Various issues since new SSD

[AlphaLion]

System Specs
Intel i5-4690k 4,4GHz @ 1,125V
Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming-3
Corsair Vengeance DDR-3 4x4GB 1600MHz CL9
Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290X 4GB
Cooler Master G750M 750W
Intel Optane 900P 280GB SSD (2,5" U.2-M.2 version) with Windows 10 Pro 1803
Several HDDs but i don't think they are important here

I'm experiencing various problems with my new SSD i got about 2 months ago. I used to have a Samsung 850 Evo 250GB which is still fine, it has replaced the HDD in my laptop. Reinstalled Windows on both of them and my system with the Optane is weird since. I'm putting the problems into spoilers because they are long as hell

BSOD after fresh Windows install

Spoiler

First of all, after the fresh windows was finished, i installed the latest Radeon Adrenaline so i don't have to look at 600x400 or whatever default resolution you get and that broke the system so much it was getting BSOD like 10 seconds after startup. I don't remember the exact code but after some research it seemed like it was Radeon driver related. So i reinstalled Windows again, lol. Here i waited for Windows to update itself to 1803 with its own drivers and everything, then installed the latest Radeon and whatever other drives i have, all of which seem to work properly now. Both Windows installs were in UEFI mode which might not had been the case with the older OS on the 850 Evo, because right now the #1 option in boot order is Windows Boot Manager and if i change this to the actual device, it can't find the OS. As far as my research went, this is how UEFI should actually work (?) but before it was just the Evo selected and everyhting way fine, so i guess it was in Legacy mode back then

Google Chrome not lading pages

Spoiler

After a few days/weeks of reinstalling both my PC and laptop, they had this weird issue with Chrome randomly not loading pages. Never seen something like this, ever. Eventually i found a Google forum thread where the linked answer has solved the issue on both systems.
TLDR, you have to take ownership over a few registry keys and delete them

HDD led always on

Spoiler

The first problem is my HDD led is constantly on, it doesn't flicker or anything, it's solid blue at all times regardless of any HDD activity. It never used to be like this in my previous builds or with this one before the latest SSD-reinstall. Even when i was using the drives with instaling or copying it was either flickering fast or emitting solid light obviously, but not all the damn time. When i look at Task Manager, i see the SSD having some activity then the next second it's 0 then some write/read then 0 again, etc. this goes on most of the time. All the other drives have no activity, since i'm not using them at these times. It was yesterday actually that i looked Task Manager and there was absolutely no drive activity for like a minute, yet the led was on. I'm still looking at active processes but there are nothing suspicious for me. I looked this up and people always said in forums that there must be some background udpdate or whatever going on, but that's not the case here. There are no apps runnig that would cause this, no internet activity, no updates happening, nothing. I checked the SMART reports from all the drives, and they are all in fine condition, except one which is getting kind of old (if i understood correctly, it has ran out of backup sectors?). I also tried disconnecting all the drives except the SSD and this led problem still persists, which is even more concerning because i don't have anyting installed there apart from Windows and some apps i can't change (eg. MS Office), plus Adobe Photoshop, Illu and Premiere because i want them to have quick startups. When i turn the system on, the led flickers a little before the Windows circular loading dots appear, after this it's solid blue until shutdown pretty much

Apps preventing shutdown

Spoiler

Talking about shutdown, i click on the button in Start Menu, then the theme-colored screen tells me there are 2 apps preventing the system from shutting down. None of them have a name or an icon displayed (they have this generic Windows app icon), the first one disappears quickly, the other one stays there for a few seconds then goes away and eventually the system shuts down. This is the case with every single shutdown

Slow boot

Spoiler

System startup is also great, it almost takes more time to load into desktop than with an HDD lol. Sometimes even like 40-50 seconds? The biggest part in this is getting to the login screen, after it shows up, the rest happens quickly. The 850 Evo in my laptop puts me into desktop 8-10s after i press the power button, and it was very fast in my PC as well. After it boots, the speed is great, everything happens quickly as they should, it's only the startup that's slow as hell

Stuttering

Spoiler

Back to the flcikering light, i noticed this weird behaviour only when i'm watching Youtube videos. When the HDD led flickers, the video (but not the audio) stutters for a few frames through a few seconds, it's very noticeable. It's not my internet connection, i'm 100% sure

Slow SSD speeds

Spoiler

Other interesting thing is according to CrystalDiskMark, i don't have the screenshot of it but i think it was sequential read and write; the SSD had around 830 MB/s in both, with multiple tests, which is great but it's far away from the advertised speed. This could be due to the M.2 slot on my motherboard, which i honestly can't confirm because neither the manual, nor the specs actually tell anyting. It only says that it's M-keyed (so it's PCI-E, afaik) and it supports 2242 and whatever card dimensions but it doesn't specify the PCI version or the number of PCI lanes available/used with the slot. Or if it does say, i'm sure as hell i couldn't find it

At this point i'm sure a very easy solution would be to reinstall Windows (again) but i really don't want to get through the hassle. Do you guys have an idea on what the hell is going on?

 

[AlphaLion]

Screw it, i reinstalled to 1809, the HDD led is still crazy but everything else is gone. Guess i'll ignore it