Question Weird problem with Samsung SSD while gaming

[Smitywerben]

[Moderator edit to break up a continuous paragraph or text.]

Hi,

Since 3 or 4 days ago my NVME m.2 SSD (PM981a 1TB, which is an OEM Samsung SSD) started to disappear whenever I play a game like Overwatch 2 or Apex Legends, when it disappears it gives me this error while opening other files in the SSD : E:\ is not accessible.

A device which does not exist was specified. and this error in event viewer : Event 51: An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk2\DR2 during a paging operation

And after restart everything is back normal but strangely this only happens while playing games, it never happens when playing movie, copy large files into the SSD, copy large files from the SSD, or even stress test, when it crashes in games, the temperature is about 45c so it can't be that.

SSD has about 30TB total write, no errors in SMART, 99% health, I think I have had it for about 2 years and it never had any problem prior to this. even after moving the game files to another SSD when I start the game, the NVME one will disappear again even when both game files and steam/battle net launcher is somewhere else.

I have tried reinstalling windows, change to high performance power option, disable write cache for the drive, installing latest Ryzen chipset, latest BIOS, tried default BIOS settings with no XMP, windows 11 23H2,

I have done both chkdsk E: /f /r and sfc /scannow and they found no problems, I don't think I can update SSD firmware since it's OEM and Samsung magician does not support them.

Other PC parts : MB x570gt8 Biostar, Ryzen 3700x, RTX 3090, 2x16GB RAM, 870 evo (where windows is installed), 1TB HDD WD, 850W PSU.

Any idea how I can fix the issue ?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

And after restart everything is back normal but strangely this only happens while playing games, it never happens when playing movie, copy large files into the SSD, copy large files from the SSD, or even stress test, when it crashes in games, the temperature is about 45c so it can't be that.
Seems to me like the drive might be on it's way out. Cross reference the firmware on your SSD and the one listed here;
https://github.com/lolyinseo/samsung-nvme-firmware/tree/main/PM981a
I also see a firmware update option listed on Dell's site thought i have my reservations about that hence why I didn't list the URL here. If you can source another NVMe drive and see if the issue persists, it could very well be the motherboard's BIOS acting up.

latest BIOS
+
x570gt8 Biostar
BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time?

I see an RTX3090 listed in your specs. Is the SSD in question located underneath the GPU and in the path of the GPU's heat dump?

 

[Ralston18]

Event 51

Perhaps:

https://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/how-to-fix-a-steam-error-code-51/

 

[Smitywerben]

Event 51

Perhaps:

https://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/how-to-fix-a-steam-error-code-51/

Issue is not specifically related to Steam it happens even with clean reinstall of W11.

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

And after restart everything is back normal but strangely this only happens while playing games, it never happens when playing movie, copy large files into the SSD, copy large files from the SSD, or even stress test, when it crashes in games, the temperature is about 45c so it can't be that.
Seems to me like the drive might be on it's way out. Cross reference the firmware on your SSD and the one listed here;
https://github.com/lolyinseo/samsung-nvme-firmware/tree/main/PM981a
I also see a firmware update option listed on Dell's site thought i have my reservations about that hence why I didn't list the URL here. If you can source another NVMe drive and see if the issue persists, it could very well be the motherboard's BIOS acting up.

latest BIOS
+
x570gt8 Biostar
BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time?

I see an RTX3090 listed in your specs. Is the SSD in question located underneath the GPU and in the path of the GPU's heat dump?

It's AGESA ComboAM4v2 PI 1.2.0.B Update ( or version X57AGB06.BST).
Yes it's under the GPU, but the temperature doesn't really go that high while playing games, maximum of 45c, it would go way higher with CrystalDiskMark benchmark but still continued to work fine till I start a game.

 

[Ralston18]

Open the Disk Management window.

Expand so all can be seen.

Take a screenshot and post the screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com).

 

[Smitywerben]

Open the Disk Management window.

Expand so all can be seen.

Take a screenshot and post the screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com).

It's disk 2 in the picture :

 

[Ralston18]

This motherboard?

https://www.biostar-usa.com/upload/Manual/X570GT8_190705(EN+CN).pdf

Verify that I found the correct manual.

First review the entire manual and then take a closer look at how the expansion slots are filled and configured.

Note the Storage and Expansion Slots specifcations on Page 5.

Also reference Chapter 2, Pages 13-14 for more details and information.

Do not know why E: would disappear (not accessible) during games.

However, the immediate objective is to ensure that the current configuration is supported.

Which drives are in which expansion slot?

Did you partition Disk 0? Or set the Drive letter (E on Disk 2?

Last and easiest:

Open Reliability History/Monitor and look for any error codes, warnings, or even informational events related to disk drives. Especially any that were logged just before or at the time the SSD became inaccessible..

You can take screenshot of that window and post if and as necessary.

Just as another means to help figure out what is happening.

 

[Smitywerben]

This motherboard?

https://www.biostar-usa.com/upload/Manual/X570GT8_190705(EN+CN).pdf

Verify that I found the correct manual.

First review the entire manual and then take a closer look at how the expansion slots are filled and configured.

Note the Storage and Expansion Slots specifcations on Page 5.

Also reference Chapter 2, Pages 13-14 for more details and information.

Do not know why E: would disappear (not accessible) during games.

However, the immediate objective is to ensure that the current configuration is supported.

Which drives are in which expansion slot?

Did you partition Disk 0? Or set the Drive letter (E on Disk 2?

Last and easiest:

Open Reliability History/Monitor and look for any error codes, warnings, or even informational events related to disk drives. Especially any that were logged just before or at the time the SSD became inaccessible..

You can take screenshot of that window and post if and as necessary.

Just as another means to help figure out what is happening.

It's the correct motherboard. 2 SATA port and one of the M.2 slots is filled, I haven't changed any of the internal parts for about 2 years and they were working properly since recently.
I haven't add additional partition for the faulty SSD since when I got it first, I think E was assigned by Windows itself, only my old HDD has different partitions.