Weird Issue - Do you think I have a hardware issue?

JEB · 7 May 2011 at 13:40

I have a Asus P8P67-M Motherboard. A OCZ Vertex 2 SDD drive booting Windows 7 Ultimate, and a Samsung 1TB HDD for my data.
The rig has been running perfect for about 6 months, but a few mornings ago I went to the PC and it had blue screened. When I managed to get logged back in I found that the Samsung drive was not showing. Turned out the drive was fried - couldn't even see it in the bios.

I took the opportunity to do a brand new install of my OS on my SDD as I have accumulated a lot of old rubbish on there and it was a good chance for a re-build.

Loaded my OS and all my programmes etc with just the SDD in place and all is working fine with excellent performance.

Now comes the problem - I added a brand new Samsung 1TB HDD - activated it and went to move My Documents onto it. System froze, display driver stopped running and I eventually had to disconnect and re-boot. Every time I add the new Samsung to the system it freezes and hangs up.

This seems too much of a coincidence. 1st a blue screen that cooks the first Samsung HDD, and now adding a brand new disk on a fresh OS build is giving issues.

If the Samsung is removed and I just run the SDD with data etc on it, not a problem. I can also transfer data fine onto a NAS unit. I am beginning to think I have a potential MOBO issue.

Anyone got any views\ideas on this? I am beginning to think I may go buy another Mobo and just oncase :mad:

stulid · 7 May 2011 at 13:42

Mobo.

Similar? - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18271469 - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261244

Plec · 7 May 2011 at 13:46

JEB said:
Now comes the problem - I added a brand new Samsung 1TB HDD

I had to update the firmware on my Samsung F3 to get it to work properly on my MSI p67 - it has known issues with some p67 motherboards.

The firmware is found on the Samsung site - but you have to flash it from a bootable USB/CD.

Surveyor · 7 May 2011 at 14:01

Here's the firmware update for the Samsung F3:

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=308

Are you plugging the HDD into a SATA 2 or SATA 3 port?

I think the problem was using the drives in a SATA 3 port.

JEB · 7 May 2011 at 14:46

I am using the SATA 2 ports, and it worked fine for about 6 months until 2 days ago. I have checked and it is a Rev B2 board, and has V 0404 of the Bios. I notice the B3 boards are now out, and the newest bios is v 0805 so I will give that a try. What a pain in the butt!!
I will also try a firmware upgrade on the Samsung HDD to see how that goes.

Surveyor · 7 May 2011 at 14:51

JEB said:
I am using the SATA 2 ports, and it worked fine for about 6 months until 2 days ago. I have checked and it is a Rev B2 board, and has V 0404 of the Bios. I notice the B3 boards are now out, and the newest bios is v 805 so I will give that a try. What a pain in the butt!!
I will also try a firmware upgrade on the Samsung HDD to see how that goes.

If it's a B2 board you should get it swapped out for a B3.

There's always a chance your SATA 2 ports are failing.

JEB · 7 May 2011 at 15:02

Will Asus replace it before I send back the B2, as I'm going to be stuck with nothing otherwise.

Krislord · 7 May 2011 at 15:05

JEB said:
Will Asus replace it before I send back the B2, as I'm going to be stuck with nothing otherwise.

No.

Asus will send you a prepaid UPS label, you send the board back and they'll send you a new one via UPS. They ship the new ones as soon as they have received the old one, so maybe 4 days downtime.

Mine goes back on Monday.

Surveyor · 7 May 2011 at 15:10

JEB said:
Will Asus replace it before I send back the B2, as I'm going to be stuck with nothing otherwise.

No, otherwise they could send you a new one and you might not send the old one back.

MSI did an advanced or standard replacement.

With standard replacement you sent back the old motherboard and they sent a new one.

With advanced replacement you paid for a new motherboard and it was sent first. You installed your new motherboard and sent the old one back. When the old one was received your payment was refunded.

I don't think Asus do advanced replacement.

Here's the link to request a swap:

http://asus.co.uk/sandybridge_swap/

Here's a link to users experiences of the swap:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18250719

JEB · 7 May 2011 at 16:25

No joy with the 0805 bios. Think I will buy a B3 - RMA the B2, and just sell the one they return to me. I don't want to change Mobos and have to go through the pain of another windows and apps rebuild as it takes ages.
Thanks for the advice though.

Surveyor · 7 May 2011 at 16:50

JEB said:
No joy with the 0805 bios. Think I will buy a B3 - RMA the B2, and just sell the one they return to me. I don't want to change Mobos and have to go through the pain of another windows and apps rebuild as it takes ages.
Thanks for the advice though.

You wouldn't have to reinstall.

They swap for exactly the same motherboard, just with a new chipset, so you should just be able to plug everything in and carry on as before.

You'll have to reactivate Windows but that's just done over the net.

Plec · 7 May 2011 at 17:10

JEB said:
No joy with the 0805 bios. Think I will buy a B3 - RMA the B2, and just sell the one they return to me. I don't want to change Mobos and have to go through the pain of another windows and apps rebuild as it takes ages.
Thanks for the advice though.

Did you try the Samsung firmware update as you may still have issues with the B3 MB using the F3?

My p67 (although MSI) was a B3 revision and i still had to update the Samsung firmware to get the MB to recognise it properly.

Cr416 · 7 May 2011 at 21:59

lol Asus failed on the B3 Swap outs. Kinda glad I Went with Gigabyte as they swapped the board with a new one when I handed the old one in there and then.