# Help reviving my Corsair Force GT 240GB :(



## Moyt (Oct 13, 2014)

Greetings all,

My Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD has decided to suddenly not to work at all.

Yesterday it was working perfect in the laptop without any problems, and turned off perfectly. Until today when I simply powered on, the laptop couldn't read the SSD. And according to BIOS there is nothing there :s

Just to mention if I put the Force GT ssd in my external USB 2.0 enclosure it won't work, but if I use any other hard drive with the enclosure it will power up and work right away with Windows 8.1 Pro x64.

I have also put the SSD in a Asus K55A laptop, with yet again no luck in it being recognised at all in bios. As with both Alienware and Asus laptops they always give me the message:
'Check cable connection!
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROW.
No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key'

Also tried the 'power cycle' method in the laptop with no luck.

Any ideas what else I could try?

Also will be buying THIS 'Hard Drive Docking Station' within the day. Even if it doesn't work for me I can make use of it for HDD's. But a huge bonus if it works for the SSD as there's important data that could do with being recovered.


----------



## OneMoar (Oct 13, 2014)

dead SSD is dead there isn't anything you can do if it doesn't register in the bios


----------



## Moyt (Oct 13, 2014)

Yikes, really that bad if it suddenly decides not to show up in the bios??
Darn, guess it served well just over 3 years without a single fault in the past. Just so random that it decided to do this out of the blue without any signs that it was going downhill. Laptop hadn't moved an inch since last used either.

Guess I'll have to dig deep for another SSD 

Going to try 2 more things before I totally give up.
1. To try THAT docking station with the SSD
2. Use the SSD in a friends desktop PC and see if switching in various SATA ports and cables might help pick anything up in the BIOS

Also decided to drop a message to Corsair support also - see if they respond.


----------



## OneMoar (Oct 13, 2014)

if it won't register in the bios then there is no way of doing anything with it 
never been a fan of sandforce driven corsair drives they have a habit of suddenly up and quitting


----------



## Moyt (Oct 13, 2014)

At the moment I'm just temporarily using a Crucial MX100 128GB as my C: drive. 
If all is really that bad for the Corsair Force GT, then I guess I'll be going for a Crucial mx100 512GB. For price and reliability is this a good choice? I certainly don't want anything fancy and expensive for the same storage.

Thanks


----------



## Rowsol (Oct 13, 2014)

I was encoding a video yesterday and my computer froze completely, except for the video playing that was running off the secondary drive.  When I rebooted it asked me to point to the drive with windows on it.  I shat a brick.  Checked bios and the drive wasn't there.

I switched sata ports and it found it again... so yea.  My initial thought was the port was dead but I plugged the 2nd hd in the 'bad' port and it works fine.  Not sure what's up, but it's not the first time this SSD has messed up.  Last time was a couple years ago when I had to format it twice in one day.  Probably won't be long till I need a new drive myself.

When I get a new one I'm going with cruicial probably, if that matters to you.


----------



## Moyt (Oct 13, 2014)

Glad you had success Rowsol. 
I've read similar posts as to people having their SSD not showing up in BIOS, but by switching to different SATA ports helped them. 
For others the use of docking stations and then putting their SSD back into thier desktops/laptops have had positive results. 
Of course all these things haven't worked for everyone, but I can't do any further damage by trying before getting another SSD.

I'm set on Crucial if I decide to go for another SSD. Huge relief though if by miracle I manage to recover the data from the Corsair Force GT


----------



## OneMoar (Oct 13, 2014)

sometimes if you power cycle them enough you can get them to come back online 
if my some magic it comes back don't reboot
grab a copy of the firmware for your drive and re-flash it


----------



## Rowsol (Oct 13, 2014)

Sorry for your loss btw.


----------



## Moyt (Oct 13, 2014)

Thanks for the responses 

Later on I'll try the SSD in a desktop PC on various sata ports with different cables see how that goes first. In a few days that docking station should arrive so I'll give that a blast if no luck, then last resort to buy another SSD if all else fails.

A shame that this SSD can't be sold in the condition it's in right now/a dead shell :d


----------



## Jhelms (Oct 13, 2014)

Bummer - to note I have owned 12 corsair SSDs spanning the Force, Force GT, GTX and performance pro (3 different controllers). Never had a single issue with any of them running since new / for years. Sometimes crap happens. The PCB layouts and architecture does not very much from controller to controller / retailer to retailer and corsair as well as all other sellers of SSD's offer quality PCB's so chalk it  up to... crap happens and can happen to anyone.
*Actual drives I have owned or still own:*
3x Force GT 120gb
1x Force 120gb
2x Force 180gb
3x Neutron GTX 240gb
2x 128gb Performance pro
1x 256gb Performance pro

Best of luck - hope she is revived! Your received sound advice - if you get it running, flash it asap and backup asap (backup first). Rather than a docking station, just pick up an SSD to USB adapter like the one below. I like the apricorn product as it offers a simple and rock solid effective drive clone utility (use it on USB 2.0 even though it says 3.0 compatible) for dirt cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2161005&cm_re=apricorn-_-12-161-005-_-Product


----------



## Moyt (Oct 13, 2014)

Thanks for the advice Garage1217.

On top of what I've already done, I've tried connecting it to various sata connections on a desktop motherboard, still a no go in the BIOS.
Docking station will arrive either way tomorrow - can make use of this for my HDD's, and will probably purchase something similar to the 'APRICORN ASW-USB3-25 USB3.0 to SATA Adapter' in the UK.

In all honesty I think this Force GT SSD might be done for, but won't give up just yet. 
It's served me well for some good years, but the 2nd drive in the laptop (Western Digital 750GB Scorpio Black) has embarrassingly outlasted the Force GT and is still running strong 

It's going to be very costly, but if all fails I might send the SSD off to the real pros who offer professional recovery for SSD's. Money that should have been spent well towards a new decent SSD, but I need my data recovered one way or another so I'll have to gather further funds for a new SSD on top as well. See what happens during the week - fingers crossed!

If anyone has used professional recovery services in the UK that would like to give a recommendation I would be interested to know. I've already bookmarked quite a few sites for the worst case scenario.

Any further suggestions/advice is more than appreciated. Thanks for the tips given


----------



## Jhelms (Oct 13, 2014)

I imagine it is just out of warranty? Believe it was 3 years on the force GT linup. I have had to RMA a fan and an older watercooler to corsair - their customer service, turn around and such was outstanding. Just a thought.


----------



## Moyt (Oct 13, 2014)

I found a despatch note yesterday.  Purchase on 28th September 2011....sucks to be me right now. Why didn't this problem occur early September this year?!?!? 
Corsair have responded as well, but straight to the point they are asking for a copy of the invoice to validate warranty. Guess my luck just ran out on that, will respond and see if they can do anything anyhow.

Just out of curiosity Corsair warranty wouldn't cover for data recovery onto a replacement SSD would they?


----------



## Jhelms (Oct 13, 2014)

I do not think they would do data recovery but since you are a week out of warranty, well any good company would fix you up and make it right. My own company as well as a large company I work for will always, as a standard honor a warranty claim up to 30 days past the actual warranty expiration. Ask for yellowbeard or to speak with a manager and plead your case. I cannot imagine them not taking care of you.


----------



## DayKnight (Oct 14, 2014)

Moyt said:


> At the moment I'm just temporarily using a Crucial MX100 128GB as my C: drive.
> If all is really that bad for the Corsair Force GT, then I guess I'll be going for a Crucial mx100 512GB. For price and reliability is this a good choice? I certainly don't want anything fancy and expensive for the same storage.
> 
> Thanks



All I know is that Intel is THE ONLY reliable way and this is coming from a Corsair lover.

I will be devastated if my SSD went out like yours. Even under my extreme use, it is still 100% A OK!.


----------



## natr0n (Oct 14, 2014)

leave it in the fridge for 30 mins.

Its an old mechanical drive trick who knows it might work on ssd.


----------



## bubbleawsome (Oct 14, 2014)

Isn't that usually because moving parts?


----------



## natr0n (Oct 14, 2014)

bubbleawsome said:


> Isn't that usually because moving parts?




Well everything shrinks when chilled chips included, I mean I would still try it.


----------



## Aquinus (Oct 14, 2014)

natr0n said:


> Well everything shrinks when chilled chips included, I mean I would still try it.


I would imagine that any condensate formed by doing that could cause a short if there isn't one already. I've personally felt that putting any hardware in the oven or the freezer as a means to fix it is insane.

Personally it sounds like the SSD controller is dead. I would see if Corsair will still honor the warranty but it doesn't sound like you have many options.


----------



## newtekie1 (Oct 14, 2014)

I say try the old heatgun method, see if one of the solder joints on the controller is to blame.  It won't be a permanent fix if it does work, but it might bring the drive back just long enough for you to get your data off it.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Oct 14, 2014)

backup to a DVD or BD and a HDD if you want to keep important stuff


----------



## Moyt (Oct 15, 2014)

Garage1217 said:


> I do not think they would do data recovery but since you are a week out of warranty, well any good company would fix you up and make it right. My own company as well as a large company I work for will always, as a standard honor a warranty claim up to 30 days past the actual warranty expiration. Ask for yellowbeard or to speak with a manager and plead your case. I cannot imagine them not taking care of you.


Thanks for the tips Garage1217. I'll give it a try and see if Corsair will be kind enough to help me out just outside the warranty. Yellowbeard - I've come across that username a lot on the forums when I used to update the SSD firmware in the past which I've not done for a while now. Very helpful!




DayKnight said:


> All I know is that Intel is THE ONLY reliable way and this is coming from a Corsair lover.
> 
> I will be devastated if my SSD went out like yours. Even under my extreme use, it is still 100% A OK!.


Intel are as reliable as they get? TBH the Corsair Force GT didn't give me any problems at all for 3 years, but worrying that a SSD can just cease to work out of the blue from a normal operation. I'll have to be more cautious about where I backup important data next time. 



natr0n said:


> leave it in the fridge for 30 mins.
> 
> Its an old mechanical drive trick who knows it might work on ssd.


Woaaah leave it in the fridge for 30mins?? 
That's new to me, but I'll put that on hold until I hear from Corsair 



Aquinus said:


> Personally it sounds like the SSD controller is dead. I would see if Corsair will still honor the warranty but it doesn't sound like you have many options.


I think I am completely out of options now. I am now at the mercy of Corsair to see if they can help me out Otherwise it's time to find funds for another SSD, plus data recovery which is going to be a killer :s



newtekie1 said:


> I say try the old heatgun method


The 'fridge' method and a 'heatgun' method 
Not familiar with these though, with a bit of searching I'm sure I'll have some idea. I'll take these into account if I end up with an expensive dead shell.



Just to update I tried the SSD with THIS docking station, which to no surprise did not work. But of course I bought this for the use of other HDD's. Forced to buy this earlier than expected given what's happened.
The light on the docking station flickers every time data is read from a drive which I notice on a HDD. But with the SSD it will flicker just once after 5-6 seconds and do nothing after that. To add nothing gets picked up in Windows via usb 2,3 or esata (W8.1 Pro x64).
The SSD does however feel warm, be it be connected to a enclosure/dock station, desktop, laptop.

And crikey after finding my receipt I can't believe I spent £333.78 GBP / around $530 USD on it 
That was back in 2011 though :d

Left a message with Corsair , I hope they can look after me


----------



## Frick (Oct 15, 2014)

Aquinus said:


> I've personally felt that putting any hardware in the oven or the freezer as a means to fix it is insane.



I just want to point out that the oven is a very sane solution if the problem is solder joints. I've revived motherboards and 8800GT's that way.


----------



## Aquinus (Oct 15, 2014)

Frick said:


> I just want to point out that the oven is a very sane solution if the problem is solder joints. I've revived motherboards and 8800GT's that way.


Yes, that assumes that the solder is the problem in the first place though. Considering how SSDs don't run very hot in the first place as their power usage is incredibly low, so I doubt solder was running. nVidia had some issues a while back because they switched the kind of solder they used and between the temps and the new solder, it wouldn't stay completely solid. Either way, I doubt that is the problem here.


----------



## newtekie1 (Oct 15, 2014)

Frick said:


> I just want to point out that the oven is a very sane solution if the problem is solder joints. I've revived motherboards and 8800GT's that way.





Aquinus said:


> Yes, that assumes that the solder is the problem in the first place though. Considering how SSDs don't run very hot in the first place as their power usage is incredibly low, so I doubt solder was running. nVidia had some issues a while back because they switched the kind of solder they used and between the temps and the new solder, it wouldn't stay completely solid. Either way, I doubt that is the problem here.



The heatgun method I mentioned is basically a less crude version of putting it in the oven.

And while SSDs don't consume a lot of power, the controllers(especially Sandforce for some reason) can get very hot. I've taken SSDs part and seen discoloration from heat around the controller on the inside of the case.  So a solder issue isn't out of the question, IMO.


----------



## Jhelms (Oct 15, 2014)

If there is no other option with it but trash, send it my way to the states and I will see if I can revive it. I have a little background in things that can help IF it is in fact solder related.


----------



## Moyt (Oct 18, 2014)

Many thanks for offering to help out Garage1217, much appreciated. Your advice from before has helped me more than enough already. 
When you suggested I get in contact Corsair even after going just over my warranty I did just that. Corsair were kind enough to offer a replacement, and even keep the RMA active until I sort the data recovery part out which is fantastic!

The problem now is trying to recover data without voiding the warranty (although effectively it is out of it). After already trying the safest methods (enclosure, sata, USB 2/3, esata, 'power cycle' etc), I have a feeling the only thing that will be left is to open up the SSD by a professional service to look at.   
I'm just waiting on Corsair's response to see if they will allow me to recover data by opening up the SSD.

Corsair do not offer data recovery services. They will diagnose to determine if the drive is faulty and then send a replacement, assuming they simply dispose/destroy the faulty SSD. 
However I have asked as an alternative solution if the faulty drive can be sent back with the replacement drive, even at an extra cost. That way I wouldn't have to then worry about using a service that will open up the SSD for data recovery. Waiting on a response to this also. 

Externally it is in very good condition - I guess all it has been doing is sitting the in the laptop since day 1.









BTW anyone with Force GT's have these lights showing when powered on?
Left side is red, right side is green. Can only really notice these lights in the dark. SSD was being powered up in a docking station.


----------



## J.C. Reid (Oct 21, 2014)

If your device is not being detected it is likely that there is a failure of the processor or firmware (microcode) of the device. Recovery of the data involves either reprogramming the microcode, interfacing with the SSD via an engineering mode, or removal of the NAND chips and emulating the processor chips. For the latter there are real limitations with error control checking (ECC) and getting a good read-out.

Regarding your specific model. The model of SSD you have use a SandForce SF-2282VB1 processor. This encrypts data to the flash NAND chips. At the moment it is not supported by either of the manufacturers of the data recovery equipment used for SSD recovery - AceLabs PC3000 SSD or SoftCenter. This means that currently no data recovery company will be able to recover the data if the processor chip has failed. This issue has been covered on our SSD data recovery website, for the earlier Sandforce processor models (including the notorious OCZ vertex range which had a very high failure rate).

It is possible that there is a another sort of failure, which relates to other components on the printed circuit board (e.g. a failed capacitor, resistor, or broken solder joints). If this is the case then it should be possible to recover the data from the SSD.


----------



## Moyt (Oct 21, 2014)

Thanks for the informative reply J.C. Reid. Sounds like some serious work might have to go into recovering data, which depending on costs I might have to leave in the end.

Fingers crossed that its just an electronics fault.

I am still waiting for Corsair to respond; Still need to find out if I'm ok to send the SSD for data recovery before getting a replacement as they have issued a RMA for it. Once I know what is happening with Corsair I'll be sure to get in touch.

Apologies for not replying sooner. Been busy networking up computers (on a thread elsewhere :d) all day.


----------

