Samsung NvME 970 Evo Plus Firmware Issue

Dru2 · Dec 8, 2021

Win7ine said:
Did you run any benchmarks with and without? What magic did it bring to your setup?

Not about to justify why I use what I use. That said, everything for me isn't about benchmarks and obtaining the fastest numbers on earth, it's about performance and monitoring tools. As for benchmarks, been there, done that, no longer interested. That's me.

If you feel the software or driver isn't worthy of your system that's fine as well :wink:

Edit to add I did run benchmarks on this a couple of years back and to me the numbers where basically the same with and without. You can check my system specs to see what I'm running though. System One.

bikemanI7 · Dec 8, 2021

Ok Samsung Nvme Driver installed, read somewhere before i did my clean install of Windows 11 on October 6th that the Samsung Nvme driver wasn't compatible with Windows 11, so i left it on Microsoft one til now. Though still says the older Firmwire is the current version at this point.

Now i just wait i guess til they fix the issue with Magician, and maybe will go smoother i hope now

ThrashZone · Dec 8, 2021

bikemanI7 said:
Ok Samsung Nvme Driver installed, read somewhere before i did my clean install of Windows 11 on October 6th that the Samsung Nvme driver wasn't compatible with Windows 11, so i left it on Microsoft one til now. Though still says the older Firmwire is the current version at this point.

Now i just wait i guess til they fix the issue with Magician, and maybe will go smoother i hope now

Hi,
Well 11 is a driver dictator
10 to just not as bad but newer versions of 10 are getting just worse.

Think I tried to install a new usb driver and the installer said it was not compatible with this version of 10 lol

Dru2 · Dec 8, 2021

bikemanI7 said:
Ok Samsung Nvme Driver installed, read somewhere before i did my clean install of Windows 11 on October 6th that the Samsung Nvme driver wasn't compatible with Windows 11, so i left it on Microsoft one til now. Though still says the older Firmwire is the current version at this point.

Now i just wait i guess til they fix the issue with Magician, and maybe will go smoother i hope now

For firmware updates I might wait till it shows up on Magician as it's much easier to install. Anyway, glad you gave the driver a try. Your system didn't blow up did it?

With all the FUD going on here, I'm sure someone will post their drive burned up when they installed the driver :ROFLMAO:

bikemanI7 · Dec 8, 2021

Nothing bad seemed to happen when installed the driver and rebooted---No explosion LOL.

Maybe i misunderstood regarding Directstorage in the past, but thats mute point as can't afford a RTX 30 series video card anyways that would most likely only one that would be compatible with that feature

Yeah think probably just gonna wait til Samsung fixes Magician, and it shows up there, as tried 4 different usb stricks, no luck doing it that way lol. so best i chill out i suppose

Besides my M.2 is my boot drive anyways, and don't run the games off that one anyways, Keep Os & Programs on one drive, Games on Samsung 860 Evo 1TB Sata SSD, and Storage curently 4TB Western Digital Black

Dru2 · Dec 8, 2021

bikemanI7 said:
Besides my M.2 is my boot drive anyways, and don't run the games off that one anyways, Keep Os & Programs on one drive, Games on Samsung 860 Evo 1TB Sata SSD, and Storage curently 4TB Western Digital Black

I have no HDD drives in my system; I wanted as quiet a system possible. My "gaming" drive is a Samsung 850 EVO 2TB SSD drive :)

bikemanI7 · Dec 8, 2021

Well so far i kept the storage drive, guess i'm old school at this point lol, but maybe if the prices for a 2TB Sata SSD in the future is reasoanble, then might pick one up, and begin using that for storage of Music & Pictures & Videos if its a really a good idea.

Used space on the 4TB Storage drive currently is 229GB (may have bought too big of storage drive last January 2020) But do have my old WD Black 1TB drive if i wanted to convert that to temporary storage drive til i can afford possibly SSD replacement, and convert the hard drives to External for extra files

Dru2 · Dec 8, 2021

I don't mean I don't have spinner drives, I do, and my NAS has four WD Red Pro drives @6TB apiece. I also still have most of my old internal HDD drives, including some IDE ones :)

BTW I only use Western Digital HDD drives and have quit a few WD Black drives. Been using WD HDD drives since 1998.

bikemanI7 · Dec 8, 2021

My main backup drive currently is a Seagate 8TB i won in a Twitter Contest in 2019 lol. WD Black 1Tb still in use in another enclosure, 4TB currently internal lol in main desktop lol

Guess for this Firmwire issue with the M.2 i'll think just wait for Magician to be fixed, and then hopefully update thru there eventually just fine

ish4d0w · Dec 8, 2021

bikemanI7 said:
Downloaded the Newer One off Samsung Site, Put it on the USB Flash drive with Rufus, rebooted Main Desktop, set uefi bios to boot to the flash drive, yet it goes and says no supported Samsung Nvme detected huh

I guess i'll wait now til it shows up in Samsung Magician probably best thing

So confused user

View attachment 15560

This has NOTHING to do with firmware! This is a driver issue.

The most likely reason is that you enabled Intel Optane Memory mode in your BIOS SETTINGS, this option is related to how the SATA controller operates and is also called RST Mode on some computers (like on Lenovo)

Switch this back to the other option (most likely AHCI) and it will be fine.

And, as others have pointed out, you have a Microsoft NVMe driver. This is a huge issue because not only you cannot upgrade your firmware but your drive also cannot operate properly in this mode as it is not an Intel Optane / RST drive! This means that the proper NVMe driver will NOT BE LOADED doesn't matter if you install it.

So go, and disable this option. Reboot, and install the proper driver. Warning depending on how you installed your system, it is possible that it will not boot anymore and might require a reinstall. Make a full backup and be prepared to reinstall if needed.

bikemanI7 said:
Well Don't think the NvMe Driver would have anything to do with the Firmwire update, but could be wrong, Offical Samsung Forum a reply in there said a Known issue with Samsung Magician and Firmwire updates

You are most definitely right. This does not have anything to do with firmware, this is a driver issue.

ish4d0w · Dec 8, 2021

Dru2 said:
Well, I must have the only copy of Windows 11 that use Samsung's NVMe driver

View attachment 15697

View attachment 15698

The issue is not whether you use Microsoft or Samsung's NVMe driver. Actually both of them are fine, and both of them "allow" firmware upgrades and good performance. Samsung's driver can somewhat improve performance on Windows 10 but I don't know if it is needed at all on Windows 11, as Microsoft is improving their driver too.
Remember? AMD does not even use a SATA driver for their A XX chipsets (such as A88) on Windows 10. They used to, for Windows 7 and 8, but it is no longer needed, and actually incompatible with Windows 10. You can of course force-install it, but it actually decreases performance.

This is the very reason why you should not be the "only" person in running any kind of driver. You check if Samsung recommends this driver for Windows 11, if so, you install it. If they don't, I wouldn't install it. Granted, it will not cause problems as of yet, since Windows 11 is so much similar to Windows 10 in terms of the driver framework and OS core, that it is actually not much more different under the hood, but this could change with the new releases.

So all in all, don't worry about that driver. Original poster's issue is not this, but RST mode. The controller's name clearly identifies this error. I have this drive and worked this out throughoutly. It is really a pesky issue that Samsung does not provide more details on this in their Magician software, even though the cause of the issue is so clear.

obelix · Dec 8, 2021

Listen to me guys windows 11 is the best so far windows i have been an insider review of windows since 2015 so i tried all windows that haven't even hit the market yet drivers for all win 11 hardware products still agree so it's hard to say today that windows rubbish for me is 5 times faster than windows 10 for every hardware you buy put its drivers and everything will be fine samsung has not yet made drivers for m2 980 and 4 x 4 boards are for sale ask what is bothering you I will try to answer if you like to play online today I sent them a bug that you too will get GetCACaps

CornishRattler · Dec 8, 2021

obelix said:
Listen to me guys windows 11 is the best so far windows i have been an insider review of windows since 2015 so i tried all windows that haven't even hit the market yet drivers for all win 11 hardware products still agree so it's hard to say today that windows rubbish for me is 5 times faster than windows 10 for every hardware you buy put its drivers and everything will be fine samsung has not yet made drivers for m2 980 and 4 x 4 boards are for sale ask what is bothering you I will try to answer if you like to play online today I sent them a bug that you too will get GetCACaps

So there

bikemanI7 · Dec 8, 2021

ish4d0w said:
The issue is not whether you use Microsoft or Samsung's NVMe driver. Actually both of them are fine, and both of them "allow" firmware upgrades and good performance. Samsung's driver can somewhat improve performance on Windows 10 but I don't know if it is needed at all on Windows 11, as Microsoft is improving their driver too.
Remember? AMD does not even use a SATA driver for their A XX chipsets (such as A88) on Windows 10. They used to, for Windows 7 and 8, but it is no longer needed, and actually incompatible with Windows 10. You can of course force-install it, but it actually decreases performance.

This is the very reason why you should not be the "only" person in running any kind of driver. You check if Samsung recommends this driver for Windows 11, if so, you install it. If they don't, I wouldn't install it. Granted, it will not cause problems as of yet, since Windows 11 is so much similar to Windows 10 in terms of the driver framework and OS core, that it is actually not much more different under the hood, but this could change with the new releases.

So all in all, don't worry about that driver. Original poster's issue is not this, but RST mode. The controller's name clearly identifies this error. I have this drive and worked this out throughoutly. It is really a pesky issue that Samsung does not provide more details on this in their Magician software, even though the cause of the issue is so clear.

Well i don't have Intel RST Activated i already checked that in my UEFI bios--AHCI mode its in already. No idea if Samsung Nvme driver is recommended by Samsung for Windows 11 or not, or if suppose to stay with Microsoft Nvme driver, guess i'll find out when there support rep replies to email

Dru2 · Dec 8, 2021

obelix said:
Listen to me guys windows 11 is the best so far windows i have been an insider review of windows since 2015 so i tried all windows that haven't even hit the market yet drivers for all win 11 hardware products still agree so it's hard to say today that windows rubbish for me is 5 times faster than windows 10 for every hardware you buy put its drivers and everything will be fine samsung has not yet made drivers for m2 980 and 4 x 4 boards are for sale ask what is bothering you I will try to answer if you like to play online today I sent them a bug that you too will get GetCACaps

I don't think you're the only one with that type of experience :wink:

I've used every instance of Windows (non-server) since Windows 95. Been building PC's since 1998 where my first build featured Windows 95b. My last build came in 2019 with my current rig in my system specs. That PC was built on Windows 10, and now Windows 11 :)

Oh, I mean no harm, but your post is kind of hard to follow being there are punction marks in use.

Dru2 · Dec 8, 2021

ish4d0w said:
The issue is not whether you use Microsoft or Samsung's NVMe driver. Actually both of them are fine, and both of them "allow" firmware upgrades and good performance. Samsung's driver can somewhat improve performance on Windows 10 but I don't know if it is needed at all on Windows 11,

I simply responded to this comment...

bikemanI7 said:
Well Windows 11 doesn't support the Samsung Nvme Driver as yet,

That statement is simply is not a true as shown. That's my point.

Anyway, none of Samsung's new NVMe (980 and forward) drives need NVMe drivers so all is moot moving forward.

Dru2 · Dec 8, 2021

bikemanI7 said:
guess i'll find out when there support rep replies to email

LOL- you'll probably get some company line about Windows 11 being new and we're not sure if the drivers are needed or not; that you should probably get a new drive to "insure Windows 11 compatibility" :ROFLMAO:

ish4d0w · Dec 8, 2021

bikemanI7 said:
Well i don't have Intel RST Activated i already checked that in my UEFI bios--AHCI mode its in already. No idea if Samsung Nvme driver is recommended by Samsung for Windows 11 or not, or if suppose to stay with Microsoft Nvme driver, guess i'll find out when there support rep replies to email

It might have a different name, for instance Intel Optane support.

The screenshot you posted gives two clues (RST in device manager, and Microsoft driver in Magician) that supports this theory. You have Optane/RST support enabled and this is causing changes in the way you can communicate with the NVMe drive.
You won't be able to do firmware upgrades or basically anything in Magician until you fix this

edit> this is not even exclusive to Windows 11. The same does happen in Windows 10 as well, if this setting is set. Windows 11 is not that much different in this sense, or perhaps not at all.

bikemanI7 · Dec 8, 2021

Hmm Not seeing RST here, can install Samsung NvMe Driver soon as i get a moment here, do have it downloaded

Don't see anything saying Intel Optane or RST in Device Manager here myself

amEliza · Dec 8, 2021

everybody is missing the simple point: your firmware is likely already up to date, the firmware is for a different SSD

you have the Phoenix Samsung 970 Evo Plus which uses the 2B2QEXM7 firmware
as far is Samsung manufacturing is concerned, this product is no longer produced and i doubt there will be any new firmware

the new Elpis Samsung 970 Evo Plus uses the 3B2QEXM7 firmware and it is a completely different SSD to what you have
the firmware version 4B2QEXM7 is highly likely an update to the new Elpis version, and has nothing to do with your Phoenix version

Samsung just doesn't want to admit they switched out a product for another and kept the same name