Intel X25-M G2 Firmware Bug Locks You Out of BIOS Password Changes

btarunr · Jul 27, 2009

Intel's recently announced X25-M G2 series solid state drives (SSDs) gave the company some good PR for being the industry's first 34 nm NAND-flash based SSD, which intends to lower power consumptions, increase data density, and lower prices along the way. Barely a week into its introduction, it has been diagnosed with a severe firmware-related bug. While this bug does not affect the drive's performance or stability in normal operation, it potentially renders it inoperable under some disturbingly common circumstances.

Intel's SSDs are meant for workstations, servers, portable workstations, and other high-end machines. In an enterprise environment, it's common for administrators or power-users to set a password for the HDD BIOS, and change it periodically as part of security practice. The X25-M G2 apparently doesn't respond well to this change, and is rendered inoperable. For the X25-M G2, if you have set a BIOS HDD password, you're advised not to change or disable it. If you don't have one in place, do not set one. Intel is correcting the issue in firmware and will be posting a firmware update shortly.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

jamesrt2004 · Jul 27, 2009

kind of a bad mistake on intel's part, but nice to know there doing a recall etc... and tbh im sure not many, if any actually set bios passwords for home computers so we should all be ok (not that I think anyones had time to buy one yet

)

mtosev · Jul 27, 2009

nice bug, lol

Easo · Jul 27, 2009

Ouch...

W1zzard · Jul 27, 2009

does pcper talk about bios passwords or hdd passwords?

btarunr · Jul 27, 2009

W1zzard said:
does pcper talk about bios passwords or hdd passwords?

BIOS HDD password.

lemonadesoda · Jul 27, 2009

...life at the bleeding edge.

Thanks for the news/warning.

Mussels · Jul 27, 2009

well thats a weird bug - you can kinda understand intel missing that one in testing.

tastegw · Jul 27, 2009

Mussels said:
well thats a weird bug - you can kinda understand intel missing that one in testing.

as big as intel is, they dont have an excuse not to test it in every way possible.

Meecrob · Jul 27, 2009

its not a bug, is a feature!!!

1nvisible · Jul 28, 2009

Hahah, i knew SSD's weren't ready for prime time, so many flaws, sorry i'll stick with my F1's

FYI: People selling Corsair SSD on eBay like sand cause it can't multitask.

Mussels · Jul 28, 2009

tastegw said:
as big as intel is, they dont have an excuse not to test it in every way possible.

who the hell would think that a hard drive could cause issues with a password BIOS? seriously.

Meecrob · Jul 28, 2009

I told you, its not a bug, its a FEATURE!!!!

Static~Charge · Jul 28, 2009

jamesrt2004 said:
kind of a bad mistake on intel's part, but nice to know there doing a recall etc...

Actually, Intel isn't doing a recall. They're doing a firmware update to fix the problem.

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Intel X25-M G2 Firmware Bug Locks You Out of BIOS Password Changes

btarunr

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jamesrt2004

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mtosev

Easo

W1zzard

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btarunr

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lemonadesoda

Mussels

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