- Jul 6, 2019
- 6
- 0
- 4,510
This one’s quite a lengthy read, but I’d appreciate it if you’re a tech wizard who could help. I made an audio file of this story to make it easier to digest:
Backstory: So, a few days ago, I was trying to design a script for my controller while simultaneously asking ChatGPT questions on Chrome and downloading some large files, which put my CPU at 100%. Everything was going fine until everything started to hang, I couldn't test my script anymore, and my typing was slowed until eventually, the system downright refused to work properly. I could move my mouse about every few minutes, but even then, it would only move like an inch across the screen. When trying to open Task Manager, nothing happened, which I expected. I pressed CTRL+ALT+Delete like they tell you to do in school, and it didn't work either. Eventually, I was able to close Chrome, and I thought I would be fine, but my CPU stayed at 100% until my laptop shut down, which at the time I thought was fine. “I'll just restart it.” But when I tried to restart it, it gave me a screen that looked like this:
Upon another restart, it told me one of the boot files was messed up; I can't remember the name it gave. I restarted it again, this time it told me another boot file was messed up, which I actually remember the name of. It was BCDBoot, and when I restarted it a third time, I once again got the colorful screen I displayed. I left it for a day because I remembered that on my old laptop, sometimes problems would just fix if I gave it a few (but also it was just super late).
Chapter II The Problem
When I tried turning it on the next day, it told me there was a disk read error. I'm used to problems with my laptop, so I have my USB full of ISOs at the ready. I tried using the official WINPE, and though it looked as if it would work, it gave me the loading screen for several minutes until eventually it bluescreened and gave me a stop code I've never seen before named DRIVER PNP WATCHDOG. When I looked it up, it said that it could be a problem with either the drivers or hardware. I did diagnostics on all my hardware, and it seemed completely fine. One way to confirm this is I switched storage devices, two times, both booting just fine. Ultimately triple checking by putting it in my second laptop. So I know it's just the storage now. Attempting to grab my data, I tried SpinRite, and although it does work for some reason (my guess is that it has non-conflicting drivers?), it keeps building up in hours and eventually it reaches months if I remember correctly, so SpinRite is definitely not an option. Although it is fun to watch, killing my boredom is not the issue. I don't know if SpinRite has different drivers or some kind of different technique to detect the drive and work with it, but SpinRite does seem to work just fine. Though it's not gonna be what helps me recover my data this time. If anyone has a better guess on what SpinRite does in particular that other ISOs don't, feel free to let me know. Also, when trying to run other ISOs, some of them would boot, but those that did were of no use to me since they couldn’t even detect the drive. The others that booted, would either hang when they were supposed to open their associated program/utility, or they would get stuck on a repeating black screen that said something like status: DRDY I/O error. When I try to connect it to a different laptop, it doesn't come up as a drive. This drive has given me problems before with USB detection, so I don't know if it's related to this incident or if it's just the drive being difficult as always. I know it's not my docker that's incompatible because I've tried with a wired IDE connection to USB, and it's the same deal. I’ve also tried using safe mode with it connected via USB with no difference. It’s frustrating since it doesn't come up in Device Manager or Computer/Disk Management, but it appears consistently in the BIOS, so I don't even know how to work on it. I swear I’ve never faced a technology problem I thought I was ready for and fixed it the way I’d expect. I can use (mostly) any program/ISO, so feel free to recommend something ✨exotic✨
Technical:
SSD: Samsung EVO 850 1TB 50% unallocated NTFS (latest firmware)
OS: Windows 11 Ghost Spectre variant
Extra info:
Also, I know that it's not the firmware because I made sure to check Samsung's page, and it's still on the firmware I upgraded it to, so the firmware is fine. I'm not sure if it matters, but I read afterwards that registry optimizers/cleaners are bad, and I have one on my laptop, but I’m not sure if it matters on this occasion.
I've already attempted to claim warranty from Samsung, which sucks because instead of just giving them the serial number, then they tell you if they can work on your drive or not, you have to send in a picture of the SSD and your name and your address and your story and what you tried, which I filled out completely to the best of my knowledge only for them to reject me since they said that my drive is out of warranty, so that was pretty sucky. (What a huge waste of time 🤦♂️)
Backstory: So, a few days ago, I was trying to design a script for my controller while simultaneously asking ChatGPT questions on Chrome and downloading some large files, which put my CPU at 100%. Everything was going fine until everything started to hang, I couldn't test my script anymore, and my typing was slowed until eventually, the system downright refused to work properly. I could move my mouse about every few minutes, but even then, it would only move like an inch across the screen. When trying to open Task Manager, nothing happened, which I expected. I pressed CTRL+ALT+Delete like they tell you to do in school, and it didn't work either. Eventually, I was able to close Chrome, and I thought I would be fine, but my CPU stayed at 100% until my laptop shut down, which at the time I thought was fine. “I'll just restart it.” But when I tried to restart it, it gave me a screen that looked like this:
Upon another restart, it told me one of the boot files was messed up; I can't remember the name it gave. I restarted it again, this time it told me another boot file was messed up, which I actually remember the name of. It was BCDBoot, and when I restarted it a third time, I once again got the colorful screen I displayed. I left it for a day because I remembered that on my old laptop, sometimes problems would just fix if I gave it a few (but also it was just super late).
Chapter II The Problem
When I tried turning it on the next day, it told me there was a disk read error. I'm used to problems with my laptop, so I have my USB full of ISOs at the ready. I tried using the official WINPE, and though it looked as if it would work, it gave me the loading screen for several minutes until eventually it bluescreened and gave me a stop code I've never seen before named DRIVER PNP WATCHDOG. When I looked it up, it said that it could be a problem with either the drivers or hardware. I did diagnostics on all my hardware, and it seemed completely fine. One way to confirm this is I switched storage devices, two times, both booting just fine. Ultimately triple checking by putting it in my second laptop. So I know it's just the storage now. Attempting to grab my data, I tried SpinRite, and although it does work for some reason (my guess is that it has non-conflicting drivers?), it keeps building up in hours and eventually it reaches months if I remember correctly, so SpinRite is definitely not an option. Although it is fun to watch, killing my boredom is not the issue. I don't know if SpinRite has different drivers or some kind of different technique to detect the drive and work with it, but SpinRite does seem to work just fine. Though it's not gonna be what helps me recover my data this time. If anyone has a better guess on what SpinRite does in particular that other ISOs don't, feel free to let me know. Also, when trying to run other ISOs, some of them would boot, but those that did were of no use to me since they couldn’t even detect the drive. The others that booted, would either hang when they were supposed to open their associated program/utility, or they would get stuck on a repeating black screen that said something like status: DRDY I/O error. When I try to connect it to a different laptop, it doesn't come up as a drive. This drive has given me problems before with USB detection, so I don't know if it's related to this incident or if it's just the drive being difficult as always. I know it's not my docker that's incompatible because I've tried with a wired IDE connection to USB, and it's the same deal. I’ve also tried using safe mode with it connected via USB with no difference. It’s frustrating since it doesn't come up in Device Manager or Computer/Disk Management, but it appears consistently in the BIOS, so I don't even know how to work on it. I swear I’ve never faced a technology problem I thought I was ready for and fixed it the way I’d expect. I can use (mostly) any program/ISO, so feel free to recommend something ✨exotic✨
Technical:
SSD: Samsung EVO 850 1TB 50% unallocated NTFS (latest firmware)
OS: Windows 11 Ghost Spectre variant
Extra info:
Also, I know that it's not the firmware because I made sure to check Samsung's page, and it's still on the firmware I upgraded it to, so the firmware is fine. I'm not sure if it matters, but I read afterwards that registry optimizers/cleaners are bad, and I have one on my laptop, but I’m not sure if it matters on this occasion.
I've already attempted to claim warranty from Samsung, which sucks because instead of just giving them the serial number, then they tell you if they can work on your drive or not, you have to send in a picture of the SSD and your name and your address and your story and what you tried, which I filled out completely to the best of my knowledge only for them to reject me since they said that my drive is out of warranty, so that was pretty sucky. (What a huge waste of time 🤦♂️)
Last edited:
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