Question First, blue screen crash. Then, both internal hard drives acting strange. Why? Please help.

[Erik Sorensen]

Hi!

I hope I'm posting this to the right place. Sorry if not. Anyways, so I was gaming a couple days ago and my PC crashed to blue screen. When it booted back up, my HDD was not showing up. Seeing as how the HDD's about six years old now, I wasn't too terribly surprised and ordered a new 1TB SSD to replace it. Nothing of value was lost and I was able to continue gaming.

Today, I booted up my PC, paid some bills, and went downstairs. When I came back up, the PC was in the process of rebooting for some reason. When it finally booted back up, it booted from the old HDD (I had yet to unplug it because lazy), and now my SSD wasn't showing up. It was weird seeing an old desktop background I hadn't used in years. It was performing very slowly, but I was able to salvage a couple things from the old HDD.

Then I powered down, unplugged the HDD from the motherboard, and booted back up. It didn't boot back up right away, but after a couple tries the SSD seems to working now.

Sorry for the length of this post, just trying to be thorough. Any help would be appreciated. I'm not even sure exactly what questions to ask. Only that I know there's a problem, but maybe it's not with my HDD, as I had originally thought. Please let me know if I should post more info. Thank you all for your time.

Processor: Intel Core i7-2600 CPU
Memory: 16GB
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB
SSD: 250GB Samsung 850 EVO
HDD: 1TB Western Digital

 

[clarkjd]

If you haven't already, I would suggest that you run a virus scan. Malwarebytes is a good one to start with.
Go here to get it if you don't have it already:

Official Site | Malwarebytes: Antivirus, Anti-Malware & Privacy

Malwarebytes offers real-time antivirus, advanced anti-malware and privacy protection for all your devices. Launched in 2004 as a free virus scan, we still offer a free basic version 20 years later. Learn more.

www.malwarebytes.com

 

[Erik Sorensen]

Thanks for the response, will totally try this tonight.

There has been a development:
It just blue screened again. Only the SSD was connected. It failed several times to reboot, so I thought to try a clean install of windows. I connected my disc drive to use the install disc (I haven't had a need to use my disc drive in a long while, so it remained disconnected until tonight), and... it just works again. It booted up without having to reinstall Windows or anything. It just started back up.

If the Malware scan comes up clean, what should I check next? If it's not the hard drives, could it be the motherboard? Thanks for any help.

 

[popatim]

Check for a bios update for your motherboard but there is the possibility, due to its age, that is is beginning to die. 🙁

 

[clarkjd]

Thanks for the response, will totally try this tonight.

There has been a development:
It just blue screened again. Only the SSD was connected. It failed several times to reboot, so I thought to try a clean install of windows. I connected my disc drive to use the install disc (I haven't had a need to use my disc drive in a long while, so it remained disconnected until tonight), and... it just works again. It booted up without having to reinstall Windows or anything. It just started back up.

If the Malware scan comes up clean, what should I check next? If it's not the hard drives, could it be the motherboard? Thanks for any help.

When you re-installed the old HDD, did you connect it to the same SATA port that your SSd was using?If so and it boots and works properly with the old HDD, then there is a possibility that the SSD is failing.If you used a different SATA port for the HDD, then try attaching the SSD to that port(disconnect the HDD). If the SSD works as intended, then there is a problem with the motherboard, as popatim alluded. If the SSD still fails, then IMHO, you have a failing SSD.

 

[Erik Sorensen]

When you re-installed the old HDD, did you connect it to the same SATA port that your SSd was using?If so and it boots and works properly with the old HDD, then there is a possibility that the SSD is failing.If you used a different SATA port for the HDD, then try attaching the SSD to that port(disconnect the HDD). If the SSD works as intended, then there is a problem with the motherboard, as popatim alluded. If the SSD still fails, then IMHO, you have a failing SSD.

Ok, so the SSD is working right now. I did just test the SATA port that the old HDD was connected to with my disc drive, and it seems to be working--I was able to play a DVD. Should I still test that SATA port with my SSD? Or is the working disc drive proof enough?

I ran Malwarebytes and quarantined and deleted about 14 things (is that normal?).

Check for a bios update for your motherboard but there is the possibility, due to its age, that is is beginning to die. 🙁

Is there a preferred method of going about this?

The system seems to running fine now, I'm able to game and stream and such, but I'm a little worried, seeing as how I didn't really do anything except unplug the seemingly dead HDD, plug in the disc drive, and run malwarebytes. My new 1TB SSD is still on the way, but do you folks think I should do anything else now that it seeeems to be running fine? Should I just let it ride until something else happens? What would you do? Think about it, won't you? lol, but seriously thanks.

 

[popatim]

Simply google your motherbd make and model#. (You didn't provide it in your specs)
Select the google link that goes to the motherboard manufacturers website
Click the Support button on your motherboard page, not the generic link at the top
Bios is usually in the Downloads section.


Example:
googled gigabyte 990fxa-ud5 (one of my previous motherboards)
first link is the gigaybyte website for the board.
On this overview page there is link to Service/Support at the top center of the page. This is the wrong one.
We actually want the Support link that is next to Specifications.
When Support loaded, you will be presented with an OS selection box. Select yours
Now the bios should appear in the list of available downloads.

Most motherboard websites work similarly, there is one where he support link is in a frame on the left side of the page but i forget who does that.

 

[Erik Sorensen]

Simply google your motherbd make and model#. (You didn't provide it in your specs)
Select the google link that goes to the motherboard manufacturers website
Click the Support button on your motherboard page, not the generic link at the top
Bios is usually in the Downloads section.


Example:
googled gigabyte 990fxa-ud5 (one of my previous motherboards)
first link is the gigaybyte website for the board.
On this overview page there is link to Service/Support at the top center of the page. This is the wrong one.
We actually want the Support link that is next to Specifications.
When Support loaded, you will be presented with an OS selection box. Select yours
Now the bios should appear in the list of available downloads.

Most motherboard websites work similarly, there is one where he support link is in a frame on the left side of the page but i forget who does that.

Awesome! Thanks so much. I'll give this a try.

 

[clarkjd]

If you do decide to flash your BIOS, then I can't emphasize enough that you follow the BIOS flash procedure listed in your motherboard manual EXACTLY, not just sorta close but EXACTLY! Anything else runs the risk of bricking your motherboard.

 

[mdd1963]

Sometimes a failing drive when connected can really completely tie up/lock up a PC entirely....

If you've recovered what you need from the spinning drive, test the system with it completely disconnected....