Question WD_Black SN850X SSD disconnects

[blueriver]

I recently installed a WD_Black SN850X 1TB SSD. All was working fine the first time I turned on my computer following the installation. After the first restart, it was no longer found - it did not show in file explorer or disk management. If I remove the power cable from my computer, the SSD will then show up in disk management the next time I turn on the computer. It doesn't disconnect during use, only when I turn off the computer. Is there anything I can do to stop this happening? I'm not sure how to troubleshoot the issue, given that it does show up again if I remove the power cable

PC:
MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON MAX WIFI Motherboard
Seagate BarraCuda 2TB SATA III 3.5" HDD
Gigabyte AORUS P750GM 750W Modular 80+ Gold PSU
Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 SSD
HyperX FURY RGB 16GB (2x 8GB) 3200MHz DDR4 RAM
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB OC GPU
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8GHz 6 Core (Socket AM4) CPU

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you install ANY other M.2 drive in the same slot you are trying to use the SN850x in, do you have the same issue, or no?

What is your currently installed motherboard BIOS version?

How old is that P750GM, exactly, as there were some bad versions which reviewers found to explode during testing, and revised versions which do not have that problem BUT which have a laundry list of other potential issues including poor transient response, not being compatible with the alternate sleep mode and other issues like too high inrush current and poor performance in general. That's based on Aris reviews for Tom's hardware as well as similar results from other reviewers at TechPowerUp and GamersNexus as well.

Also, WHICH SATA port, exactly, is your 2TB SATA drive connected to.

 

[blueriver]

Thanks for the reply. Will try a different SSD at the weekend (don't have one to hand myself but can borrow).

My bios is v2.6, I think it will be out of date - the versions on the website don't match up (they are all 7B85vXX), but I got the motherboard in 2021 and they have released updates since then: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450-GAMING-PRO-CARBON-MAX-WIFI/support). Feel a bit nervous about updating it though

Bought the PG750GM in June 2021, serial number for it would have been covered under the return/exchange service listed here: https://www.gigabyte.com/Press/News/1930 (although guess I'm outside the window for that now, had no clue about this). Is this likely to be the cause? My PC is still covered by its warranty so if iut is likely I can contact the company - just reluctant to have to send my PC back and be without it for a few weeks if this is something I can fix myself (will try putting in another SSD first). Although perhaps going to cause myself issues down the line if I don't get this fixed now even if it isn't the cause of this particular issue.

Looks like it is in SATA ports 3-4

 

[fzabkar]

Does BIOS have a Fast Boot option that can be disabled?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Does BIOS have a Fast Boot option that can be disabled?

This is a fair point too, but be sure not to confuse the boot option of "fast boot" with what many boards ALSO have, which is the "memory" option of "fast boot", as they are entirely different things. They do some similar things, but are different.

 

[blueriver]

I don't think so, the only option I could see under bios is memory fast boot. Although the new SSD did show under bios, and it then appeared in disk management when I restarted without me needing to pull out the power cable (but has gone back to not appearing when I turned the PC off)

 

[fzabkar]

My theory is that, if the BIOS is forced to test RAM during the POST, this may give the SSD more time to come ready. The assumption is that BIOS is now timing out while the SSD is executing its own internal POST.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Why would that happen unless there was an issue with the drive itself, or the board? Serious question, not being disagreeable.

 

[fzabkar]

I don't know what happens in SSDs, but I assume that the firmware must assemble the Flash Translation Layer so that it can map logical blocks to physical blocks. Perhaps it needs time to do this, especially after a power loss event or improper shutdown. In fact, one of Crucial's blogs advises the user to let the SSD sit idle in the powered-on state if it fails to be identified, presumably so that it can repair itself.

You can see what is happening in a HDD at power-on by observing the diagnostic report via the UART interface. Some SSDs have a similar feature. Seagate HDDs, for example, will remain BSY while they are dealing with pending firmware issues during their POST ("InitiateMarkPendingReallocateRequest").

https://blog.acelab.eu.com/how-to-fix-bsy-problem-hdd-freezing-at-old-seagate-drives.html

https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?p=183564#p183564 (example)
https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?p=180297#p180297 (example 2)

Why a SSD Crashes? Analyses and Solution:
https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/why-a-ssd-crashes-analyses-and-solution

 

[Darkbreeze]

I would like to, because I believe it to be true to my "feelings", lol, but cannot refute your thoughts because I have no reason to, which is weird because usually I can find something that is not recommendable to the casual user that you've said "hey, try this". Not that I am looking for that at all, because we both know if I was, it would have found fruition long ago. This is why I question you on things. It's because "YOU" know how a certain thing should happen, but most do not. In fact, mostly, I do not, for these specific types of recommendations that you generally offer. They are definitely not for the average user, even though I know YOU think the average user can take your instructions and easily translate them into " figured it out", but I'm reallly doubtful on that. That does NOT mean that I find it useless for those of us who DO somewhat have an idea about, and tools to do, particular things.

I just feel like maybe you also assume almost everybody either has or has access to, those selfsame things, but I feel like that probably is NOT true for the majority of our visitors. More is the pity.

 

[fzabkar]

I find it hard to dumb things down because I fear that I may come across as patronising and trivial. I always try to provide authoritative references because I don't expect people to take my opinion as gospel. Crucial's blog tells you what to do but doesn't provide an explanation, so I didn't bother looking for it. Perhaps I will next time. Maybe they know what people want.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Hmm.

 

[blueriver]

In case anyone finds this thread - there was a fault with the SSD card, having bought a new one (WD Black SN850X 2TB) it now works fine. Thanks all for the help with this (I also replaced my power supply under the warranty, so thanks for pointing out there was an issue with it!).

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, six months later, lol, glad to hear it though. Good luck man.