Please help with repeated SSD failure

craig_uk

craig_uk

craig_uk

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3 Jul 2009
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I'm hoping that someone can help with an issue I've had over the past six months. In that time I've had three SSD failures and have decided that it has to be more than just bad luck. One was a Crucial drive and the others Kingston and corsair. They have all failed in the same way which is failure to be detected by the BIOS at power on. They haven't all failed at power on, at least two failed whilst the os was up and running.

I'm running an Intel i5 on an Intel MB,16gb of ram and a first generation Radeon PCI express graphics card. I also have a 1tb 3.5" sata drive fitted to the system. To date no other components have failed, just the SSD's.

I'm thinking it must be the power supply or motherboard. I obviously don't want to change anything I don't need to. I'm thinking that the PSU is the obvious culprit but if that's the case why is it only affecting the SSD and no other components? Can it really be an issue with the mb causing damage over the sata link, if so then why isn't the other drive affected?

Thoughts please.
 
First I would change the sata cables, if it still happens I would look at the motherboard. Bios update on the motherboard might help. Still no joy then I would still put it down to the motherboard and not the psu.
 
Thanks, I've already tried a different port but still using the same cable. Any reason why you think it's possibly the board rather than the PSU?
 
I think that I'll try a new PSU and sata cable as it'll work out cheaper than replacing the motherboard. I've been wanting to upgrade my gfx card too which will need a higher rate PSU.

On the gfx card front, what's the best I can buy on a £150 budget? Thinking of getting a radeon R9 280 with 3gb of memory. Or can I get better for my budget ?
 
I would try different sata data cables, just the bog standard ones without the metal clips.

Had a few problems like this myself and found the clips on the cables just do not work well with SSDs.
 
What mobo do you have and which bios version do you have installled?
Have you looked at updating your mobo drivers, depending on how old your board is, especially sata.
As already suggested, could be a dodgy data cable or port.
 
I've got an Intel DH55TC motherboard, latest BIOS and have been using the standard Win7 and Win8 drivers. Have had failures with both operating systems. The system is all running as standard with no overclocking. I had hoped with an Intel CPU and board the thing would be rock solid.
 
Did you do any health checks on the ssd's?
What Psu do you have? Install HWMonitor and see if your voltages are within their tolerances. Although I doubt it is the Psu, as the ssd only needs a few volts. If you have not already, try using a different sata power cable to the one you are using now.
You could also look in your event logs for the times your system failed to detect the ssd.
Check your manual or bios for any settings for ssd installation.
 
Hi, the dead SSD's were all RMA'd and replaced so confirmed dead by the supplier. I'll check the power supply voltage in the BIOS to see if it looks stable. I'm thinking that power spikes may be to blame rather than too little power as I know that SSD's don't draw much current.

Can't run any windows programmes at the moment as I have no os drive and want to get to the bottom of the problem before installing a new drive.
 
The only common component with all the failures is the PSU. What PSU do you have and was it new when you bought it and how old is it. In my experience your PSU is the most important component and if you have an old house with old wiring and you get surge spikes and your PSU can not filter them fast enough your most sensitive devices will go first, i.e. the SSD.

I take it you have done all the usual post SSD implementation changes like switching off Defrag and all that? Continuous defrag will eventually kill your drives.
 
GodMac said:
The only common component with all the failures is the PSU. What PSU do you have and was it new when you bought it and how old is it. In my experience your PSU is the most important component and if you have an old house with old wiring and you get surge spikes and your PSU can not filter them fast enough your most sensitive devices will go first, i.e. the SSD.

I take it you have done all the usual post SSD implementation changes like switching off Defrag and all that? Continuous defrag will eventually kill your drives.
Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing something helpful out, just checked windows 7 and it had auto defrag set. I wasn't aware that windows scheduled a defrag, thought that it was still only done manually.

My PSU is a cheap 750W CIT so that's why it's going in the can. What makes of PSU are regarded as good makes? As you know high price doesn't always equate to good!
 
win7/8 will automatically set defrag off for ssd's,it will only defrag hdd's

good psu's are seasonic one's,xfx use seasonic internals aswell

could be psu or could be down to badluck with those drives,though the crucial one should be more reliable than the others

try crucial mx100 or Samsung evo next time for an ssd,they are #1 for reliability

what motherboard you using?
 
wazza300 said:
win7/8 will automatically set defrag off for ssd's,it will only defrag hdd's

good psu's are seasonic one's,xfx use seasonic internals aswell

could be psu or could be down to badluck with those drives,though the crucial one should be more reliable than the others

try crucial mx100 or Samsung evo next time for an ssd,they are #1 for reliability

what motherboard you using?
Click to expand...

I'm using an Intel DH55TC with an 1156 socket i5. The plan was all should be rock solid using an Intel setup! Just ordered a seasonic PSU along with a new gfx card. Will RMA the drive.
 
wazza300 said:
are you on latest mb bios aswell? might help with ssd detection at startup
Click to expand...

I thought I was on the latest BIOS revision until I checked earlier today when I found out I wasn't, now updated. So between an updated BIOS, new sata cable and new PSU hopefully that'll be the end of it. With an 1156 socket board if I wanted to change it it would end up being a new board and CPU.
 
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