6.4TB Samsung PM1725a 5DWPD Enterprise TLC V-NAND PCIe 3.0 x8 NVMe HHHL AIC SSD NEW $999

[HecatesChild]

I'm on Windows Server 2019, so didn't have the issue, however there are patches to fix it (HPE documents which Microsoft patch resolves it)

Document Display | HPE Support Center

support.hpe.com

 

[Mistruster]

I'm on Windows Server 2019, so didn't have the issue, however there are patches to fix it (HPE documents which Microsoft patch resolves it)

Document Display | HPE Support Center

support.hpe.com

Yes, this is the problem. Let me try, Thanks.

 

[AskFor]

Well I have some good news!!!

We were lucky enough to get SuperMicro to give us a copy of the firmware for the generic/non-OEM pm1725a card.

Firmware is version GPNABB3Q.BIN This is even newer than the version they mentioned in the FAQ referenced above.

I've tested it and it flashes properly, now allows all 32 namespaces, and formatting the namespace (as well as who knows what other bug fixes).

Does anyone have a place where I can upload this for it to be hosted (it's 3.14MB unzipped)?

You will need to use nvme-cli to flash it.

Thanks to everyone above in giving me the hint to look there!
Christine

Dear HecatesChild, can you get PM1725b firmware from Supermicro?

 

[ViciousXUSMC]

Waiting for end of year for a new PC build on a 4900x, 2x 2TB M2 NVMe SSD, etc.
Was looking at those PCIe 4.0 SSD's like the Sabrient Rocket, how would this compare you think as the main disk for a Windows 10 OS productivity/gaming computer?

 

[rfs830]

Waiting for end of year for a new PC build on a 4900x, 2x 2TB M2 NVMe SSD, etc.
Was looking at those PCIe 4.0 SSD's like the Sabrient Rocket, how would this compare you think as the main disk for a Windows 10 OS productivity/gaming computer?

I currently have a the a samsung 3.2tb U2 nvme drive in my windows 10 machines now and it has been working great. It is not my boot drive though as my board can not boot to it but I install all my games, vms and programs to that drive and I have no slowdowns.

 

[HecatesChild]

Dear HecatesChild, can you get PM1725b firmware from Supermicro?

Unfortunately, the only reason I had luck was because I had purchased a 10 pack of the PM1725a drives

It appears SuperMicro sold the PM1725b, so you might have some luck asking them yourself.

 

[Mistruster]

I am not sure what is the reason.
The hard drive always freezes before upgrading the firmware, and problems will occur after upgrading.


dmesg

blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev nvme0c0n1, sector 5291758864 op 0x0READ) flags 0x4000000 phys_seg 1 prio class 0 Buffer I/O error on dev nvme0n1p1, logical block 661469602, async page read blk_update_request: critical medium error, dev nvme0c0n1, sector 5291758864 op 0x0READ) flags 0x4000000 phys_seg 1 prio class 0 Buffer I/O error on dev nvme0n1p1, logical block 661469602, async page read

smartctl -x /dev/nvme0

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Number: SAMSUNG MZPLL6T4HMLS-000MV Serial Number: S459NA0K104233 Firmware Version: GPNABB3Q PCI Vendor/Subsystem ID: 0x144d IEEE OUI Identifier: 0x002538 Total NVM Capacity: 6,401,252,745,216 [6.40 TB] Unallocated NVM Capacity: 0 Controller ID: 33 Number of Namespaces: 32 Local Time is: Thu Jul 16 10:33:55 2020 CST Firmware Updates (0x17): 3 Slots, Slot 1 R/O, no Reset required Optional Admin Commands (0x000e): Format Frmw_DL NS_Mngmt Optional NVM Commands (0x003e): Wr_Unc DS_Mngmt Wr_Zero Sav/Sel_Feat Resv Maximum Data Transfer Size: 32 Pages Warning Comp. Temp. Threshold: 80 Celsius Critical Comp. Temp. Threshold: 87 Celsius Supported Power States St Op Max Active Idle RL RT WL WT Ent_Lat Ex_Lat 0 + 25.00W - - 0 0 0 0 100 100 === START OF SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED SMART/Health Information (NVMe Log 0x02, NSID 0xffffffff) Critical Warning: 0x00 Temperature: 48 Celsius Available Spare: 56% Available Spare Threshold: 10% Percentage Used: 0% Data Units Read: 8,209,981 [4.20 TB] Data Units Written: 46,147,626 [23.6 TB] Host Read Commands: 340,326,021 Host Write Commands: 737,463,326 Controller Busy Time: 986 Power Cycles: 238 Power On Hours: 123 Unsafe Shutdowns: 115 Media and Data Integrity Errors: 86,404 Error Information Log Entries: 79,990 Warning Comp. Temperature Time: 0 Critical Comp. Temperature Time: 0 Temperature Sensor 1: 48 Celsius Temperature Sensor 2: 46 Celsius Temperature Sensor 3: 46 Celsius Error Information (NVMe Log 0x01, max 256 entries) Num ErrCount SQId CmdId Status PELoc LBA NSID VS 0 79990 8 0x034d 0xc502 0x000 8416478096 0 - 1 79989 8 0x036c 0xc502 0x000 8416478096 0 - 2 79988 8 0x036b 0xc502 0x000 8416478096 0 - 3 79987 8 0x036a 0xc502 0x000 8416478096 0 - 4 79986 4 0x03a6 0xc502 0x000 6129791512 0 - 5 79985 8 0x0365 0xc502 0x000 6129791512 0 - 6 79984 7 0x02cd 0xc502 0x000 6129791512 0 - 7 79983 7 0x0202 0xc502 0x000 6129791512 0 - 8 79982 3 0x01a1 0xc502 0x000 6129791504 0 - 9 79981 7 0x022b 0xc502 0x000 6129791504 0 - 10 79980 7 0x00d5 0xc502 0x000 6129791504 0 - 11 79979 7 0x03c9 0xc502 0x000 6129791504 0 - 12 79978 2 0x02b0 0xc502 0x000 6198808016 0 - 13 79977 2 0x02af 0xc502 0x000 6198808016 0 - 14 79976 2 0x02ae 0xc502 0x000 6198808016 0 - 15 79975 1 0x014c 0xc502 0x000 6219331032 0 - ... (240 entries not shown)

 

[HecatesChild]

Not sure what to tell you on this, but darn, looking at those stats the drive is throwing tons of errors... Any way you can try it in another machine just to see if it's a PCIe bus issue on the current machine it lives in?

Past that, from the logs you have posted (look at the sums), I suspect your card/drive is having issues...

I have 10 of them I've done this FW upgrade to, and all seemed happy, showed the proper firmware afterwards, Allowed namespacing afterwards (though won't show results if you didn't reboot between FW update and # of namespace adjustments)

Sorry I can't be of more help

 

[StevenDTX]

To use it, you will issue the following nvme-cli commands (sudo'd obviously) replace # in nvme# with the number shown on your linux boot when you type nvme list. (these instructions are massaged from IBM's update instructions.)

**READ THIS WHOLE THING BEFORE STARTING** if I typo'd I apologize.

# This puts the firmware into slot 2 normally. (the -s 2 below) You can confirm via nvme fw-log /dev/nvme# if that is the slot it gets loaded into, in step 1 below

# step 1 - load the firmware into adapter
nvme fw-download /dev/nvme# --fw=firmwarefilename.bin

# step 2 - Confirms/validates the firmware in slot 2 is valid
nvme fw-activate /dev/nvme# -a 0 -s 2

# step 3 - Applies firmware in slot 2
nvme fw-activate /dev/nvme# -a 3 -s 2

# At this point you are done. If you change any namespaces before rebooting, you will only see the changes to namespace 1 until you reboot (however they were all be there after reboot)

# Confirm the new firmware is the current and to be loaded upon boot firmware
nvme list

# You will also notice if you do an nvme id-ctl -H that now the supported features are different than they were before (namespaces are supported, formatting is supported, etc)

Thank you for this!! I was able to update the firmware on the ones I bought today.

 

[Mistruster]

How to initialize the disk, including the others namespace, opcode ?

critical medium error, dev nvme0c0n1, sector 5391725392

It's dev nvme0c0n1, NOT nvme0n1

Am I doing something wrong.

 

[redeamon]

How to initialize the disk, including the others namespace, opcode ?

critical medium error, dev nvme0c0n1, sector 5391725392

It's dev nvme0c0n1, NOT nvme0n1

Am I doing something wrong.

Try formatting the namespace.

nvme format /dev/nvme#

 

[Mistruster]

Try formatting the namespace.

nvme format /dev/nvme#

Thanks, let me try.

 

[Garlaen]

Thanks for posting the firmware!!

I made an account to post the instructions on how to flash the drive in Windows 10/Server 2016/19.

Run PowerShell as an Administrator

Get the info on your Samsung NVME - verify it looks correct.

> Get-PhysicalDisk -FriendlyName "SAMSUNG MZPLL6T4HMLS-000MV" | Get-StorageFirmwareInformation

Object : MSFT_PhysicalDisk (ObjectId = "{1}\\<MACHINE_NAME>\root/Microsoft/Window...)
SupportsUpdate : True
NumberOfSlots : 3
ActiveSlotNumber : 1
SlotNumber : {1, 2, 3}
IsSlotWritable : {False, True, True}
FirmwareVersionInSlot : {<ORIGINAL_FIRMWARE>, , }


Update the firmware.

> Get-PhysicalDisk -FriendlyName "SAMSUNG MZPLL6T4HMLS-000MV" | Update-StorageFirmware -ImagePath "<PATH_TO_NEW_FIRMWARE>" -SlotNumber 2

Then you can run the first command again to verify that it contains two firmware versions and that the active firmware slot is now 2.

Object : MSFT_PhysicalDisk (ObjectId = "{1}\\<MACHINE_NAME>\root/Microsoft/Window...)
SupportsUpdate : True
NumberOfSlots : 3
ActiveSlotNumber : 2
SlotNumber : {1, 2, 3}
IsSlotWritable : {False, True, True}
FirmwareVersionInSlot : {<ORIGINAL_FIRMWARE>, <NEW_FIRMWARE>, }

 

[HecatesChild]

Very nice! Thanks for the update. Now if we could just change namespaces from with windows/powershell...

 

[larrycheung71]

Well I have some good news!!!

We were lucky enough to get SuperMicro to give us a copy of the firmware for the generic/non-OEM pm1725a card.

Firmware is version GPNABB3Q.BIN This is even newer than the version they mentioned in the FAQ referenced above.

I've tested it and it flashes properly, now allows all 32 namespaces, and formatting the namespace (as well as who knows what other bug fixes).

Does anyone have a place where I can upload this for it to be hosted (it's 3.14MB unzipped)?

You will need to use nvme-cli to flash it.

Thanks to everyone above in giving me the hint to look there!
Christine

Hi Christine

Could you email me the new version firmware. I got the same issue as you encountered.

Thanks

Larry

 

[larrycheung71]

Hi Christine

Could you email me the new version firmware. I got the same issue as you encountered.

Thanks

Larry

I got the firmware from your link! Thanks for posting it!

Cheers!

Larry

 

[larrycheung71]

Thanks for posting the firmware!!

I made an account to post the instructions on how to flash the drive in Windows 10/Server 2016/19.

Run PowerShell as an Administrator

Get the info on your Samsung NVME - verify it looks correct.

> Get-PhysicalDisk -FriendlyName "SAMSUNG MZPLL6T4HMLS-000MV" | Get-StorageFirmwareInformation

Object : MSFT_PhysicalDisk (ObjectId = "{1}\\<MACHINE_NAME>\root/Microsoft/Window...)
SupportsUpdate : True
NumberOfSlots : 3
ActiveSlotNumber : 1
SlotNumber : {1, 2, 3}
IsSlotWritable : {False, True, True}
FirmwareVersionInSlot : {<ORIGINAL_FIRMWARE>, , }


Update the firmware.

> Get-PhysicalDisk -FriendlyName "SAMSUNG MZPLL6T4HMLS-000MV" | Update-StorageFirmware -ImagePath "<PATH_TO_NEW_FIRMWARE>" -SlotNumber 2

Then you can run the first command again to verify that it contains two firmware versions and that the active firmware slot is now 2.

Object : MSFT_PhysicalDisk (ObjectId = "{1}\\<MACHINE_NAME>\root/Microsoft/Window...)
SupportsUpdate : True
NumberOfSlots : 3
ActiveSlotNumber : 2
SlotNumber : {1, 2, 3}
IsSlotWritable : {False, True, True}
FirmwareVersionInSlot : {<ORIGINAL_FIRMWARE>, <NEW_FIRMWARE>, }

Thanks for your PS scripts. It saves me!

 

[Sora]

. . .

I made an account to post the instructions on how to flash the drive in Windows 10/Server 2016/19.
. . .

Hi @Garlaen,

I appreciate you posting this procedure. I'm not too familiar with Power Shell, but I followed your instructions and received the attached error. Do you have any idea what might be causing this and how to resolve it? I also noticed that my drive seems to only have one firmware slot (instead of the 3) which is currently in use but is also writable, so that's what I went with; any issues there?

Thanks for your assistance!

~Sora

Main error below w/ full long attached to this post:

Update-StorageFirmware : Failed Extended information:
A warning or error has been encountered during storage firmware update.
The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.

 

[jseong]

Ok.. for Namespacing (partitioning) - All commands must be SUDO/Root below

I recommend outputting to a file the following so you know how the factory NS was made. Note Ensure you have rebooted since a firmware upgrade
nvme id-ns /dev/nvme0 -n 1 -H > nsoutput.txt

# delete existing namespace, assuming this is factory, there is 1 NS, #1
nvme delete-ns /dev/nvme0 -n 1

# create partition (replace BLOCK Count with the amount of space in bytes, divided by the block size (set with the -f, in this example 4K), all
# parameter information is on the output you did above so you know the options
nvme create-ns /dev/nvme0 -s BLOCKCOUNT -c BLOCKCOUNT -f 2 -d 0 -m 1

# It will return a ns-id, starting with 1 (-n paramter) and you attach to controller (do an nvme id-ctrl /dev/nvme0 -H ) to get the controller id (cntl-id)
nvme attach-ns /dev/nvme0 -n 1 -c 0x21

And there you have a new namespace setup to the size you want. It won't let you assign more space than the drive has

If possible, after upgrading from the OLD OLD factory firmware, move the data to another drive, and re-namespace the drive (this also does a "quick format", of the space)

Hope this all helps some from what I learned the last cpl weeks about these incredible cards!

Christine

Wondering if you can help. I deleted the existing namespace but cant create ns. And now can't even see the drive anymore. Here is the nsoutput.txt. Any help would be much appreciated. I also tried moving it on a Windows machine and it sees the driver but I cant access it.

NVME Identify Namespace 1:
nsze : 0x2e93432b0
ncap : 0x2e93432b0
nuse : 0x2e93432b0
nsfeat : 0
[2:2] : 0 Deallocated or Unwritten Logical Block error Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 Namespace uses AWUN, AWUPF, and ACWU
[0:0] : 0 Thin Provisioning Not Supported

nlbaf : 3
flbas : 0x10
[4:4] : 0x1 Metadata Transferred at End of Data LBA
[3:0] : 0 Current LBA Format Selected

mc : 0x3
[1:1] : 0x1 Metadata Pointer Supported
[0:0] : 0x1 Metadata as Part of Extended Data LBA Supported

dpc : 0x1f
[4:4] : 0x1 Protection Information Transferred as Last 8 Bytes of Metadata Supported
[3:3] : 0x1 Protection Information Transferred as First 8 Bytes of Metadata Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Protection Information Type 3 Supported
[1:1] : 0x1 Protection Information Type 2 Supported
[0:0] : 0x1 Protection Information Type 1 Supported

dps : 0
[3:3] : 0 Protection Information is Transferred as Last 8 Bytes of Metadata
[2:0] : 0 Protection Information Disabled

nmic : 0x1
[0:0] : 0x1 Namespace Multipath Capable

rescap : 0x7f
[6:6] : 0x1 Exclusive Access - All Registrants Supported
[5:5] : 0x1 Write Exclusive - All Registrants Supported
[4:4] : 0x1 Exclusive Access - Registrants Only Supported
[3:3] : 0x1 Write Exclusive - Registrants Only Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Exclusive Access Supported
[1:1] : 0x1 Write Exclusive Supported
[0:0] : 0x1 Persist Through Power Loss Supported

fpi : 0x80
[7:7] : 0x1 Format Progress Indicator Supported
[6:0] : 0 Format Progress Indicator (Remaining 100%)

nawun : 0
nawupf : 0
nacwu : 0
nabsn : 0
nabo : 0
nabspf : 0
noiob : 0
nvmcap : 6401252745216
nguid : 343539304b9002360025384100000004
eui64 : 002538e9810000ec
LBA Format 0 : Metadata Size: 0 bytes - Data Size: 512 bytes - Relative Performance: 0x1 Better (in use)
LBA Format 1 : Metadata Size: 8 bytes - Data Size: 512 bytes - Relative Performance: 0x3 Degraded
LBA Format 2 : Metadata Size: 0 bytes - Data Size: 4096 bytes - Relative Performance: 0 Best
LBA Format 3 : Metadata Size: 8 bytes - Data Size: 4096 bytes - Relative Performance: 0x2 Good

 

[HecatesChild]

Of all things, you made sure to upgrade the firmware first right? If not, update the firmware, then see if that solves the problem.
I know with the original firmware had some weirdness with namespace deleting/creating such as not supporting multiple namespaces

Though at a glance of what you shared there, that shows a namespace, set to the the full size, and the default LBA format of 512 bytes.

Also, Between the time when you delete the namespace, then create the new one, you won't see the drive "normally" (as a physical drive) in the OS until a new namespace is recreated...

It's a little different concept than a traditional SATA/SAS etc drive, where with a regular drive, the physical drive is the drive, and the partition is a logical construct for grouping OS data, etc...
With NVMe, the namespace appears to the OS *AS* a physical drive, even though from the NVMe's POV, the namespace is a logical construct similar to a partition, but with the addition (depending on device) of additional I/O buffers, etc allocated per namespace. Because of that, the OS doesn't "see" the NVMe as a physical drive, until a namespace exists. It is just a PCIe device on the bus, until the namespace exists, which then looks like a physical drive.

I'd boot back to the OS you deleted the NS from, re-follow the steps from my instructions or others' instructions to delete and recreate a namespace. Once recreated (and rebooted) you should see it again.

Hope that all made sense..