[SOLVED] NVMe SSD isn't detected in some restarts

Nov 24, 2021
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I'll try to be as descriptive as possible,

Starting my PC from a normal shutdown will go seamlessly (with fast startup enabled) and even going into the BIOS will show me that my SSD is detected and being used. However, sometimes when I restart after playing something or opening some programs for whatever reason it takes me to the BIOS.

The boot menu will be blank, it won't show Windows Boot Manager nor the SSD itself. The odd thing is that after installing new AMD drivers for my cpu, and doing a restart from Windows it all went fine.

Another thing that I noticed is, my system will jump straight into windows and ignore the 3 second POST delay, this will only happen on successful restarts/boots, and when it doesn't cut corners, it will do the aforementioned event, forcing me to hard restart my pc.

Any solutions?
 
Solution
Update to latest BIOS.

If you have other drives in the system, disconnect them and see if the problem goes away. If it does, then you probably have old Windows boot partitions on that/those drives that need to be removed. Removing them MIGHT require reinstalling Windows if Windows saw the boot partition on those drives and didn't create a new one for your M.2 drive when Windows was installed on it or cloned to it. If it was cloned, then that would have been your fault, not Windows fault.

If none of that is the cure, then it's probably an intermittently faulty drive although it certainly COULD be something related to the storage controllers on the motherboard in which case you'd need to replace the motherboard. If you have multiple M.2...
Update to latest BIOS.

If you have other drives in the system, disconnect them and see if the problem goes away. If it does, then you probably have old Windows boot partitions on that/those drives that need to be removed. Removing them MIGHT require reinstalling Windows if Windows saw the boot partition on those drives and didn't create a new one for your M.2 drive when Windows was installed on it or cloned to it. If it was cloned, then that would have been your fault, not Windows fault.

If none of that is the cure, then it's probably an intermittently faulty drive although it certainly COULD be something related to the storage controllers on the motherboard in which case you'd need to replace the motherboard. If you have multiple M.2 slots that support your drive type, try a different slot to see if the problem is still there or not.

Posting an image of your disk management window would be a good place to start.

https://www.lifewire.com/disk-management-2625863


 
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Solution
Nov 24, 2021
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Update to latest BIOS.

If you have other drives in the system, disconnect them and see if the problem goes away. If it does, then you probably have old Windows boot partitions on that/those drives that need to be removed. Removing them MIGHT require reinstalling Windows if Windows saw the boot partition on those drives and didn't create a new one for your M.2 drive when Windows was installed on it or cloned to it. If it was cloned, then that would have been your fault, not Windows fault.

If none of that is the cure, then it's probably an intermittently faulty drive although it certainly COULD be something related to the storage controllers on the motherboard in which case you'd need to replace the motherboard. If you have multiple M.2 slots that support your drive type, try a different slot to see if the problem is still there or not.

Posting an image of your disk management window would be a good place to start.

https://www.lifewire.com/disk-management-2625863


Hey again, here's the disk details, says they're all good.
Another detail, I have an x570 Pro TUF, when I restart the green LED is on the whole time, even in BIOS. motherboards manual says it's for the boot.
On latest BIOS update since a while

Edit: My Windows installation was a rocky ride, since this is my first build, I required assistance, the one who helped me insisted on putting the USB with windows on the ports of the case, not the motherboard I/O.
Does this affect anything?



it5thc8l97j81.png
 
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Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
Depends. Normally there's a bios update/flashback port suggested as the install port, on asus it's often got a green ring around it. It's a direct link to the cpu. With case mounted ports, that goes through the chipset on the motherboard generally, but that's often the better way to do things as some new cpus just don't like direct access at first, only when the bios is straight and good. There's no exact 'wrong' way to go about the install, there's just 'ok' and 'better'
 
Nov 24, 2021
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Depends. Normally there's a bios update/flashback port suggested as the install port, on asus it's often got a green ring around it. It's a direct link to the cpu. With case mounted ports, that goes through the chipset on the motherboard generally, but that's often the better way to do things as some new cpus just don't like direct access at first, only when the bios is straight and good. There's no exact 'wrong' way to go about the install, there's just 'ok' and 'better'
Something I should''ve mentioned in my reply, While installing windows it would randomly go into a black screen after loading some components, then send me back into the starting screen of it all, the purple one.

More details that may help with the issue:
After installing windows it would have errors with drivers the whole time, waking it from sleep would cause the thing to freeze and stay in that state with display corruption until a hard reset.
No longer does it after re-downloading Windows 11 and AMD drivers.
Dunno if this helps in any way or if it affected my ssd somehow, but really want this pc to work smoothly.
 
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Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
Win11 could very well be the problem, it's a new OS and still has bugs. TPM is not enabled by default, so is something that needs to be checked.

Sleep issues are common. Power profile should be balanced, but hibernation and hybrid sleep should be totally disabled, windows is cross platform so contains settings for laptops. The absolute last thing you want on a pc is windows trying to maintain battery savings. Many sleep issues can be attributed to the psu. Older style group regulated psus (basically non-Haswell compliant) have issues with the uber-low voltages of deep sleep in c-states of 5 or 6. In bios you can set the sleep level, I recommend level 3. That's still sleep, just not the uber-deep sleep.

And yes, ppl still sell those old psu designs, most have RGB fans or flashy paint jobs and stickers that claim Max Power etc.
 
For installing any version of Windows that I'm familiar with, there has never really been any significant difference in what USB port you use to install Windows so long as it is a USB port that is actively recognized by the CMOS and/or Windows/installer, and has been designated as the permanent or temporary boot device through the BIOS boot settings or one time bypass boot settings. I can't imagine that that has changed at all recently. It's pretty much been true since at least Vista.

DIsable, in my opinion as K said, hibernation. Doing so automatically disables hybrid sleep.

Should be basically the same for all Windows versions from 7 through 11.

To disable Hibernation:

The first step is to run the command prompt as administrator. In Windows 10, you can do this by right clicking on the start menu and clicking "Command Prompt (Admin)"
Type in "powercfg.exe /h off" without the quotes and press enter. If you typed it in correctly, the cursor will simply start at a new line asking for new input
Now just exit out of command prompt

 
Nov 24, 2021
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For installing any version of Windows that I'm familiar with, there has never really been any significant difference in what USB port you use to install Windows so long as it is a USB port that is actively recognized by the CMOS and/or Windows/installer, and has been designated as the permanent or temporary boot device through the BIOS boot settings or one time bypass boot settings. I can't imagine that that has changed at all recently. It's pretty much been true since at least Vista.

DIsable, in my opinion as K said, hibernation. Doing so automatically disables hybrid sleep.

Should be basically the same for all Windows versions from 7 through 11.



I'm sorry if this is causing confusion, the events I mentioned with sleep and driver misbehavior are no longer issues, I spoke about them because I thought it would help with the problem with my ssd, if those events somehow damaged my ssd, or the port. I'm unexperienced with troubleshooting and don't know which factors come into play with these types of malfunctions.

Again, really sorry for mixing things up

I will re-seat my drive today and update with what happens
 
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Nov 24, 2021
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Back,
I reseated the ssd and... issue is still there, dissapointing.
I even turned off fast boot which could've caused something and cold boot did everything fine. It's. Just. The. Restart.
any other solutions? Ssd works fine in cold boot, no matter what.
 
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I swear there's a ghost on my pc, I tried it all. I turned down my ram from 3200 to 2800 to see if anything changes, nothing. I cracked my pc open and reseated my ssd, nothing. I changed my boot order, nothing, I watched event manager like a hawk and n o t h i n g.

During these torturous weeks however, I found some stuff that could help. After turning off fast boot it will always, without exception, do the bios thing. With fast boot it was like flipping a coin and hoping it would restart, without it, it's a guaranteed entry to the bios. Another thing, ANY restart will trigger it, save changes and restart from bios will trigger it, restart from windows will trigger it, even an update that needs it will trigger it.

SSD is fine and cold boot proves but, it's. just. this. behavior.
 
I don't see your full hardware specifications listed here anywhere. I might have missed them, but I don't think so. Please list FULL hardware specifications including EXACT model numbers for motherboard, CPU, power supply, memory kit or kits, case, and any additional or accessory hardware installed in or attached to the unit. Might seem excessive, it's not, I assure you. We find a lot of problems in such ways.
 
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I don't see your full hardware specifications listed here anywhere. I might have missed them, but I don't think so. Please list FULL hardware specifications including EXACT model numbers for motherboard, CPU, power supply, memory kit or kits, case, and any additional or accessory hardware installed in or attached to the unit. Might seem excessive, it's not, I assure you. We find a lot of problems in such ways.
Hey, just checked, there's a BIOS update from the 7th of this month. Would you recommend getting it?

Or post the parts list before doing anything
 
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Greetings,

JUST updated the BIOS
I bring good and bad news,

The good is that my restarts are now successful : ), no issues so far (though it only sees windows boot manager but hey, it works).

The bad is that now the initial screen in boot (one where it shows the logo) looks like display corruption, logo is everywhere, divided by dark spaces, with lines of white and purple everywhere. Now, at the moment I thought my gpu died or my apu and gpu conflicted but none of this happens in windows, gaming, editing, you name it. No issues in windows.
It is ONLY on a windows restart where the logo will be fine, if I access BIOS then exit, it will do it. I got the latest drivers and issue persists, this pc makes me want to cry sometimes.

It's just this now, through the mess of a screen I can see the windows loading screen circle. So nothing fatal, but it would be ideal to not have my boot look like a dead gpu
 
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Well, it's progress I guess. Maybe we can work through this other part. Explain, in detail, exactly what the display issue looks like. You also need to probably do these other things as well.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release. In cases where you DO already have the latest BIOS version, simply resetting the BIOS as follows has a fairly high percentage chance of effecting a positive change in some cases so it is ALWAYS worth TRYING, at the very least.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.


Second,

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.


Graphics card driver CLEAN install guide using the Wagnard tools DDU



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way

Also, what "diagnostics" did you run on the memory? Did you run Memtest86? Did you run it for four FULL passes? This normally takes a fairly long time to do.

If not, then I'd do that.

Memtest86


Go to the Passmark software website and download the USB Memtest86 free version. You can do the optical disk version too if for some reason you cannot use a bootable USB flash drive.


Create bootable media using the downloaded Memtest86. Once you have done that, go into your BIOS and configure the system to boot to the USB drive that contains the Memtest86 USB media or the optical drive if using that option.


You CAN use Memtest86+, as they've recently updated the program after MANY years of no updates, but for the purpose of this guide I recommend using the Passmark version as this is a tried and true utility while I've not had the opportunity to investigate the reliability of the latest 86+ release as compared to Memtest86. Possibly, consider using Memtest86+ as simply a secondary test to Memtest86, much as Windows memory diagnostic utility and Prime95 Blend or custom modes can be used for a second opinion utility.


Create a bootable USB Flash drive:

1. Download the Windows MemTest86 USB image.

2. Right click on the downloaded file and select the "Extract to Here" option. This places the USB image and imaging tool into the current folder.

3. Run the included imageUSB tool, it should already have the image file selected and you just need to choose which connected USB drive to turn into a bootable drive. Note that this will erase all data on the drive.



No memory should ever fail to pass Memtest86 when it is at the default configuration that the system sets it at when you start out or do a clear CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for five minutes.

Best method for testing memory is to first run four passes of Memtest86, all 11 tests, WITH the memory at the default configuration. This should be done BEFORE setting the memory to the XMP profile settings. The paid version has 13 tests but the free version only has tests 1-10 and test 13. So run full passes of all 11 tests. Be sure to download the latest version of Memtest86. Memtest86+ has not been updated in MANY years. It is NO-WISE as good as regular Memtest86 from Passmark software.

If there are ANY errors, at all, then the memory configuration is not stable. Bumping the DRAM voltage up slightly may resolve that OR you may need to make adjustments to the primary timings. There are very few secondary or tertiary timings that should be altered. I can tell you about those if you are trying to tighten your memory timings.

If you cannot pass Memtest86 with the memory at the XMP configuration settings then I would recommend restoring the memory to the default JEDEC SPD of 1333/2133mhz (Depending on your platform and memory type) with everything left on the auto/default configuration and running Memtest86 over again. If it completes the four full passes without error you can try again with the XMP settings but first try bumping the DRAM voltage up once again by whatever small increment the motherboard will allow you to increase it by. If it passes, great, move on to the Prime95 testing.

If it still fails, try once again bumping the voltage if you are still within the maximum allowable voltage for your memory type and test again. If it still fails, you are likely going to need more advanced help with configuring your primary timings and should return the memory to the default configuration until you can sort it out.

If the memory will not pass Memtest86 for four passes when it IS at the stock default non-XMP configuration, even after a minor bump in voltage, then there is likely something physically wrong with one or more of the memory modules and I'd recommend running Memtest on each individual module, separately, to determine which module is causing the issue. If you find a single module that is faulty you should contact the seller or the memory manufacturer and have them replace the memory as a SET. Memory comes matched for a reason as I made clear earlier and if you let them replace only one module rather than the entire set you are back to using unmatched memory which is an open door for problems with incompatible memory.

Be aware that you SHOULD run Memtest86 to test the memory at the default, non-XMP, non-custom profile settings BEFORE ever making any changes to the memory configuration so that you will know if the problem is a setting or is a physical problem with the memory and it is a good idea to run it AGAIN, after enabling the XMP profile to verify that none of the XMP specific profile settings or timings are in disagreement with the motherboard, especially if it is a memory kit that is not already shown to be validated for that board on the memory manufacturer or motherboard manufacturer's compatibility list.
 
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zwcj68bhikp81.png


Here is how it looks, motherboard drivers haven't been updated by ASUS since 2021. Re-install them?

(Also, thank you for helping me fix these issues, it means a lot.)
 
So, "drivers" have literally nothing to do with anything until after Windows starts loading the operating system. If your display is doing this before Windows begins to load, or in the BIOS or during POST, then it is a hardware or BIOS issue, not a driver issue.

I would probably try reinstalling the latest BIOS update over again, and maybe also remove the graphics card and reinstall it. Not sure why it would do that in that way and then work fine when Windows loads, but those are the things I would try first. Also try unplugging and then reconnecting your display cable at both ends.

Is the SSD being detected all the time now, rather than missing during some restarts like in the beginning?
 
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So, "drivers" have literally nothing to do with anything until after Windows starts loading the operating system. If your display is doing this before Windows begins to load, or in the BIOS or during POST, then it is a hardware or BIOS issue, not a driver issue.

I would probably try reinstalling the latest BIOS update over again, and maybe also remove the graphics card and reinstall it. Not sure why it would do that in that way and then work fine when Windows loads, but those are the things I would try first. Also try unplugging and then reconnecting your display cable at both ends.

Is the SSD being detected all the time now, rather than missing during some restarts like in the beginning?
Yeah the SSD is now being detected all the time which is a relief. I dunno man, first boot this day went fine, logo looked good and everything, so we're back at "flip a coin" with this issue. I'm gonna reconnect displayport cables, i'm not sure if I have HDMI ones but if I do, will give those a shot too.
 
What is the model of your graphics card and how long have you had it in service?

What model is your power supply and how long has IT been in service?

What model is your motherboard?

In fact, listing your FULL hardware specs, which I should have asked for way before now, would be a good idea. I thought you did but I don't see them so either I'm blind or I'm stupid for not having already asked for that info. LOL.
 
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What is the model of your graphics card and how long have you had it in service?

What model is your power supply and how long has IT been in service?

What model is your motherboard?

In fact, listing your FULL hardware specs, which I should have asked for way before now, would be a good idea. I thought you did but I don't see them so either I'm blind or I'm stupid for not having already asked for that info. LOL.
No worries, I forgot to put em before:

CPU: Ryzen 5 5600G
GPU: ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3060 V2 OC Edition 12GB GDDR6
RAM: Spectrix D50 16gb (8 + 8)
Motherboard: TUF GAMING X570-PRO (Wi-Fi)
The only SSD: Gammix S41 1TB
PSU: CX750F RGB 80 Plus Bronze Modular

The PC was built and been in service since 23/10/21 (DD/MM/YYYY)
Gpu came later on and started being used since 16/12/21
 
So, I would suggest that you remove the graphics card, completely, from the motherboard, and plug your video cable into the motherboard video output and see if you still have the visual corruption you are seeing right now. Just as a test. It's important to not just move the cable but actually remove the card entirely from the board when you do this.
 
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So, I would suggest that you remove the graphics card, completely, from the motherboard, and plug your video cable into the motherboard video output and see if you still have the visual corruption you are seeing right now. Just as a test. It's important to not just move the cable but actually remove the card entirely from the board when you do this.
Sounds good, also I did get a solution for the restarts, would giving a trophy to "update bios" lock the thread?