I have received a reply from Sandisk Technical Support as I had already requested their assistance independent of my forum post.
Firmware 10.03.00 CANNOT BE UPGRADED.
“Based on the provided information we would like to inform you that the firmware version on your Solid State drives is a pre-version of the current firmware that has been released. This particular firmware version is not upgradeable; this is why you have not been able to update it.”
To add insult to injury, after 4 hours of gaming on Saturday evening - both drives failed the following morning - my reply to Sandisk technical Support:
Hi Samantha and thank you for your swift reply.
Unfortunately, over the space of approximately 4 hours both drives failed on Sunday morning - please arrange to remove my personal details from the warranty registration as the retailer, or their supplier, will be returning the drives.
Whilst not part of your own remit please pass to whoever in the organisation that it refers too that in my opinion, to supply drives that operate at well below their advertised performance, that cannot be upgraded, will only ever result in a disgruntled customer – a customer that will not be purchasing Sandisk products in the near future.
I accept that all products can fail, particularly early on in the installation process, your site mentions a turnaround time of “between 3 – 4 weeks” for replacement, frankly, that is just completely unacceptable in this day and age, again, unhappy customers don’t come back.
Thank you for your personal service & support – about the only positive part of my experience with Sandisk.
SanDisk support will replace these drives. They were manufactured with the wronf FW. If you are not getting anywhere with the support agent ask to speak to their manager.
Unfortunately, a replacement was not offered, and, really, I’m not prepared to wait 7 - 28 days for replacements.
With a multi-billion $ company such as Sandisk, if they wish to keep their customers, an immediate next-day service to replace and collect should be in order WHEN THEY ARE IN THE WRONG - something I have experienced with the likes of Amazon - it’s why I go back and place another order with a supplier.
Apologies, I’ve gone a bit over the top on this one, very frustrating initially - why the hell should I have to look for info on a forum when I have just purchased a product - and I’m really pi££ed off that mfr’s think they can treat us like this.
The Samsung Evo’s are going very well - latest firmware out of the box…
"Thank you for contacting SanDisk Technical Support and for your very thorough reply.
Based on the provided information we would like to inform you that the firmware version on your Solid State drives is a pre-version of the current firmware that has been released. This particular firmware version is not upgradeable; this is why you have not been able to update it.
We would like to point out though that we expect no issues with this firmware version; if you do face any issues please let us know and we will be happy to assist you further.
It’s a shame that Ms. S. S. doesn’t get more support from the Company she works for - I can’t fault her.
