[SOLVED] Disappearing SSD

[jryan388]

I have an Asus laptop (UX305LA) from 2015. It has worked like a champ except for a recent problem.

Several times in the last few weeks, usually after I have traveled with the laptop, I will start it up and immediately goes to the BIOS and can't see the SSD (no boot devices available).

I have found a strange solution that seems to fix the problem. I whack the laptop a few times and try restarting again. Then it usually seems to work just fine. I'm not kidding. I was on an airplane and rebooted like 10 times in a row and every time it couldn't see the SSD. Then I whacked it four or five times and it started up perfectly. Same thing has happened another 3 or so times recently.

This makes me think that there must be a faulty connection somewhere (perhaps a cable inside is loose). Do you folks have any other ideas about what could be wrong?

 

[jasonf2]

You have a bad connection. Unfortunately laptops rarely have cables (which would make this a lot easier). There is usually a header connection on the board to the hard drive. I would open it up and try to reseat the drive. Typically there is a screw retainer cover and then a slider piece on the drive itself (also screw retained). Pull the drive out ,check the pins and reseat it. Best of luck.