Step-by-Step Guide: Firmware Update and Sector Alignment for Samsung PM983 SSD
·9 mins
Table of Contents
Samsung is notorious for not releasing firmware for their Enterprise SSDs. But here we are - let’s get to updating!
Downloads: #
GitHub Firmware Downloads here
For Example PM983: #
PM983 U.2 Firmware starts with EDAxxxxx eg. EDA5702Q
(SAMSUNG MZ1LB3T8HMLA-00007) PM983 M.2 Firmware starts with EDBxxxxx eg. EDB7602Q
Don’t flash the wrong Firmware!
Model Codes for Samsung PM983: #
M.2 Models:
- SAMSUNG MZ1LB3T8HMLA-00007 (3.84 TB)
- SAMSUNG MZ1LB1T9HALS-00007 (1.92 TB)
- SAMSUNG MZ1LB960HAJQ-00007 (960 GB)
U.2 Models:
- SAMSUNG MZQLB7T6HMLA-00007 (7.68 TB)
- SAMSUNG MZQLB3T8HALS-00007 (3.84 TB)
- SAMSUNG MZQLB1T9HAJR-00007 (1.92 TB)
- SAMSUNG MZQLB960HAJR-00007 (960 GB)
Identify the correct SSD: #
To identify your SSD, use the nvme list command to display all NVMe devices connected to your system. Look for the device path, model number, and firmware version.
$ nvme list
Node Generic SN Model Namespace Usage Format FW Rev
--------------------- --------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- --------- -------------------------- ---------------- --------
/dev/nvme0n1 /dev/ng0n1 xxxxxxxxxx SAMSUNG MZ1LB3T8HMLA-00007 1 179.77 GB / 3.84 TB 4 KiB + 0 B EDB7602Q
We have our SSD in /dev/nvme0n1. Let’s check some SSD information.
$ nvme id-ctrl -H /dev/nvme0
$ nvme id-ctrl -H /dev/nvme0n1
NVME Identify Controller:
vid : 0x144d
ssvid : 0x144d
sn : xxxxxxxxxxxxx
mn : SAMSUNG MZ1LB3T8HMLA-00007
fr : EDB7602Q
rab : 2
ieee : 002538
cmic : 0
[3:3] : 0 ANA not supported
[2:2] : 0 PCI
[1:1] : 0 Single Controller
[0:0] : 0 Single Port
mdts : 9
cntlid : 0x4
ver : 0x10200
rtd3r : 0x7a1200
rtd3e : 0x7a1200
oaes : 0
[31:31] : 0 Discovery Log Change Notice Not Supported
[27:27] : 0 Zone Descriptor Changed Notices Not Supported
[15:15] : 0 Normal NSS Shutdown Event Not Supported
[14:14] : 0 Endurance Group Event Aggregate Log Page Change Notice Not Supported
[13:13] : 0 LBA Status Information Notices Not Supported
[12:12] : 0 Predictable Latency Event Aggregate Log Change Notices Not Supported
[11:11] : 0 Asymmetric Namespace Access Change Notices Not Supported
[9:9] : 0 Firmware Activation Notices Not Supported
[8:8] : 0 Namespace Attribute Changed Event Not Supported
ctratt : 0
[19:19] : 0 Flexible Data Placement Not Supported
[15:15] : 0 Extended LBA Formats Not Supported
[14:14] : 0 Delete NVM Set Not Supported
[13:13] : 0 Delete Endurance Group Not Supported
[12:12] : 0 Variable Capacity Management Not Supported
[11:11] : 0 Fixed Capacity Management Not Supported
[10:10] : 0 Multi Domain Subsystem Not Supported
[9:9] : 0 UUID List Not Supported
[8:8] : 0 SQ Associations Not Supported
[7:7] : 0 Namespace Granularity Not Supported
[6:6] : 0 Traffic Based Keep Alive Not Supported
[5:5] : 0 Predictable Latency Mode Not Supported
[4:4] : 0 Endurance Groups Not Supported
[3:3] : 0 Read Recovery Levels Not Supported
[2:2] : 0 NVM Sets Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 Non-Operational Power State Permissive Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 128-bit Host Identifier Not Supported
rrls : 0
cntrltype : 0
[7:2] : 0 Reserved
[1:0] : 0 Controller type not reported
fguid : 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
crdt1 : 0
crdt2 : 0
crdt3 : 0
nvmsr : 0
[1:1] : 0 NVM subsystem Not part of an Enclosure
[0:0] : 0 NVM subsystem Not part of an Storage Device
vwci : 0
[7:7] : 0 VPD Write Cycles Remaining field is Not valid.
[6:0] : 0 VPD Write Cycles Remaining
mec : 0
[1:1] : 0 NVM subsystem Not contains a Management Endpoint on a PCIe port
[0:0] : 0 NVM subsystem Not contains a Management Endpoint on an SMBus/I2C port
oacs : 0xf
[10:10] : 0 Lockdown Command and Feature Not Supported
[9:9] : 0 Get LBA Status Capability Not Supported
[8:8] : 0 Doorbell Buffer Config Not Supported
[7:7] : 0 Virtualization Management Not Supported
[6:6] : 0 NVMe-MI Send and Receive Not Supported
[5:5] : 0 Directives Not Supported
[4:4] : 0 Device Self-test Not Supported
[3:3] : 0x1 NS Management and Attachment Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 FW Commit and Download Supported
[1:1] : 0x1 Format NVM Supported
[0:0] : 0x1 Security Send and Receive Supported
acl : 7
aerl : 3
frmw : 0x17
[5:5] : 0 Multiple FW or Boot Update Detection Not Supported
[4:4] : 0x1 Firmware Activate Without Reset Supported
[3:1] : 0x3 Number of Firmware Slots
[0:0] : 0x1 Firmware Slot 1 Read-Only
lpa : 0x3
[6:6] : 0 Telemetry Log Data Area 4 Not Supported
[5:5] : 0 LID 0x0, Scope of each command in LID 0x5, 0x12, 0x13 Not Supported
[4:4] : 0 Persistent Event log Not Supported
[3:3] : 0 Telemetry host/controller initiated log page Not Supported
[2:2] : 0 Extended data for Get Log Page Not Supported
[1:1] : 0x1 Command Effects Log Page Supported
[0:0] : 0x1 SMART/Health Log Page per NS Supported
elpe : 63
[7:0] : 63 (0's based) Error Log Page Entries (ELPE)
npss : 0
[7:0] : 0 (0's based) Number of Power States Support (NPSS)
avscc : 0x1
[0:0] : 0x1 Admin Vendor Specific Commands uses NVMe Format
apsta : 0
[0:0] : 0 Autonomous Power State Transitions Not Supported
wctemp : 360
[15:0] : 87°C (360 Kelvin) Warning Composite Temperature Threshold (WCTEMP)
cctemp : 361
[15:0] : 88°C (361 Kelvin) Critical Composite Temperature Threshold (CCTEMP)
mtfa : 0
hmpre : 0
hmmin : 0
tnvmcap : 3,840,755,982,336
[127:0] : 3,840,755,982,336
Total NVM Capacity (TNVMCAP)
unvmcap : 0
[127:0] : 0
Unallocated NVM Capacity (UNVMCAP)
rpmbs : 0
[31:24]: 0 Access Size
[23:16]: 0 Total Size
[5:3] : 0 Authentication Method
[2:0] : 0 Number of RPMB Units
edstt : 0
dsto : 0
fwug : 0
kas : 0
hctma : 0
[0:0] : 0 Host Controlled Thermal Management Not Supported
mntmt : 0
[15:0] : -273°C (0 Kelvin) Minimum Thermal Management Temperature (MNTMT)
mxtmt : 0
[15:0] : -273°C (0 Kelvin) Maximum Thermal Management Temperature (MXTMT)
sanicap : 0
[31:30] : 0 Additional media modification after sanitize operation completes successfully is not defined
[29:29] : 0 No-Deallocate After Sanitize bit in Sanitize command Supported
[2:2] : 0 Overwrite Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 Block Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Crypto Erase Sanitize Operation Not Supported
hmminds : 0
hmmaxd : 0
nsetidmax : 0
endgidmax : 0
anatt : 0
anacap : 0
[7:7] : 0 Non-zero group ID Not Supported
[6:6] : 0 Group ID does change
[4:4] : 0 ANA Change state Not Supported
[3:3] : 0 ANA Persistent Loss state Not Supported
[2:2] : 0 ANA Inaccessible state Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 ANA Non-optimized state Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 ANA Optimized state Not Supported
anagrpmax : 0
nanagrpid : 0
pels : 0
domainid : 0
megcap : 0
sqes : 0x66
[7:4] : 0x6 Max SQ Entry Size (64)
[3:0] : 0x6 Min SQ Entry Size (64)
cqes : 0x44
[7:4] : 0x4 Max CQ Entry Size (16)
[3:0] : 0x4 Min CQ Entry Size (16)
maxcmd : 0
nn : 1
oncs : 0x1f
[8:8] : 0 Copy Not Supported
[7:7] : 0 Verify Not Supported
[6:6] : 0 Timestamp Not Supported
[5:5] : 0 Reservations Not Supported
[4:4] : 0x1 Save and Select Supported
[3:3] : 0x1 Write Zeroes Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Data Set Management Supported
[1:1] : 0x1 Write Uncorrectable Supported
[0:0] : 0x1 Compare Supported
fuses : 0
[0:0] : 0 Fused Compare and Write Not Supported
fna : 0x4
[3:3] : 0 Format NVM Broadcast NSID (FFFFFFFFh) Supported
[2:2] : 0x1 Crypto Erase Supported as part of Secure Erase
[1:1] : 0 Crypto Erase Applies to Single Namespace(s)
[0:0] : 0 Format Applies to Single Namespace(s)
vwc : 0
[2:1] : 0 Support for the NSID field set to FFFFFFFFh is not indicated
[0:0] : 0 Volatile Write Cache Not Present
awun : 127
awupf : 0
icsvscc : 1
[0:0] : 0x1 NVM Vendor Specific Commands uses NVMe Format
nwpc : 0
[2:2] : 0 Permanent Write Protect Not Supported
[1:1] : 0 Write Protect Until Power Supply Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 No Write Protect and Write Protect Namespace Not Supported
acwu : 0
ocfs : 0
[1:1] : 0 Controller Copy Format 1h Not Supported
[0:0] : 0 Controller Copy Format 0h Not Supported
sgls : 0
[15:8] : 0 SGL Descriptor Threshold
[1:0] : 0 Scatter-Gather Lists Not Supported
mnan : 0
maxdna : 0
maxcna : 0
subnqn :
ioccsz : 0
iorcsz : 0
icdoff : 0
fcatt : 0
[0:0] : 0 Dynamic Controller Model
msdbd : 0
ofcs : 0
[0:0] : 0 Disconnect command Not Supported
ps 0 : mp:8.00W operational enlat:0 exlat:0 rrt:0 rrl:0
rwt:0 rwl:0 idle_power:- active_power:-
active_power_workload:-
Important Infos #
From the output of the nvme id-ctrl command, we can gather all infos we need. For example:
mn : SAMSUNG MZ1LB3T8HMLA-00007
fr : EDB7602Q
...
frmw : 0x17
[5:5] : 0 Multiple FW or Boot Update Detection Not Supported
[4:4] : 0x1 Firmware Activate Without Reset Supported
[3:1] : 0x3 Number of Firmware Slots
[0:0] : 0x1 Firmware Slot 1 Read-Only
From the output of the nvme id-ctrl command, we can gather the model number and firmware information.
[3:1] : 0x3 => 3 Firmwareslots
[0:0] : 0x1 => Read-Only Firmwareslot - DONT FLASH HERE
First, we need to send the firmware file to the controller SRAM:
$ nvme fw-download -f EDB7602Q.bin /dev/nvme0
Firmware download success
This command uploads the firmware file to the SSD’s memory. Next, let’s flash our downloaded firmware to slot 2 without activating it:
$ nvme fw-commit -s 2 -a 0 /dev/nvme0
Success committing firmware action:0 slot:2
-s 2 = Slot 2
-a 0 = Don’t activate it
After successfully flashing, let’s activate it:
$ nvme fw-commit -s 2 -a 2 /dev/nvme0
Success committing firmware action:2 slot:2
Congratulations, you just updated the firmware! Now, shutdown and power-cycle the SSD and hope for the best :)
How to align Sectors on the Samsung PM983 #
The PM983 can support 4k or 512 sector sizes. Here’s how to switch it to 4k sector size.
To check the current sector size, use the nvme id-ns command:
$ nvme id-ns /dev/nvme0n1
...
lbaf 0 : ms:0 lbads:9 rp:0
lbaf 1 : ms:0 lbads:12 rp:0 (in use)
Look for the lbaf (Logical Block Addressing Format) entries: lbaf 0: 512 bytes sector size (lbads:9) lbaf 1: 4k sector size (lbads:12)
To switch the sector size, use the nvme format command. Warning: This will format the drive! Backup your data.
Warning: This formats the drive! Backup your Data
$ nvme format /dev/nvme0n1 --lbaf=1 --reset
lbaf=x where x is the slot with the lbads:y we want.
Now, we have switched the sector size to 4k sectors. :)