BitLocking an SSD

So today we ran into an issue encrypting an HP Z230 desktop with BitLocker.  The desktop did have a TPM chip, which was enabled.  The tech went through the typical Bitlocking steps.. enabling, performing the BL check and they it prompted for a reboot like normal.
Here's where it gets a little sticky, upon reboot the user was presented with an F1 to enter the BIOS.  I do not know whether or not that was a function of Bitlocking since I have not tried it myself on a Z230 but he assures me the TPM was enabled and functioning properly. which I believe if TPM is disabled or otherwise unusable then BL should have cancelled itself or otherwise complained.


Anyway after that it proceeded to blue screen.  Inspecting the disk inside the BIOS results in:

Nice huh?  I had him reset to defaults the BIOS, no help. Changed SATA ports, no help. Changed from AHCI to SATA mode, disabled TPM, disabled secure boot.. nothing helped.  There is no Recovery info in AD nor could the drive technically be encrypted because this was one reboot and encryption takes many hours.

he is currently trying to slave it onto a machine with Samsung Magician installed just to see what they're own utility reports.

In Googling I found https://helgeklein.com/blog/2015/01/how-to-enable-bitlocker-hardware-encryption-with-ssd/  and http://superuser.com/questions/700009/how-do-i-encrypt-samsung-840-ssd-with-bitlocker

Now from what I have read it's not just Samsung related, but they are popular so it stands to reason more people using them = more people encrypting.

I will obtain a test ssd and perform my own spelunking however this has stopped my plans for encrypting my own Z230 ;)

PNY SSD firmware Update tools

Ran into an issue today with a PNY Elite SSD 120gb, it's been giving a user a lot of random BSOD's lately and in performing mass amounts of Google-Fu it seems others have ran into this issue in the past and it was usually resolved by updating the firmware.

Now the user reports that he contacted PNY support and was told there are no utilities, nor firmware updates to be had publicly.  This cannot be correct and they were hosted on PNY.com up until about 6 months ago.. no clue why they were pulled.

But apparently it must be an American thing.. maybe PNY hate's 'Merica?  So without further adieu, here they are:

http://www.pny.eu/s/d/Downloads/PNY/

Oh and while I'm on the subject, DO NOT BUY FROM PNY!

This user was told firstly that he needed a receipt before he could RMA this drive.. well after being told there are NO downloads available lol.  Anyway he'd need to provide them a receipt before any RMA could be done.  They cannot look up their drives via serial number.  then when he got a receipt they won't accept it unless purchased from an 'Authorised Reseller'.

[rant]

ATTENTION PNY: Learn from Western Digital and Seagate.  I'm sure they'd be willing to share their customer service methods with you.

[/rant]