SSD Temporarily Not Recognized After System Crash

[RSS705]

Hi there,

I built my first system about a month ago. It's been working well, but then this morning about twenty minutes into a Dying Light session, the game froze. I couldn't force quit, the screen went black for a period of time, and then the system automatically restarted.

When it restarted, it went into the BIOS. The SSD was not being detected, and as result the OS wouldn't launch. I turned off the system, and turned it back on. When it started back up the SSD was found, and it launched like nothing ever happened.

Now I live in constant fear. Does anyone have any idea why this would have happened?

Extra Info:
I don't think it was caused by temperature. The core temp reaches around 50C max, idles around 25C. Working on a 1000W PSU, and I am 99.9% sure all cables are properly connected. I was pretty crazy about this during the build. Should also note that I've probably clocked 10h on Dying Light and far more on other games since it was built. Not sure what caused this to happen now. That said I am not very experienced with building computers, so any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[DataMedic]

Very hard to say. It could be an issue with the motherboard, psu, SATA cable or even the SSD that caused it. Or just a weird fluke after a simple software crash. If it happens again where the SSD goes missing, I'd be concerned. Until then, I wouldn't be too concerned.

Are you overclocking? I know that can cause a lot of strange crashes.

 

[RSS705]

Very hard to say. It could be an issue with the motherboard, psu, SATA cable or even the SSD that caused it. Or just a weird fluke after a simple software crash. If it happens again where the SSD goes missing, I'd be concerned. Until then, I wouldn't be too concerned.

Are you overclocking? I know that can cause a lot of strange crashes.

Hi there, thanks for the reply.

I was kinda thinking along the same lines as you, that this could have been a one-off, and it would be very difficult to determine the source. To answer your question, no, I'm not overclocking.

Do you know, is there a way to see a system log of some kind to track computer crashes? A third party program even? I am continuing to use the system (went about 15 minutes on Dying Light this morning again, no crash), but in anticipation for a repeat event, I thought it'd be smart to audit the system somehow.

Is this possible?
Thanks again,
Rob

 

[DataMedic]

Windows does keep quite a bit of logging, and if you want to you can spend hours going through all of it. However it's been my experience that with sudden hangs like that when it doesn't even BSOD out, you'll rarely find anything meaningful.

 

[RSS705]

Windows does keep quite a bit of logging, and if you want to you can spend hours going through all of it. However it's been my experience that with sudden hangs like that when it doesn't even BSOD out, you'll rarely find anything meaningful.

Alright thanks, I'll keep an eye on it and come back if it's a repeat.

 

[RSS705]

Just a follow up, two weeks later, it wasn't the SSD, it was a video card issue. Red LED indicates lack of power. On to issue #2.

 

[SortNVF]

Peak loading your GFX on a weak PSU will shut down the machine, for any sort of gaming rig id go with 750w+ PSU From a quality brand.
GFX cards can peak load 200w or so, depending on model and cooling method. If you PSU is weak on the 12v side (as most 450-550w desktop PSU's are) that 200w spike combined with CPU running 100-150w and a drive spinning to max...

 

[RSS705]

Hi there, thanks for the reply but I actually opened a new thread addressing your exact comment. Link below, thanks in advance,

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2560061/red-led-nvida-geforce-gtx-980.html

 

[HiroshimaCC]

You said the issue was your video card, did you have another system hang with no boot device detected on reboot? Do you happen to own a Crucial MX100 SSD? Do you have a memory.dmp core dump in your Windows root folder? (C:\Windows\memory.dmp)

If you answered Yes and No to the last two questions, then it still may be a problem with your SSD: http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-SSDs/MX100-will-not-boot-sometimes/td-p/158815

 

[RSS705]

You said the issue was your video card, did you have another system hang with no boot device detected on reboot? Do you happen to own a Crucial MX100 SSD? Do you have a memory.dmp core dump in your Windows root folder? (C:\Windows\memory.dmp)

If you answered Yes and No to the last two questions, then it still may be a problem with your SSD: http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-SSDs/MX100-will-not-boot-sometimes/td-p/158815

Damn, HiroshimaCC you seem to be right on the money there.

1) I managed to exit the game before the system went into a full hang, so no, I didn't lose detection to the boot device this time.
2) Yes, I'm running a Crucial MX100 SSD 🙁
3) No, I don't have a memory.dmp core dump in that directory.

After reviewing the link, it seems pretty bang on that's my issue. But that link has also been ongoing since September 2014. Could you recommend a course of action? This is my first build and I'm not sure what to do now.

Should I attempt to clone the SSD to an Intel SSD perhaps? Should I clone the SSD back to a mechanical hard drive? Wait for this supposed firmware release to fix the issue from Crucial?

I'm kind of glad and sad simultaneously. Guess it's better it be the hard drive than the video card.

 

[HiroshimaCC]

Well from your description I assume your SSD is not your system disk? If that's true then it's weird you got no memory.dmp because Windows should write one when a BSOD occurs (but if your system disk is the SSD then it can't write on it of course, since the disk failed).

Anyway if you've got another disk at hand (SSD or sadly HDD) I would recommend to try to use it instead of your current MX100. If everything goes fine within a reasonable period of time (2 to 3 times the period within which you got your hangs) it should be a solid proof that your SSD is at fault.

On my side I don't have much options (SSD is my system disk and I have no replacement) so I'll try the few fixes mentionned on the thread (power-cycling the disk, disabling LPM in Windows, enabling hot-plug for SSD in BIOS) and hope for a fixed firmware from Crucial in the meantime. If everything fail I will RMA the disk.

 

[RSS705]

Well from your description I assume your SSD is not your system disk? If that's true then it's weird you got no memory.dmp because Windows should write one when a BSOD occurs (but if your system disk is the SSD then it can't write on it of course, since the disk failed).

Anyway if you've got another disk at hand (SSD or sadly HDD) I would recommend to try to use it instead of your current MX100. If everything goes fine within a reasonable period of time (2 to 3 times the period within which you got your hangs) it should be a solid proof that your SSD is at fault.

On my side I don't have much options (SSD is my system disk and I have no replacement) so I'll try the few fixes mentionned on the thread (power-cycling the disk, disabling LPM in Windows, enabling hot-plug for SSD in BIOS) and hope for a fixed firmware from Crucial in the meantime. If everything fail I will RMA the disk.

Hi HiroshimaCC,

The SSD is my primary disk, yet no memory.dmp. Not sure what to say on that one. The system works phenomenally, except for that one game (that said, I haven't tried any other really demanding games on the system).

I don't have a spare SSD either, but this is my work station as well so I'm a little concerned. So odd that it only happens on occasion with the game. Guess time will tell, just wish I had a suitable backup ready. Please let me know if any of your attempted fixes appear to workout for you? I sense you have a lot more experience and I'm far too much a wimp to play with my primary hard drive, as this is my work station as well!

Thanks,
Rob

 

[RSS705]

Just a follow up two weeks later. Game was glitchy. It was patched. SSD and video card seem fine, issue has not reoccurred since.

Thanks to everyone who replied.

 

[HiroshimaCC]

The SSD actually got a firware update. You may want to check it out : http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-SSDs/Feedback-Thread-Firmware-MU02-for-MX100/m-p/165974#U165974