[SOLVED] Drive keeps disconnecting?

MEMESEY

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Aug 2, 2017
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I have an MSI PL62 7RC (3 years old? if that)
I've been having problems where occasionally my hard drive would disconnect. So I added a Nvme SSD, which now houses windows and the C: drive. My HDD would still disconnect, but not often enough for me to worry.

But recently (maybe a week ago), it decided to start SERIOUSLY disconnecting, to the point where it's now connected, maybe only 5% of the time.

Thought it was a faulty HDD, so I upgraded to a 2.4" SSD in its place. Issue persists.

I've checked the SATA connection, seems fine. (unless the bridge itself is faulty).

I've updated bios.

All the drivers are up to date.

Any idea what the issue could be?
 
Solution
So I've basically solved the issue I think.

I changed the general storage SSD to a secondary drive as opposed to a primary. The problem has not resurfaced since.

I'll just leave this here in case this problem pops up for anyone else.

MEMESEY

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Aug 2, 2017
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Oh Laptop !

If you have kinda of experience you may see if there is any kind of dust in sata socket.
It was one of the first things I've checked. Seemed to be clean, and I've tried replacing the ssd a few times, to no avail.

The issue began well before I ever toyed with the HDD, though didn't happen often. It randomly picked up in frequency, which stopped me from booting in every other day or so (I'm a student, so this wasn't helpful) so windows (and everything of value) is on the Nvme. So now the SSD only has games on it but is inconsistent as to when it'll get detected.

I've checked everything. up to and including the RAM, but without another stick it's hard to do a fair analysis. (I will say this though: 1 of the 2 ram slots outright doesn't work (which is odd, because that's where the ram was when I got the laptop), but is fine in the 2nd slot. Although, it does make a noise akin to a very frequent static discharge. (I've not seen any changes in performance, or temps, so I'm not too concerned about this one).

(I clean everything with compressed air and an anti-static brush)
 

MEMESEY

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Aug 2, 2017
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UPDATE:

So Removed the SATA bridge, and have it a full clean, and also removed and replaced the Nvme.

The result (10 boots to test) was that the drive appeared upon startup, but once I tried running something from it (Destiny 2), it would boot some data, and then vanish again.

Previously, when the drive used to reappear after a series of boot attempts, I would have to verify the integrity of game files (so the presumption is erring on the side of a drive failure, and I just happened to get 2 bad drives in a row)

UPDATE 2:

And we're back to the drive not being there after boot, after windows deciding to initiate startup repair, but found no issues.
 

MEMESEY

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Aug 2, 2017
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So I posted another thread about my secondary drive always disconnecting without consistency. Sometimes after reboots, the drive would be there, sometimes it wouldn't.

And I was just rummaging about my partition tool to see if there were any issues there, and my secondary drive (SSD) had a primary partition.

Is there any possibility that this would clash with the c drive (on a separate Nvme), stopping it from being detected? I'd assume not, but just in case...

I'll link the other thread here if anyone maybe has an idea as to what's going on: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/drive-keeps-disconnecting.3564903/
 
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MEMESEY

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Aug 2, 2017
13
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4,525
So I've basically solved the issue I think.

I changed the general storage SSD to a secondary drive as opposed to a primary. The problem has not resurfaced since.

I'll just leave this here in case this problem pops up for anyone else.
 
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Reactions: AdorelRujea
Solution
Jan 15, 2021
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Hey Memesey!

If you see my post, congrats for finding the solution, can you provide more details on how have you set up this secondary drive for general storage SSD? In BIOS or in Windows?

Thanks,
Best Regards.
A.