So I suspect perhaps you need the leave standard controller driver under the "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" and your AMD driver will go under the storage controllers. I'm not sure if this was of any help, but let me know if it was.

I believe "Storage Controllers" are your raid drivers. I do not run raid and all I have in Device Manager is "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers". I thank you for the attempt but I only posted about my issue in case it is related to the firmware I posted. Considering it was massive dpc latency spikes it probably is some weird issue with this version of 503 and AMD drivers.

i didn't noticed anything unusual on asus p8z68-v pro with latest 11.7.0.1013 after update, everything is working as expected

Multiupload.biz is no longer working.   Does anyone have a direct link to download this firmware file from depositfiles.com, etc.?

there: http://depositfiles.com/files/bmw0qskhl

Thank you!

According to the review I read here, this drive had very good scores in the benchmark >>> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-...

But when I bought it, after a fresh Windows 7 X64 installation, I was getting only 170 MB write speeds which was 15% of what is advertised.


I read the posts in this thread and upgraded to Firmware: 503

My write speeds went up by double so now they are 315 MB when using the Intel Chipset Drivers 9.3.0.1020 and 294 MB/S when using IRST 11.5.0.1207

This is very strange because on all my previous HDDs and SSDs installing the IRST (Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver) has always given me better results as it includes the AHCI controller driver but with this SSD it is the opposite which I don't get.

I am not happy with my 315 MB/S write speeds still this is not what I thought I'd purchased

I hope Kingston can fix this with another firmware update or I'm doomed

15% of advertised 510 is 75 not 170

510MB/s is only achievable in certain conditions, with specific drivers and specific data, for specific period of time
i would consider 315MB with random not compressible data a fairly good result (i.e. my 840 pro has 360-370 sequential write in as ssd)

I just got off the phone with Kingston Tech Support who told me the reason why I am getting only 315 MB/S Write speed is that because I did not used the ATTO Disk Benchmark as they did. That was how they advertised 450 MB/S write speeds. He said that ATTO Disk Benchmark uses some kind of compression in its test which is where this drive excels and hence, their results are true.

I ran the ATTO Disk Benchmark and got 400 to 500 MB/S [I ran it with only the Intel Chipset Drivers 9.3.0.1020 installed] and no IRST

Image link of the benchmark: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50906624/Pictures/A...

He said that Firmware 508 will be released soon. Hope things better. Just wanted to let you guys know about this small update.

If anyone wants the latest revision of the 503 firmware it's located in this thread: http://forums.tweakarena.com/showthread.php/120-Kingsto...

NOTE: I asked him if he recommends installing the IRST drivers he said NO (strange) which explains why you get worse results with the IRST drivers unlike with all other drives where you get a little bit of a boost in performance when you install the IRST driver

Cheers

Matrix Leader

I finally gave up on this crappy drive and returned it. even after the firmware update my scores in write speeds were half what I was getting with my 256 GB LiteonIT LAT-256M3S SSD