SSD & HDD Both Failed?

[Severian]

Hi Guys,

Looking for some advice.

I built a completely new rig for myself around 16 months ago and the only real problem I have had (up until now) was an assumed power surge that fried the on-board sound on the MoBo necessitating me adding a sound card.

My Build:
Case - Corsair Carbide 500R
MoBo - Asus Maximus V GENE Z77
CPU - Intel Core i5 3570K
Memory - 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3
GPU - EVGA GTX 670 2GB
PSU - Corsair TX750
Cooling - Arctic I30
SSD - Crucial M4 128GB (Running OS)
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 2TB
Sound Card - Asus Xonar DGX 5.1
Optical Drive - Pioneer DVDRW
OS - Windows 7 Premium

---------------------------------

The Problem:
A week ago I decided to undertake some much needed cable management (something I had neglected since I first built the rig). I took all the necessary precautions (that i am aware of) - unplugged all peripherals, turned off and unplugged power supply, worked with an anti static wrist strap (I must admit that I did forget on occasion that I had unclipped the wire).

I unplugged everything from the MoBo other than the CPU and Cooler, gave everything a quick blast with an air duster, organized and routed the cables properly and then plugged everything back in.

Everything seemed to be working fine, the computer booted as it should.

Then, a couple of days ago, I went to open a program I have saved to the HDD but instead of popping open I got a message saying that the drive where this program is saved wasn't attached. I went to 'My Computer' and sure enough the only drive showing was the SSD.

I figured there must be a loose connection somewhere, so I booted down and proceeded to open up the case and make sure everything was secure and where it should be. After I decided all was as okay I booted back up but this time...nothing. The motherboard BIOS screen flashed past as normal but that was followed by a black screen telling me to plug in a drive and then hit enter. So at this point it seems the MoBo is not recognising the HDD or the SSD.

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What I Have Tried:
To begin with I started uplugging the sata and power cables and then refitting them, all just to double check that I hadn't left anything loose. No fix.

I went into the Boot menu in BIOS and all that was showing was the optical drive. The SATA config menu in BIOS showed no devices present.

I then got online with my old computer and started to google my problems but found no threads dealing with the specific issues I am experiencing.

I then did some cross testing.

I took the HDD from my old PC and attached it to my new PC using the New Sata cables and I got my new PC to successfully boot albeit Windows Vista wanted to go through a start-up repair.

I took the SSD from my new PC and plugged it into my old PC. Old PC would not boot and asked for a drive to be inserted. BIOS showed no drives attached.

I took the HDD from my new PC (no OS installed) and plugged that into my old PC. No boot and the BIOS again showed no drives attached.

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This has all left me scratching my head. If it is the drives that have failed what are the chances that both the SSD and HDD would kick the bucket at near enough the same time?What would cause the drives to fail in the first place? Have I completely missed an obvious step?

Thank you for taking the time to read and for any help you may be able to offer. Please accept my apologies for a lengthy post but I felt it best to supply as much info as possible.

Jack

 

[wazza300]

Leave the drives unplugged for a few hours then try,if you get them working make sure you flash the ssd to latest firmware,id also invest in a surge protector if your getting power surges,it could have happened again,the m4 will enter lock mode and leaving it unpowered should unfreeze it

 

[Severian]

Hi wazza300,

Thanks for the reply.

I left both the SSD and HDD unplugged last night, a total of around 12 hours.

Just tried them one at a time but no luck. The HDD doesn't even spin up.

Just to confirm that it isn't a problem with the MoBo or cables I have tried (again) my old HDD in my new PC. This spins up and boots.

I will definitely be investing in surge protection, although I was always led to believe most modern PC components have built in surge protection.

I have not heard of 'lock mode' before. But it seems that 12 hours unplugged hasn't fixed the problem.

I just can't get my head around why both the HDD and SSD would fail are basically the same point.

Any further thoughts appreciated.

Jack

 

[wazza300]

does seem strange that both should fail,the psu and some boards have built in protection

but I don't know how well it works ect,parts can still fail,cant think of anything else as to why both drives would fail at the same time

all you can do is rma them if still in warranty

you could also try a full cmos clear,motherboard battery left out a good 10-20 minutes then put back in and try,it will reset/lose any oc settings so make a note beforehand,can try with sata ports set to ide mode too,see if they get picked up in bios

 

[Severian]

Hi Mate,

I have done as you suggest and removed the motherboard battery, I haven't done any overclocking so no worries there. Popped it back in after about 20 minutes but no luck with either the SSD or HDD.

Went into the SATA config menu and changed the SATA mode from AHCI to IDE but still nothing.

I guess the fact my MoBo picks up my old HDD would suggest the problem is not with the MoBo/BIOS or faulty ports/cables.

The MoBo error code is currently reading 'A2' (Ide Detect). I personally don't know what this means. Can you make anything from that?

Thanks for your continued help.

Jack

 

[wazza300]

probably because its not detecting the hdd its halting at ide idk

sometimes a verybad crash will cause you to lose hdd's/detection and a cmos clear fixes it but even so its working fine with old hdd so should work with new

tried them on every sata port?

 

[barmyllama]

I'm having similar issues.

My HTPC was working ok until I decided to swap the Windows HDD for an SSD.

When it came to installing Windows 7, every storage HDD was detected, but the SSD wasn't showing up. So I removed the SSD and tried it in another machine and it was detected in the BIOS and by Windows.

So I tried it back in the HTPC in another SATA port with a different SATA and power cable and still no detection in the BIOS.

So I put it back in the other machine and installed Windows on it. I then put it back in the HTPC with all the other HDD's unplugged and the HTPC booted and loaded into Windows fine. As soon as I reconnected the other HDD's the HTPC stopped detecting the SSD and wouldn't boot Windows, nor was it detected in the BIOS.

I tired all the combinations of settings in the BIOS regarding the SATA settings and still the SSD wasn't detected. So I used the SSD in another PC and put the all the original HDD's back in the HTPC and connected everything back exactly as it was before. Now it doesn't even detect the original Windows HDD. All other drives, including the Blu-ray drive as detected, but not the Windows drive.

So I took the original Windows drive from the other machine that now has an SSD in it and tried that drive in the HTPC. Nothing, it's not detected in the BIOS at all in any SATA port under any BIOS settings. Yet both these HDD's work in other machines.

I've also removed the BIOS battery, cleared the CMOS jumper, formatted the HDD's in anther PC and done a lot of searching online

It's completely stumped me.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but has anyone else suffered similar issues?

 

[wazza300]

can try an overnight cmos/battery left out too,sometimes it needs that,plus leaving the hdd/ssd unplugged from any power overnight

then see what happens,if its not being detected it could also be poor bios support,so latest bios is essential

 

[barmyllama]

can try an overnight cmos/battery left out too,sometimes it needs that,plus leaving the hdd/ssd unplugged from any power overnight

then see what happens,if its not being detected it could also be poor bios support,so latest bios is essential

I could understand maybe the SSD not being detected from poor BIOS support, but all the original drives worked with the current BIOS. Now the drive that had Windows on it isn't detected all and neither is any other HDD that has had Windows installed on it, even if they've been formatted.

 

[wazza300]

idk ive never had that happen,i only had one issue where an m4 wasn't picked up on intel sata2 ports but was detected fine on sata3

i would try an overnight cmos clear then take it from there,a borked cmos would cause detection problems

 

[barmyllama]

Left the CMOS battery out overnight and disconnected motherboard from PSU and all the drives.

Powered up this evening and it detects one of the HDD's but not the other, yet the HDD it doesn't detect works in another machine.

 

[wazza300]

Something up with the board/cmos I reckon? Atleast one is now detected,Idk what to suggest other than another cmos clear or maybe reflashing the same bios again and loading optimised defaults in the BIOS

 

[jeffa123]

Sounds like a CMOS SMART failure to me. Check there is no dust under your MB causing a short on your Motherboard. Often when cleaning we don't clear dust in an enclosed area we merely move it somewhere else. Basic entropy.