Firmware Upgrade of Samsung 840 EVO on a Hackintosh?

The two Samsung 840 EVO SSDs in my Mini-ITX Hackintosh presently have firmware version EXT0BB6Q, same as when purchased. For some time, Samsung has provided an update (EXT0DB6Q) which purports to prevent a performance degradation of this model (i.e. provides a "performance restoration" for the 840 EVO). But I have found that actually applying this update with the SSDs installed in my computer is not possible. The problem (for me) is that the Samsung-supplied firmware update software cannot be run either from my internal DVD writer or from a USB drive.

The issue is that I cannot make a "bootable" USB which can run the software. If I partition a USB drive as "GUID" as required to boot an Intel Mac, and install the Samsung software, the USB drive is not recognized as a boot device. If I partition it as an "MBR" drive such as is required by Unibeast, and drop "pkg" files from the "Install OS X Yosemite" onto the USB Drive, it still is not recognized. I have read several Internet articles which claim to do the job on a Mac, but in all cases they fail, as has also been reported by responders to those articles.

Is there any chance that the wizards at tonymacx86.com could write a program similar to Unibeast that would make it possible to install Samsung's updated firmware on these SSDs, while in my Hackintosh?

Finally got a USB drive "recognized" (sort of) using partition as MBR/FAT 32, but altering the BIOS boot order to recognize only the USB drive resulted in the error message to install proper boot media and press any key. Have yet to find any software to copy to the USB drive that will result in anything useful. Tried Rufus (cannot see drive), UNetbootin (cannot see drive), and FreeDOS (cannot se drive).

I updated my 840 EVO from my Mac. I'm using firmware EXT0DB6Q now with no problems.

This might help > http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/us/html/support/downloads.html





References:
http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-tool-to-fix-840-evo-for-mac-user-is-released.1810841/
http://chrislowthian.co.uk/hardware/how-to-update-samsung-840-evo-ssd-firmware-on-your-mac/

I have the EXT0DB6Q software on a 16 GB Adata USB stick, but cannot find the magic combination of partition options that will allow the USB stick to boot. MBR + Mac Extended (journaled), MBR + FAT32 using FreeDOS, GUID + Mac Extended (journaled), none of the combinations will boot on the USB after setting the boot order in the Gigabyte BIOS to boot on the USB stick.

How the heck did you make it work?

I got this thing to boot but I am stuck at "cd samsung\DSRD"

I don't understand because I followed the instructions perfectly up until this point.

GRRRRR... DOS command line

all I see is a flashing curser and I understand I am just trying to CD into the DSRD folder but I just get a flashing cursor.

PLEASE HELP!

Got it working.

Thanks, ME

Stork said:

I updated my 840 EVO from my Mac. I'm using firmware EXT0DB6Q now with no problems.

This might help > http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/us/html/support/downloads.html

Click to expand...

Would I need to pick the "Windows" version if I am on a hackintosh?

comfreak said:

Would I need to pick the "Windows" version if I am on a hackintosh?

Click to expand...

Okay, I downloaded and ran the Windows-version and it actually worked (tried it first on a real windows machine where it didn't work). Now I am on the latest version, but like a few other people already noticed, it is better but not as good as you would expect.
From time to time it still drops in speed and mine also gets quite hot (>48°C after a minute or two).

comfreak said:

Okay, I downloaded and ran the Windows-version and it actually worked (tried it first on a real windows machine where it didn't work). Now I am on the latest version, but like a few other people already noticed, it is better but not as good as you would expect.
From time to time it still drops in speed and mine also gets quite hot (>48°C after a minute or two).

Click to expand...

How'd you get this to work? I've tried everything I can think of to restore this ISO to a USB and I'm getting nowhere. Any help is appreciated.

readthebook said:

How'd you get this to work? I've tried everything I can think of to restore this ISO to a USB and I'm getting nowhere. Any help is appreciated.

Click to expand...

As far as I can remember, I used my external DVD drive and burned the Windows-ISO onto a CD which I then booted.

The Samsung website also says the following, so it might not be possible to boot it off a USB drive:

Notice: ISO files may be used only via DOS using a bootable CD/DVD.

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