Motherboard losing SSD boot drive

[sealcove]

I built up a new machine last week and have a problem that is vexing me. This really might not be a board or BIOS issue, but it is my best guess so I am placing the question in this section.

In short, built the machine with the specs listed at the bottom. Everything seems to work fine initially. Windows install normal. Drivers, updates and essential software, all normal. Computer shuts down and boots fine. While doing this initial work, I have not attached my two data drives, and when I add one or both of those, the problem starts.

The issue is that on boot, the MOBO now fails to see the SSD and thus fails to boot to Windows. Seems to not be an issue until I add the data drives, but the issue is a bit intermittent. Sometimes it boots fine, and then next three times I have to mess around to locate the SSD. Typically that means go to BIOS and it isn't there, reset and go to the boot options shortcut and it is there. When I can finally see it, Windows boots perfectly and the computer runs like a top until the next cold boot. I say cold boot because it seems to happen most from that state, and less so from a restart.

I can always get it booted with a bit of coaxing, and as I mentioned sometimes it boots without issue. Searching, I found old threads about Gigabyte boards losing SSD drives, but that seemed like very dated info. Can anyone suggest what I might be missing? Any chance that the SSD has some kind of issue even though it seems to run normally most of the time? A more compley power supply issue?

I have done the following so far:
Changed SATA cables
Swapped power leads
Paired the DVD and SSD on the same power lead so I can verify there is power to the SSD
Tried different SATA ports
I have gone through the BIOS settings-Even with Gigabyte tech support. Problem returns.
Thought the board was bad, got a replacement, did another clean windows install.

System:
Intel Core i3-6100
Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX DDR4 Motherboard
Corsair CX Series 500 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Power Supply CX500M
EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB
Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR4 2133 MT/s
Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5" (1 year old - not used much)
2 WD 500GB Data Drives SATA
Windows 10 64bit

 

[Cystash]

It is very interesting, i have seen at work a few times where i would plug a known good drive into a pc, and then plug there old "bad" drive in to do a clone and the same thing would happen. The first thing i would do being that you tested power and sata cables and replaced the board is test both of your data drives, or at least the one causing the issue. Sometimes windows does weird things when a drive that is going out gets plugged in. Get a copy of hirens boot cd and boot to it with only one drive at a time plugged in and test it. Even if it tests good with no bad sectors, if it shows smart warning the drive is dying, i have never seen a drive last very long after the smart warning shows up. Its worth a try since you have tried everything else. If you need any help using hirens feel free to ask! Also there is a chance that it "could" be a power issue just because you are only using a 500w psu but it shouldnt.

Get hirens here-
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

 

[sealcove]

Thanks. The specs for this build actually only called for a 430W PSU, but I went to the 500 for the modular cables. Will test the data drives, but would that effect why the BIOS cant see the SSD? Also, I guess I have sort of tested the data drives in rough sort of way, in that it happens with either one attached. I have tried with just the SSD (seems to be okay), the SSD and data drive 1 (problem exists), SSD and data drive 2 (problem exists), and the SSD with both data drives with a predictable outcome.

I was thinking maybe I would order another PSU just for the hec of it and eliminate some odd power issue.

 

[Cystash]

You could do that, if it is the data drives causing the issue, it could be that either they are dying, or i would check the bios and make sure that there is no smart check and if there is disable it, smart check will automatically check the drives at boot and if one of them is bad tells the pc to not boot. That could be why its not seeing your ssd, check the bios and disable smart if it has it and test the drives. I would do that before you spend more money on a psu, if they both check fine and its still acting up i would then look at getting a new psu.

 

[sealcove]

Thanks. Will make a hirens boot cd and test drives today to determine if they could be the problem. I can't find anything in the BIOS that sounds like smart check, but I will go through the settings again to be sure.

While troubleshooting this since my first post, I have done four boots from a complete shut down. The first three were normal, and then on the fourth, no SSD again. It is a complete no show in the BIOS, but then if I hit reset and go directly to the boot options, it is the only drive listed and I can boot normally.

 

[Cystash]

Check in the bios and make sure that the drive that boots to your os is the first drive at boot, that way it always goes to that drive and if it disapears after that then there is a bigger issue.

 

[sealcove]

Thanks, when I setup the BIOS boot options, the SSD is first and the DVD is second. When it fails, it loads the BIOS setting and the first boot option will show as disabled since the drive is no longer visible. I have also tried having only the SSD drive listed in the boot options (no DVD) and have the same problem.

 

[Cystash]

Hmmmm......the only thing i can think of is either the motherboard is going out, or the data drives or the ssd itself is failing which seems unlikely that the ssd is failing. Where you able to get the test done on the two data drives?

 

[sealcove]

Thanks, working on the drive test now. Could not get hirens to boot from a CD. Trying to see if it will boot from a thumb drive.

 

[sealcove]

Ok got hirens working from a CD. Is the disk checker the Seagate utility? If so, it fails to load for me.

 

[sealcove]

A friend asked if I had updated the firmware on the SSD? I was honestly unaware of that possibility. There was an update and the notes indicated several SATA related tweaks, so perhaps it was that simple. First boot was fine, but will see where it is in 24hrs.

 

[Cystash]

Hope that firmware update works! No in hirens to check a hard drive you go to dos programs. When it goes to the next menu hit 4 and enter, next menu hit 4 and enter again. That should take you to where you need to be to test the hard drives. Let us know if it starts working normal again or if it is still having issues.

 

[sealcove]

Thanks for the hirens clarification. I am going to do that now just to keep eliminating possibilities should the problem not yet be solved. So far so good though.