Urgent request for help :( Need help diagnosing a problem.

[TheBigCheese]

Hi guys

I think it's the motherboard at fault - it's a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 - short summary of the problem:

Short version
Problems last few days/weeks - crashes etc.
Today booted and SSD (boot drive) not showing
Checked the cables and rebooted
Now x4 drives in channels 0 & 1 aren't showing
Motherboard knackered?

Long version

For the past few weeks my PC has been acting a bit weird, slowing down, mouse laggy (wireless), eating up all available RAM etc...I've been getting BSODs occasionally.

A couple of days back Windows deactivated itself and I've had consistency checks on drive C when it boots occasionally.

I was *going* to reformat thinking it was a knackered Windows setup but I haven't had time yet.

I've switched it on this morning to find a BSOD "A process crucial to system operation has been unexpectedly exited or been terminated".

So I reboot and it says "Invalid system disk..."

I checked the BIOS and found it was showing NONE on master boot drive. I thought my SSD cable had come loose in the heat (or it had died)...checked the cable and rebooted...

This time Channel 0 and 1, both master and slave are showing empty - four HDDs gone, I've rechecked the cables and rebooted - same thing.

Seeings as four drives have disappeared and I can't even get into Windows it must be a hardware fault, as it's not just the SSD not showing am I correct in thinking that the motherboard has developed a fault?

If so what new one should I get? Waiting for an RMA isn't an option.

My specs are:
I'm on the 1136 layout
i7 920 (stock)
x1 Nvidia GTX 570
7 internal HDDs
x1 PCI-X TV tuner card

I'd like something reliable, stable, fully driver supported and if possible with a couple of eSATA connectors. I *won't* be overclocking - it's a work and home machine so it needs to be stable over anything else.

 

[IPAddis]

Is your PSU definately OK? It does sound like a Mobo fault.

 

[TheBigCheese]

That's a good question, it's the one thing I always forget about (except for when a Corsair 620 exploded on me!), it's an Enermax 850W modu 82+...I haven't seen any signs of problems.

When the computer was working yesterday I was recoding HD footage so it was drawing significant power and it was rock solid so I doubt it would be the PSU.

The drives that have disappeared are on two separate modular power cables so that rules out one cable fault and all the fans and GPU switch on successfully, so I doubt it really.

 

[TheBigCheese]

Bit of an odd update...

I removed the SSD from the motherboard and put in a standard 1.5TB blank HDD into the main boot SATA slot to see if the problem replicated.

When I booted it read the 1.5TB straight away AND the other three drives that previously couldn't be seen either...

Is it a motherboard problem or is it an SSD problem? If it's a motherboard problem why has it worked again with a different drive, if it's an SSD problem why is it knocking out three other drives as well???

I'm attaching the SSD to another machine as a standard data drive to test it...

 

[TheBigCheese]

It seems like the SSD is well and truly sunk...nothing firing on it, it's not being picked up in Windows, it's not visible in disk management, for all intents and purposes it's dead Jim...

Don't understand why it was causing the motherboard not to detect other drives on the original machine but it's certainly not working now I've tried it on machine 2.