Intel has resumed shipping its latest consumers solid-state drives (SSDs) after resolving a password bug that made the drives inoperable, making it impossible to access or retrieve data.

The company said it had issued updated firmware for the Intel X25-M consumer SSDs that resolves the password bug. The firmware is available on Intel's website.

Intel had earlier said it had found a bug impacting users who set a BIOS drive password on the newly released SSDs made using the 34-nanometre process. The SSDs would be inoperable after a user sets a BIOS drive password, disables or changes the password, and then reboots the computer. The updated firmware is available as an ISO file that needs to be burned on a CD or DVD.

This bug was specific to SSDs, and it did not apply to computer, network or operating system password, Snyder said in email.