Strange SSD Issue - Help Appreciated!

[arty]

I have an OCZ 240gb Vertex 2 3.5" SSD in my PC. I was playing a game on it about half an hour ago when suddenly the computer froze up and would not respond to anything. I was button-mashing for a minute or two and then it restarted automatically (BSOD I guess?).

In the BIOS I saw that the SMART status of the OCZ drive was now 'bad'. Since then, Windows 7 will not load; it hangs immediately after POSTing and seems to be trying to access the disk for a good few minutes before giving up and restarting again. On the subsequent POST it cannot even detect the drive

I was wondering if OCZ offer some kind of CD-based diagnostic tool to help me establish whether there's a problem with the SSD or not, and if so whether it needs RMAing. I've had a look on their website but don't seem to be able to find anything like this, only firmware-flashing tools.

Could anyone recommend something I can boot from to check the drive? Many thanks

arty

 

[adrichardson81]

First step troubleshooting OCZ SSDs is to try it on a different sata port. It should be detected after that.

It's also worth looking at power - it really needs a dedicated SATA power line to be safe (mine was sharing with my case fans - problems cleared up when I stuck it on its own line).

Have you got a backup? If so, if it'll post try a secure erase and system restore.

 

[arty]

Hi, thanks for your ideas. I've tried the drive on all the SATA ports and with another SATA cable which I believe is fine, but it is no longer being detected at POST on any of them. The drive is on its own dedicated SATA power cable straight from the PSU so I doubt that's an issue.

Most of the PC is backed up as of a week ago fortunately, so I would try erasing / restoring if it were being picked up in the BIOS. As it now isn't I presume I wouldn't be able to do this. Apologies for my ignorance, I'm kind of new to SSDs

arty