PM9A3 Firmware / ERRORMOD related to fw version

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blunden

Active Member
Nov 29, 2019
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I managed to get the latest Samsung FW and flash it, but it didn't really fix anything.

Dell provided me with Dell PowerEdge Express Flash Ent NVMe AGN Firmware Release | Driver Details | Dell UK - which is a driver they support on their own version of PM9A3, but it doesn't work on our drives because they are not branded Dells. It's interesting because the release notes mentions fixing the exact error we see.

Any ideas if there are any hacks around using this Dell FW on a Samsung (non-Dell) drive?
This blog post and associated comments contains some details on how to flash Samsung SSD firmware from Dell onto unbranded Samsung SSDs:

 

Patriot

Moderator
Apr 18, 2011
1,470
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Has anyone tried this firmware? I just got several pm9A3's 3.84tb drives I am about to put into service and don't want to run into issues down the road.

They are currently on firmware versions: GDC51C2Q and GDC5602Q

Should I update the firmware or just use them as is?
You should always try as is before changing things.
 

mr44er

Active Member
Feb 22, 2020
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I bought once a used batch of 24 SATA3 SSDs. All Samsung, but different firmware and different part numbers, it was wild.
They were mostly recycled from small media boxes and laptops from Lenovo. I could not find the regular firmwares, so I collected every firmwarepack I could find for this chip. Then I tried every firmware, one after another for every SSD and this worked for all of them more or less, but the important thing is: it killed not one of them. Forcing the wrong firmware isn't as easy as it was back in the day...
 

DarkServant

Member
Apr 5, 2022
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Has anyone tried this firmware? I just got several pm9A3's 3.84tb drives I am about to put into service and don't want to run into issues down the road.

They are currently on firmware versions: GDC51C2Q and GDC5602Q

Should I update the firmware or just use them as is?

The one pm9a3 i have, already had the gdc5602q on it...

For the branded one is at least gdc54c2q available: HDD Guru . I dont think it will accept the gdc5602q F/W.
The SSD has several slots for Firmwares, you can somehow leave the old on it, and switch between them if necessary.
You can look at the "changelog" excel-sheet for the gdc5602q (myLink) and decide for yourself.
 

Starbomba

New Member
May 6, 2020
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Has anyone tried this firmware? I just got several pm9A3's 3.84tb drives I am about to put into service and don't want to run into issues down the road.

They are currently on firmware versions: GDC51C2Q and GDC5602Q

Should I update the firmware or just use them as is?
I hhave a 1.92 TB PM9A3 thhat i've been using for a couple months now with that GDC7302Q firmware. No isssuess so far.
 

mr44er

Active Member
Feb 22, 2020
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For future reference/mirroring a linkdrop:
ftp://176.62.236.195/support/FW/STORAGE/SAMSUNG/
 
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DarkServant

Member
Apr 5, 2022
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I installed just a day ago the gdc5902q firmware on my pm9a3 3,84tb with nvme-cli, and it seems to work without loss of data.
Because of the recent events with the gen6 128-Layer NAND on consumer drives (980pro/870evo), it seems not to be the badest idea. Sadly there's no changelog.

PS: Thanks to the Uploader
 

joerambo

New Member
Aug 30, 2023
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Has anyone dealt with M.2 variant of PM9A3 ? It was released, but currently Google search is not finding it on Samsung's site, yet it is available at some retailers.

Will GDC5902Q work on M.2 variant of PM9A3? I think given the troubles that surfaced with 980 PRO it would not be wise to run with FW from early 2022.
 

dante4

Member
Jul 8, 2021
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Has anyone dealt with M.2 variant of PM9A3 ? It was released, but currently Google search is not finding it on Samsung's site, yet it is available at some retailers.

Will GDC5902Q work on M.2 variant of PM9A3? I think given the troubles that surfaced with 980 PRO it would not be wise to run with FW from early 2022.
As far as I understood it's should be GDC7X02Q for m.2 version.

So GDC5902Q will most likely will not work on M.2, but you can try, since Samsung utility actually checks does this firmware works with disk you are trying to write it to and gives you an error in case of incompability.
 
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