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Greetings all. I am new to this forum. I am glad to find a Runcore dedicated discussion. I lurked and searched, but could find no ready answers to my problems. So it is my pleasure to start a new thread. The eeeuser.com forum is down for an upgrade, but all the same I was glad to find Tweaktown. So, once again, Howdy.
Apologies in advance for this lengthy post. Here is the problem in a nutshell. I have installed the Runcore 32 GB Pro IV 70 mm drive (with firmware B001) onto my Asus EEEPC 900 with BIOS 1006 (newest). The new drive seems to work from a hardware perspective. However, no OS install remains stable for any significant time after initial startup. Furthermore, after carefully researching a firmware upgrade using the Runcore documentation -- which, for an old Asia hand like me, was not too tough to decipher -- the FW upgrade failed. Not disastrously thank goodness. The designated FW executable simply failed to see the drive. This is passing strange as the BIOS sees it and other hardware has access to it. Frankly, I am stumped. I would like to procede with a FW upgrade to try to fix this stability problem, but need guidance as the file I was directed to use by the Runcore docs fails. Please read on to see a further elaboration concerning my situation and of my attempted remedies.
As stated, I have installed the Runcore 32 GB pro IV 70 mm into my Asus EEEPC 900 netbook running the latest BIOS: 1006. This Runcore 32 GB Pro IV 70 mm is the model that is represented to be compatible with my machine and it seems to be so. The drive installed into the mini PCIe slot nicely. And the ASUS 900's 1006 BIOS sees the drive clearly. Cloning the the drive with the old XP OS was not possible before insertion because XP will not clone reliably to a remote drive. However, I was unable to install XP itself onto the Runcore from the computer's original OS install disk. After several attempts with XP I tried to install Linux. I tried Ubuntu 11 and also PC Linux OS, which in my experience will install on just about anything.
The installs completed without error. However, each time on the first cold boot the bootloader (GRUB) kicked back an "unknown file system" error. Examination of the partition that contained the install showed that, indeed, the active partition had lost it's file structure and was now unallocated. The RC drive seemed to be physically okay as reported by S.M.A.R.T. After several failed attempts to load and run any OS from the drive (reformatting the drive as needed including down to the MBR) I began to strongly suspect a firmware problem with the Runcore. This since the drive seemed stable and functional in most respects. A) It was detected by BIOS. B) It was able to be partitioned and formatted (high-level and low-level). It seemed to me that perhaps the firmware's leveling algorithm was faulty enough to somehow damage the MBR and or the FS after a couple of boots. I had read that the Indilinx controllers, though fast, were unstable. And that NAND leveling was an issue with some Indilinx firmware iterations.
Runcore's firmware upgrade documentation ultimately led me to directly examine my "Naked" SSD. I learned that, in my case, choice of the firmware upgrade executable application is determined by physical inspection of the chips on the drive. This done in order to observe their make and to count their number. That is possible because these particular RC Pro series drives are caseless (structure-less). Of course we know that SS drives whose chips are hidden by an enclosure require interpretation of PN numbers via a simple table. On my little 32 GB drive I counted eight Micron chips (The distinctive M logo with a comet tail whipping around it is clearly visible.) So, for upgrade to FW 1916 I concluded that I needed to use the following file: IT3208.exe. That is for eight (8) Micron flash chips totaling 32 GB. I found the Micron folder in the firmware zip download no problem.
I created a MS bootable CD with the firmware IT3208.exe on it. It booted. And then, when initiated, the FW app launched normally asking if if I wanted to target a drive. I told it yes. But then it reported it could find no drive present. Indeed, when run repeatedly, the FW application reported consistently that it could not find any drive present. This is hard to explain since the PC BIOS sees the Runcore. And all of the live CDs used to install OS resources saw the Runcore. Yet the FW app does not see the drive from the same cd drive used to install Linux on the same drive-albeit poorly.
The final observation is that the drive's currently installed firmware is not referenced in Runcore's documentation, at least not that I can see. The drive's firmware is reported from all sources to be B001. I have seen references to 15xx FW and to 18xx FW and to 1916 and, for Samsung dies, 2030 firmwares. But no reference to a B001 firmware. There is one post on the eeeuser.com forum referencing this B001 FW, but that poster, too, was having a problem. (That forum is currently under maintenance. It was there I learned of the Runcore, by the way.)
I am now officially stumped. Please advise a further course of action. And please let me know if I have made an error. Flashing firmware is a fairly exact process and I have done due diligence in determining which upgrade tool to use. Before I request a Return Merchandise Authorization I want to at least try to upgrade the FW as I wish to exhaust all possibilities since clearly the drive is behaving in a non-standard way.
I have posted a query to the Runcore site's engineers, but I do not expect a quick reply from China. I am hoping for a slightly faster response here. Again. Sorry for the lengthy post, but I wanted any responders to know that I have done my homework. These fast MLC drives are enthusiast class so glitches are to be expected. Thanks in advance for any help. Find below a link to a photo of my drive in situ in the Asus EEEPC 900. w00t!
Link: Photo of referenced drive: SN/ 321109230135 with Micron chips and Indilinx controller visible
Regards,
d:-b ruce
Apologies in advance for this lengthy post. Here is the problem in a nutshell. I have installed the Runcore 32 GB Pro IV 70 mm drive (with firmware B001) onto my Asus EEEPC 900 with BIOS 1006 (newest). The new drive seems to work from a hardware perspective. However, no OS install remains stable for any significant time after initial startup. Furthermore, after carefully researching a firmware upgrade using the Runcore documentation -- which, for an old Asia hand like me, was not too tough to decipher -- the FW upgrade failed. Not disastrously thank goodness. The designated FW executable simply failed to see the drive. This is passing strange as the BIOS sees it and other hardware has access to it. Frankly, I am stumped. I would like to procede with a FW upgrade to try to fix this stability problem, but need guidance as the file I was directed to use by the Runcore docs fails. Please read on to see a further elaboration concerning my situation and of my attempted remedies.
As stated, I have installed the Runcore 32 GB pro IV 70 mm into my Asus EEEPC 900 netbook running the latest BIOS: 1006. This Runcore 32 GB Pro IV 70 mm is the model that is represented to be compatible with my machine and it seems to be so. The drive installed into the mini PCIe slot nicely. And the ASUS 900's 1006 BIOS sees the drive clearly. Cloning the the drive with the old XP OS was not possible before insertion because XP will not clone reliably to a remote drive. However, I was unable to install XP itself onto the Runcore from the computer's original OS install disk. After several attempts with XP I tried to install Linux. I tried Ubuntu 11 and also PC Linux OS, which in my experience will install on just about anything.
The installs completed without error. However, each time on the first cold boot the bootloader (GRUB) kicked back an "unknown file system" error. Examination of the partition that contained the install showed that, indeed, the active partition had lost it's file structure and was now unallocated. The RC drive seemed to be physically okay as reported by S.M.A.R.T. After several failed attempts to load and run any OS from the drive (reformatting the drive as needed including down to the MBR) I began to strongly suspect a firmware problem with the Runcore. This since the drive seemed stable and functional in most respects. A) It was detected by BIOS. B) It was able to be partitioned and formatted (high-level and low-level). It seemed to me that perhaps the firmware's leveling algorithm was faulty enough to somehow damage the MBR and or the FS after a couple of boots. I had read that the Indilinx controllers, though fast, were unstable. And that NAND leveling was an issue with some Indilinx firmware iterations.
Runcore's firmware upgrade documentation ultimately led me to directly examine my "Naked" SSD. I learned that, in my case, choice of the firmware upgrade executable application is determined by physical inspection of the chips on the drive. This done in order to observe their make and to count their number. That is possible because these particular RC Pro series drives are caseless (structure-less). Of course we know that SS drives whose chips are hidden by an enclosure require interpretation of PN numbers via a simple table. On my little 32 GB drive I counted eight Micron chips (The distinctive M logo with a comet tail whipping around it is clearly visible.) So, for upgrade to FW 1916 I concluded that I needed to use the following file: IT3208.exe. That is for eight (8) Micron flash chips totaling 32 GB. I found the Micron folder in the firmware zip download no problem.
I created a MS bootable CD with the firmware IT3208.exe on it. It booted. And then, when initiated, the FW app launched normally asking if if I wanted to target a drive. I told it yes. But then it reported it could find no drive present. Indeed, when run repeatedly, the FW application reported consistently that it could not find any drive present. This is hard to explain since the PC BIOS sees the Runcore. And all of the live CDs used to install OS resources saw the Runcore. Yet the FW app does not see the drive from the same cd drive used to install Linux on the same drive-albeit poorly.
The final observation is that the drive's currently installed firmware is not referenced in Runcore's documentation, at least not that I can see. The drive's firmware is reported from all sources to be B001. I have seen references to 15xx FW and to 18xx FW and to 1916 and, for Samsung dies, 2030 firmwares. But no reference to a B001 firmware. There is one post on the eeeuser.com forum referencing this B001 FW, but that poster, too, was having a problem. (That forum is currently under maintenance. It was there I learned of the Runcore, by the way.)
I am now officially stumped. Please advise a further course of action. And please let me know if I have made an error. Flashing firmware is a fairly exact process and I have done due diligence in determining which upgrade tool to use. Before I request a Return Merchandise Authorization I want to at least try to upgrade the FW as I wish to exhaust all possibilities since clearly the drive is behaving in a non-standard way.
I have posted a query to the Runcore site's engineers, but I do not expect a quick reply from China. I am hoping for a slightly faster response here. Again. Sorry for the lengthy post, but I wanted any responders to know that I have done my homework. These fast MLC drives are enthusiast class so glitches are to be expected. Thanks in advance for any help. Find below a link to a photo of my drive in situ in the Asus EEEPC 900. w00t!
Link: Photo of referenced drive: SN/ 321109230135 with Micron chips and Indilinx controller visible
Regards,
d:-b ruce
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