Question BSODs, can't see my 970 Evo NVMe in Bios anymore, can't boot

[samuelhip96]

A few months ago i built myself a PC. No problems at first really, everything worked as it should, only a few BSODs maybe 1-2x a month. But for about past week I've started having them 1-2x a day, with UNEXPECTED_STORE_EXCEPTION error and once with critical_process_died. Couple times when gaming, on youtube, once when working with 3d rendering and now today when i was emptying my recycle bin. Usually after a BSOD it restarted and then hung on Bios splash screen, where i had no other choice but to turn it off from the power button. Today however after a small hang on Bios splash screen, it booted into Bios. I wasn't able to find my NVMe drive anywhere from there, and after exiting Bios (with or without changing), after about 2 seconds it throws me back in Bios. I also tried creating a bootable USB drive, but both Startup repair and system restore are unable to do anything.

I've run quick diagnostics on the Ram and nvme drive over past couple of days, not a single error and drive appeared to be 100% healthy

CPU: Ryzen 2700x with stock cooler
GPU: Inno3D GTX 1070Ti Jet
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 16gb(2x8) 3000mhz (running at 2133)
Psu: Seasonic x650 Gold
SSD: Samsung Evo 970 500gb nvme
MB: Gigabyte AX370-Gaming K5
OS: Win 10, UEFI

No overclocking, only adjusted gpu fan curves with msi afterburner

Is there anything else i could try?

 

[alceryes]

Re-seat the NVMe drive.
Verify that BIOS settings didn't reset, switching to/from UEFI boot or enabling secure boot. Some BIOS storage options changes can cause issues like this.

 

[samuelhip96]

I reseated NVMe drive, still no change. Plus now everything froze while in Bios. I've tried with turning fast boot to disabled as well and i don't see an option for secure boot there at all.

Would it be possible that MBs nvme socket died?

 

[Il3mendo]

Hello, which build of Windows do you have? I have heard there have been issues with Win 10 1809! Did you download Samsung NVMe drivers?

 

[samuelhip96]

Hello, which build of Windows do you have? I have heard there have been issues with Win 10 1809! Did you download Samsung NVMe drivers?

If i'm correct it updated to 1809 last week, and i've had more issues since then now that i think about it. Although i had the same BSODs before too, but not that frequently.

While googling around today I've seen the suggestion to download samsung drivers, but for that i need to get into my OS in the first place.

I'll try later if i can get the drive to work in a friends computer, maybe i can update drivers there

 

[Il3mendo]

Indeed, that could be the problem!

 

[alceryes]

I reseated NVMe drive, still no change. Plus now everything froze while in Bios. I've tried with turning fast boot to disabled as well and i don't see an option for secure boot there at all.

Would it be possible that MBs nvme socket died?

If it froze in BIOS the issue is not OS related. How often does it do this. Sounds like you have a hardware or configuration failure. Try resetting the BIOS to default and starting with minimal boot.

 

[samuelhip96]

If it froze in BIOS the issue is not OS related. How often does it do this. Sounds like you have a hardware or configuration failure. Try resetting the BIOS to default and starting with minimal boot.

It froze in bios only once, other times it's been working as it should. Tried loading defaults, previous working profile, disabled/enabled csm etc, still no changes. Only weird thing besides lost nvme, is that when i turn pc on, it stays for around a minute on bios splash screen before proceeding

 

[alceryes]

Did you try a minimal boot? CPU, 1 stick of RAM (make sure it's in the correct slot), and video card? It's not as much a boot as it is a POST test. If it can snap right into BIOS, without waiting a minute, add another stick of RAM and try again. Keep adding one component at a time.
Also, you should only have KB, mouse, and monitor plugged in. Peripherals can cause issues too.

 

[samuelhip96]

Pretty sure it's the drive, I just plugged the nvme drive into a friends pc. Same problems straight away, booting up took around 2 minutes and drive wasn't visible in bios and os.