Intel Halts Shipments of New Solid-State Drives

[Brian Warkoczeski]

Intel Halts Shipments of New Solid-State Drives

By Mark Hachman - ExtremeTech

Aug 4, 2009

www.yahoo.com

Intel has stopped shipping its X-18M and X-25M solid-state-disc (SSD) 
consumer drives after a bug was found that could render the SSD 
inoperable in some cases.

In late July, Intel discovered and notified reviewers that a bug had 
been found that could render the SSD inoperable if the root password set 
in the BIOS was disabled or changed. Late Monday, Intel said that it had 
"paused shipments" of the drive until a fix could be put in place.

That fix has been implemented, but has yet to be verified, according to 
Intel. Intel has not stopped production on either drive, according to 
Intel spokesman Dan Snyder.

"Regarding shipment status, it made sense to pause shipments and 
implement the changes ourselves and via our customers versus asking 
consumers to do so," Intel said in a statement. "Keep in mind the fix 
has been identified and validation is undergoing completion this week."

Intel formally introduced both of the new SSDs on July 21. Both the 
X-18M and X-25M use a new 34-nm multi-level flash memory cell that 
promised improved performance. They were designed to replace traditional 
hard drives in notebooks PCs and other devices, and to do so at much 
lower prices than rival SSDs.

Intel said on July 24 that it expected to fix the problem via a firmware 
update, which would be made available to consumers in about two weeks, 
the company said. An Intel spokeswoman reiterated the statement on 
Tuesday, which included the same "two weeks" language that the earlier 
statement had included. However, Snyder later clarified the statement, 
stating that the final fix should be available by this Friday.

The bug deals with an error that the drive's firmware generates if a 
user adds a password to the BIOS, locking it. If the password is then 
changed or removed, the drive becomes inoperable. Naturally, Intel 
recommends not adding a BIOS password until a fix is released.

Intel said previously that the fix would be made available at this Intel 
site when the update was completed.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with a clarification from 
Intel on the timing of the fixed firmware.