General NVMe Drive Problems (Fatal)

[wstrohm]

The latest Samsung firmware for your particular 970 EVO (apparently) remedies the TRIM issue (or lessens the boot impact) in Monterey.

Samsung's firmware web page does not list any "Firmware for Mac" beyond the 870 model, so not sure that any such thing exists for the 970 PRO... actually they do not even list that model at all.

 

[FormerUser-400995]

Samsung's firmware web page does not list any "Firmware for Mac" beyond the 870 model, so not sure that any such thing exists for the 970 PRO... actually they do not even list that model at all.

Yes, I can confirm that.

The user manual states "This Samsung Firmware Utility supports All Samsung Brand SSDs".

I would guess there's simply no convenient macOS installer for those later models. Firmware would normally be applied externally from any operating system (much like updating BIOS software). Samsung provide a bootable ISO (presumedly the firmware update).

There seems to be firmware listed for NVMe SSD-970 EVO and NVMe SSD-970 EVO Plus, but not the PRO. There is the NVMe SSD-980 PRO listed, but I could only speculate as to why there is no 970 PRO.

I suggest reaching out to Samsung for clarification.

 

[flynnwinch]

Monterey killed a 970 plus and a 980 pro for me. 980 pro died within a week or so. Currently booting using a SATA SSD until I get drive replacements.

Reading data off of the 980 pro is almost impossible, read speeds are extremely slow. Time machine SSD drive that was made off of the 980 pro is also dead (4TB Sandisk Ultra III, worked for a long time with no issues, now it can't even be formatted in macOS)

 

[FormerUser-400995]

Monterey killed a 970 plus and a 980 pro for me. 980 pro died within a week or so. Currently booting using a SATA SSD until I get drive replacements.

Reading data off of the 980 pro is almost impossible, read speeds are extremely slow. Time machine SSD drive that was made off of the 980 pro is also dead (4TB Sandisk Ultra III, worked for a long time with no issues, now it can't even be formatted in macOS)

Yes, it's a huge problem all round.
@kentval recently mentioned cases of real Macs (with affected drives) being bricked.

 

[trs96]

mentioned cases of real Macs (with affected drives) being bricked.

This video goes into great detail about the T2 BridgeOS updates that have caused problems recently. Note that this has nothing to do with Apple NVMe SSDs or their firmware. It's a problem Apple has recently acknowledged.

All I can say is I'm really glad I don't own any Mac with a T2 chip inside. If yours gets bricked be prepared to jump through a lot of hoops.

 

[FormerUser-400995]

This video goes into great detail about the T2 BridgeOS updates that have caused problems recently. Note that this has nothing to do with Apple NVMe SSDs or their firmware. It's a problem Apple has recently acknowledged.

All I can say is I'm really glad I don't own any Mac with a T2 chip inside. If yours gets bricked be prepared to jump through a lot of hoops.

Good to know there's a recovery path.

 

[etorix]

Thanks for reporting your woes as a warning to other users!
Here is the official Apple recovery procedure:

Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac using Apple Configurator 2

In rare circumstances, Apple computers may become unresponsive and the chip’s firmware must be revived.

support.apple.com

I found the link on ArsTechnica, but their earlier article actually had more details:

Why macOS updates might brick your Mac, and what you can do about it

Anecdotal reports suggest the Monterey update is leaving some Macs unresponsive.

arstechnica.com

 

[FormerUser-400995]

Here is the official Apple recovery procedure:

Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac using Apple Configurator 2

In rare circumstances, Apple computers may become unresponsive and the chip’s firmware must be revived.

support.apple.com

We can always depend on Apple to "close the barn door after the horse has bolted".

 

[wstrohm]

As a followup to the tests I ran on my "Mini-ITX 4" computer in post #23 above, I decided to check my Samsung 970 PRO's boot times in my "Mini-ITX 3" computer to see if the same TRIM boot problem occurs running High Sierra 10.13.6 using OpenCore 0.7.5. Result is below:

SSD: NVMe, Samsung 970 PRO 1 TB
Mobo: Gigabyte Z370N-WIFI with i7 8700 CPU
MacOS: High Sierra 10.13.6
"4294967295": 22, 18, 20 secs from beginning AMI display to desktop

So the "broken TRIM implementation" on the Samsung 970 PRO is not apparent running under MacOS 10.13.6, at least in "Mini-ITX 3." Bad in MacOS 11.6.1, good in MacOS 10.13.6. FWIW.

 

[craighazan]

For comparison, I have Monterey installed on a WD Black SN750 M.2 NVMe. Boot from cold to OC picker 15 seconds. From picker to log in, 14 seconds.