Question m.2 SSD causes boot failure and I'm stumped

[Fisherman4737]

First time here.

Gigabyte GA-Z97/x-Gaming 7 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 4-8GB Ram
Intel i7 Processor
EVGA geforce GTX 980 Graphics
1 Western digital 2.5 HD (that I'm booting from now)
2 WD 6TB 3.5 HD for storage
only other thing plugged in to PCI is ASUS wireless modem

So, I had an Samsung 980Pro SSD m.2 on the motherboard slot for a year. It suddenly would not boot. I removed the m.2 and the machine will boot from the hard drive described above.

Even when booting from the 2.5HD...if the m.2 is installed...it will not boot.
I checked the BIOS and it was set to IDE.
I put the m.2 on a remote reader and can see the files.
I put the m.2 on a pci adapter and again the system won't boot
I got another m.2
System again will not boot with m.2 plugged into motherboard or pci adapter

NOTE: I'm not even trying to boot FROM the m.2...it's just installed but causing this.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

What BIOS version are you on for your motherboard at this moment of time? As for your M.2 slot, regardless of what you bought into, that drive is crippled due to the slow speed of the slot on the motherboard. If the drive was purchased with the idea that it'll be migrated over to a more concurrent board, then please disregard my prior sentence.

 

[Fisherman4737]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

What BIOS version are you on for your motherboard at this moment of time? As for your M.2 slot, regardless of what you bought into, that drive is crippled due to the slow speed of the slot on the motherboard. If the drive was purchased with the idea that it'll be migrated over to a more concurrent board, then please disregard my prior sentence.

I am using F8 Bios. As for the motherboard, it is slated to be replaced at a later date, but as for now, speed isn't the issue...the fact that it does not boot at all is.

 

[Lutfij]

Does the drive show up in BIOS on a known working donor platform/motherboard? Can you also access the drive when on a donor platform(wihtout the need for any reader or adapter)?

 

[Fisherman4737]

Does the drive show up in BIOS on a known working donor platform/motherboard? Can you also access the drive when on a donor platform(wihtout the need for any reader or adapter)?

I don't have a donor platform on which to test this. But, the drive shows up in bios just fine as is...the machine just won't boot from ANY drive when either are installed...either by the m.2 port or by pcie adapter.

 

[Math Geek]

what sata ports are the hdd's plugged into? especially the boot drive.

according to the specs

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97X-Gaming-7-rev-10/sp#sp

you lose sata ports 4 and 5 (labaled as SATA3 4 and SATA3 5 on the mobo) when using the m.2 slot as well as the esata port. make sure nothing is plugged into those ports. it could be as simple as that.

 

[Fisherman4737]

what sata ports are the hdd's plugged into? especially the boot drive.

according to the specs

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97X-Gaming-7-rev-10/sp#sp

you lose sata ports 4 and 5 (labaled as SATA3 4 and SATA3 5 on the mobo) when using the m.2 slot as well as the esata port. make sure nothing is plugged into those ports. it could be as simple as that.

That's good thinking...and there WERE things plugged into those ports. But, upon removal...still the same issue.

 

[Math Geek]

Was worth a shot anyway. I like simple solutions first.

But not sure why else it would keep the system from booting. Is this a failure to post or failure the load windows??

Where does windows hang if it tries to load?

 

[Fisherman4737]

It hangs up at (paraphrased) "There was a problem detected and we will attempt to fix it"

 

[Math Geek]

so it worked with the ssd for a year and then stopped all of a sudden.

that tends to imply a hardware issue. since the drive works in an external reader, that points to the slot itself as the most likely issue. that does not explain the issue with pci card though.

can you try a linux live cd to see if that boots. that will let you know if it is windows as the problem or if it is with the motherboard. any flavor is fine, unbuntu is easy to get and will do the job as a live cd.

https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop

create a usb drive or dvd of it and boot to it. it will give the option then to run it as a live cd which means it will only run from ram and not install anything. if this can detect and use the ssd, then you know it is a windows issue. if it won't, then we know it is mobo related and most likely just a bad slot.

it is an old mobo running a first gen m.2 slot, so it dying is not out of the question.

 

[Fisherman4737]

Okay The unbuntu test did not boot either, so it's a motherboard issue. What's the best 1150 socket motherboard to replace this...(I'd rather not replace my CPU or DDR3 at this time.

 

[Math Geek]

unfortunately, they stopped making those boards years ago. there is very little new stock to be found and what is there is very expensive. like build a new pc for the same money type expensive.

you can look at used options but they are likely to already have problems themselves. honestly, you are not getting any more performance out of that ssd, than you would from a sata ssd. rather than replace the system (or way overpay for a new mobo for your i7) just to use the m.2 drive, i'd just shelve the 980 pro for now and add a sata ssd, or just go with the hdd's you have now. then you can continue to save up for the full system upgrade down the road.

2 weeks ago i'd have offered my used z97 board, but i just gave away that system to a work from home friend who needed something simple yet reliable to run office apps.

you can look around if you have a preferred used site, but when i looked last, there was little new and a lot of "i am pretty sure it still works" used options on places like ebay and amazon.

for instance, newegg has a bunch labeled as "new" but the are all shipping from china. so that is very suspect already

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100007627 600438202 4814&page=1&Order=1

i know i'd not spend $300 for a mobo when that same $300 would get you a new cpu/mobo/ram combo that will be a ton faster.

 

[Fisherman4737]

Thank You Everyone for your responses. I've decided to just do a big upgrade of motherboard, cpu, ram, etc. The machine was 7 years old anyhow.

 

[Math Geek]

glad we could help.

if you need any help with suggestions don't be afraid to ask

but do pay attention to mobo features as i noted above, often budget options compromise a lot with what can actually be used at the same time.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Okay The unbuntu test did not boot either, so it's a motherboard issue.

How did you figure that?

It's obviously drive issue, if everything works fine without drive connected.

It hangs up at (paraphrased) "There was a problem detected and we will attempt to fix it"

Can you show photo of that error?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[Math Geek]

in the first post he states he can access the data from external reader and that he tried a new drive.

this is why i am thinking a problem with the mobo itself. though the pci card having same issue does complicate it some. not figure that piece out yet.

 

[SkyNetRising]

in the first post he states he can access the data from external reader and that he tried a new drive.
this is why i am thinking a problem with the mobo itself.

That doesn't mean the drive is fine.
It could have exhausted all write cycles and locked itself,
it could have corrupted file system.

 

[Math Geek]

right but the "tried a new drive" part moves me away from that idea.

but if you have some experience and ideas i don't, i am more than happy to step aside and learn something

 

[SkyNetRising]

right but the "tried a new drive" part moves me away from that idea.

We don't know, what's on that new drive or if it is even functional.

 

[Fisherman4737]

Nothing was on the new drive...and the new drive as well as the old one are now fully functioning on a new motherboard...so ?