Intel Pushes Out Firmware Update For 320 Series SSDs

Although we had no such trouble with the Intel 320 series SSD we reviewed, some users experienced errors with the 320 series drives. Here are the specifics from a recent post on the Intel Communities forum:

For users unfamiliar with the issue, an Intel SSD 320 Series drive may exhibit a drive capacity of 8MB and an electronic serial # field containing a message of “BAD_CTX 0000013x” caused by an unexpected power loss under specific conditions. Once this error occurs, no data on the SSD can be accessed and the user cannot write to or read from the SSD.

Intel has now released a firmware update (firmware 4PC10362) to address those issues. It’s available now for download at Intel’s Download Center, along with Read Me, Release Notes, and firmware update tool guidelines.


Intel recommends installing the update even if you’ve experienced no issues, and if you have already had problems, you can contact customer support for a replacement drive. Or if you’re feeling up to it, you can perform a secure erase and then update the firmware to fix your existing 320 series SSD.
Tags:  Intel, SSD