Question Windows eventually stops recognizing drives

[adapt132]

I've been having a somewhat specific issue that I haven't found anything about online. Recently I upgraded my PC and the specs are currently the following:

Motherboard: Gigabyte H470M K
Hard Drive: WDC WD10EZEX
SSD: KINGSTON SNV2S250G
CPU: i3 10100F
GPU: GTX 1650


This setup has been having problems essentially since day 1. After some time, it seems like windows will stop recognizing the drive. Attempting to open disk management (or things like Hard Disk Sentinel) results in them freezing. During this time, almost nothing can be launched. The only thing that seems to fix it is rebooting the PC, which makes it work for a few days again. Shutting down the PC when it's fine usually results in this state upon the following bootup. Lately - it's gotten worse.

Occasionally, the HDD will reappear on the Task Manager window. It will be pegged at 100% usage and sometimes display an MS of >10000.
Any sort of software such as Hard Disk Sentinel or Crystal Disk Info shows that the drives have "flawless" health, though obviously there is some issue somewhere. Could it really be an issue with the motherboard?

A few weeks ago, the PC froze on boot - it wouldn't even post. After some time, it "sorted itself out" (sorry, I don't know how else to describe what happened). The BIOS itself then refused to recognize either drive as a boot drive, but it did say they were there. The only thing that fixed it was turning on Secure Boot.

Now, only after an hour or two, Windows doesn't recognize either drive. This makes the PC entirely unusable. I did a power cycle and this seemed to have fixed it temporarily, thereby allowing me to post here, but it will probably spiral back out of control soon. Any help is highly appreciated. Thank you!

If you need any additional info, please do let me know - I just want this headache to end and I will gladly cooperate to that end

EDIT: correcting spelling errors and adding additional info

 

[rocktalkrock]

Have you run the Kingston SSD Manager software to see if there are any firmware updates for your boot drive?

 

[adapt132]

Hey! Thanks for the suggestion. I installed it and there was in fact a firmware update, which was completed successfully.

Unfortunately this did not alleviate the Hard Drive problem. This is the only thing I can see as far as the HDD goes. I wish I could send images of Disk Management but I cannot while it's in this state. I will do so if I can.

https://imgur.com/a/LO0AphF

View: https://imgur.com/a/LO0AphF

 

[rocktalkrock]

Have you tried looking in Windows Event Viewer?
Have you looked in Device Manager for any yellow warning signs?

 

[adapt132]

Another power cycle has restored functionality for the time being so I can send all necessary screenshots.

https://imgur.com/a/vC1NI2o

View: https://imgur.com/a/vC1NI2o

https://imgur.com/yIIcTOV

View: https://imgur.com/yIIcTOV


There a LOT of errors in the Event Log - too many to post a singular screenshot of, but I will describe some:

Every minute that the PC is running seems to report an event 129 (Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued)
disk Event 153 every few minutes (The IO operation at logical block address...)
Distributed COM error every hour or so (The server {...} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.)

(Most of these seem to have DISK 0 as the "location" where the error took place)

Finally, there are a few critical unsafe shutdown errors. Unfortunately that much can't be helped - I have to shut down the PC by holding down the power button.

Thanks again for your help - let me know if you need any more specific information

 

[rocktalkrock]

Could you identify the RAM and power supply in your PC?

 

[adapt132]

The power supply is a Deepcool unit, and I believe it's the DE580 model.

RAM: Netac Shadow RGB DDR4-3200 16GB (8GB x 2)

 

[rocktalkrock]

The power supply is a Deepcool unit, and I believe it's the DE580 model.

RAM: Netac Shadow RGB DDR4-3200 16GB (8GB x 2)

The Specification page for your motherboard shows memory support for 10th Generation Intel i3 processor is up to DDR4 2666 MT/s. If your are running your RAM at 3200 MHz that could be causing stability issues.

 

[adapt132]

The Specification page for your motherboard shows memory support for 10th Generation Intel i3 processor is up to DDR4 2666 MT/s. If your are running your RAM at 3200 MHz that could be causing stability issues.

Good evening. I apologize for not responding sooner, I decided to give the solution you provided a few days before my next reply.

I thought I had the "RAM running at faster-than-supported speeds" thing sorted but apparently not. Whoops!

Unfortunately the issue I've been describing persists. Intermittently the PC will remain turned on and in Windows but the OS will lose access to both drives. Sometimes, they will "return" - other times, they will not. Sometimes only the SSD will return, and the Hard Drive will have the issues I was describing previously. I'm at a loss, really, as the issue could be with the motherboard, windows or the hard drive, or all three at once. I do not have money to replace all 3 at the moment. I would be most grateful if you had any other suggestions. Thank you for your help so far.

Regards

 

[rocktalkrock]

You said in your original post that you upgraded your PC and the setup has been having problems essentially since day 1. What were the specific upgrades you made at that time?

If the problems now appear after only an hour or two, have you tried running the PC with the WD HDD disconnected to see if the problems still appear?