Question 5 year old motherboard bad? No post sound. 5 min mobo screen on boot. Detects SSDs but not HDD or SSHD.

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

Hello,

I've had this PC build for 5 years working without any issue. A few days ago I've suddenly encountered a lot of problems back to back.

Relevant PC components for reference:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 3 GHz 8-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus STRIX X370-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
Video Card: MSI DUKE OC GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB Video Card
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
2 SSDs (connected via SATA)
1 HDD
1 SSHD
Windows 10 Pro Version 1903

Problem 1:
I got warning from windows about page file size. I googled appropriate page file size for my PC and followed the recommended 8GB - 12 GB. I restarted my PC when prompted and I discovered the following.

Problem 2:
Upon boot, my PC was stuck on MOBO screen for 5 min (for reference this is still happening) before finally reaching the windows logo screen which takes another 1-2 minutes for some reason.

Problem 3:
After finally booting into windows I found this popup stating “Windows Created a Temporary Paging File” Error

https://imgur.com/wxsC4am

View: https://imgur.com/wxsC4am
(for reference this is still happening)

Problem 4:
After clicking ok, a pop-up called Performance Options appeared which allowed me to change the paging file size. I tried changing it back to what it was before, however my HDD and SSHD are not deteced by Windows. I checked the BIOS to find that the HDD and SSHD are not detected. I was using the SSHD as my File History/paging file drive.

Problem 5:
I can't hear the POST beep anymore upon boot. Using a 4 pin speaker.

Trobuleshooting attempts I've tried so far and failed:

• Reset BIOS to default
• Reset CMOS as per mobo manual isntructions
• Changed CMOS battery
• Changed SATA ports for all the drives multiple times
• Swapped/tried new SATA cables. I didn't swap the SATA power because I know they work since the SSDs are connected to them. I am using 2 SATA power lines. Each line has 1 SSD and 1 HDD/SSHD connected to it.
• Increased POST delay time 10 seconds in BIOS (max time available)
• Changed OS Type to "Windows UEFI mode" in BIOS
• System restore

  https://imgur.com/i4XIiD8

  View: https://imgur.com/i4XIiD8
  

After booting on and off many times through these attempts, I've found the HDD is recognized sometimes. This leads me to believe the SSHD and HDD are not dead and something is wrong with Mobo.

Do you have any suggestions? I'd at least like to get my HDD and SSHD to be detected again.

I'll try to respond as fast as I can, but I have to wait up 10 min if I have to reboot.

 

[COLGeek]

How full are your storage devices, especially the primary boot device?

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

How full are your storage devices, especially the primary boot device?

Approx.
Primary is 45%
Second SSD is 30%
HDD is 70%
SSHD 85%

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

How full are your storage devices, especially the primary boot device?

I have an update.

I tried opening a document that is stored on the HDD. I received this error:

https://imgur.com/qX1lQmI

View: https://imgur.com/qX1lQmI


And Windows Explorer suddenly shows the HDD under "This PC". I can browse through the directory of the HDD but I can't open anything because I get the same error above. And some folders allows me to browse subfolders while other folders immediately trigger that error.

As for the SSHD, still not showing up.

 

[COLGeek]

I hope you have a backup. Have you tested this drive in any way?

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

I hope you have a backup. Have you tested this drive in any way?

Unfortunately... the SSHD and HDD are my backup.

By tested, do you mean like stress test? I haven't done any performance testing at all. I've only ever installed my drives into my PC right out of the box and created a new partition or a new logical drive for Windows.

 

[COLGeek]

I mean a diagnostic app like Seatools. Most HDD manufacturers offer similar tools via their support sites.

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

I mean a diagnostic app like Seatools. Most HDD manufacturers offer similar tools via their support sites.

I have not. I'll try it out. Is it unlikely for multiple drives to fail at the same time?

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

The diagnostic only picks up the SSDs. Windows is still showing the SSD + HDD. SSHD not detected by both.

https://imgur.com/Oo1lJpa

View: https://imgur.com/Oo1lJpa

https://imgur.com/NbFVn0g

View: https://imgur.com/NbFVn0g

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

I checked with Disk Management and it showed this:

https://imgur.com/36ENclt

View: https://imgur.com/36ENclt

I'm not sure how to check Disk numbers. But I think Disk 2 is my SSHD since Disk 0 = HDD, Disk 1 & 3 are SSD according to Seatools. Disk Management also shows the HDD status as Healthy...

What should I do to initialize Disk 2? MBR or GPT?

 

[COLGeek]

Do you have access to another PC where you could test those drives there?

Just to verify, you have no NVME devices installed. Is that correct?

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

Do you have access to another PC where you could test those drives there?

Just to verify, you have no NVME devices installed. Is that correct?

I have no NVME devices installed.

I have refurbished Mobo I never tried, because the last two returns were dead on arrival. I'll try seeing if I can test it on someone else's PC.

 

[COLGeek]

Popping them into an external enclosure would do the trick. Just something to think about.

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

Update: SSHD and HDD went through professional diagnostic testing and they are not powering on.

Not sure why both drives failed at the same time after shutdown/restart. Do you have any ideas on how I can prevent that?

 

[Lord_Frydae_XIII]

Problem 2 [SOLVED]

So I've moved onto fixing the Mobo logo and boot time issues. After disconnecting the HDD and SSHD (only SSDs connected), the mobo logo boot screen time is now back to normal (takes a few seconds). The long boot time issue is most likely caused by the mobo trying to give the HDD/SSHD a chance to boot.

Windows logo boot screen time dropped to 2 minutes now. Originally it was 30 seconds or less. Similar to the mobo boot issue, I am suspecting that Windows is taking a long time possibly because of the SSHD/HDD. I did have some programs installed on them.

Problem 3 and Problem 4 [SOLVED]

For the page file, I've allowed windows to automatically control it. The page file is now under the boot SDD. I've set up my File History on the other SSD. Windows OS is responding faster than when I was OCing before all this started.

Problem 5

I still don't hear the POST beep.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I bought a new NVME SSD as boot drive, and after a clean OS insall, total boot time is 10 seconds or less without SSHD/HDD connected. I tested boot times with new HDD and same result. So the slow boot times are most likely solely due to the failed drives. That means mobo is still healthy and was never the issue.