What Could Cause MY SSD Drive to Disappear from BIOS Boot Sequence?

[Qs Laptop]

OK, this was weird. I'm hoping with all the knowledgeable people here someone might have an answer.

Computer: Home built in 2014, ASRock Z87 Extreme4 motherboard, Intel i5-4670, 16GB Ram, Nvidia GEForce GTX 760 GPU, Sandisk 240GB SSD (Windows 10 is installed here) 136GB used, 1TB Seagate data drive, 56GB used.

Symptoms:
1. Computer would not boot properly. Computer would start to boot up for maybe 2-3 seconds, then power down. This would repeat a couple of times. If I got lucky the computer would not power down after 2-3 seconds, would boot up and eventually I would get to the Windows 10 login screen. If I got lucky with this boot up process, it would take about 90 seconds to get to the Windows login screen. Typically, when working properly the boot up process would take 20 seconds or so. With the lengthy boot up process I would get no POST beep codes.

2. Computer would not power down properly. It would just sit idling, no HDD shut down activity, HDD busy light would not flash. I would have to press and hold power button down for 5 seconds to get the computer to shut down.

What I did:

I cleaned the dust out of the box, from all fans, and from the CPU cooler. It wasn't that dusty, but as long as I had the case open...

I replaced the CMOS battery, hoping this would reset BIOS and allow me to boot the computer normally. This did not fix the problem.

I pulled RAM sticks, cleaned the edge connectors with a fresh pencil eraser and reseated them.

Pulled the GPU, reseated it.

Pulled all power cables connecting to motherboard, HDD's, and GPU and reseated them.

None of this fixed the problem.

When I had all power cables disconnected I tested the 24 pin motherboard power connector for proper voltage levels. All were within specs. Still, all these symptoms made this smell like a power supply problem to me.

I hooked everything back up and immediately after pressing the power button I pressed the CMOS reset button on the motherboard. This caused it to boot the computer, but in the slow, 90 seconds "lucky" method previously described. Still, it was something.

I restarted the computer, pressing the CMOS reset button again and this time I entered BIOS. I looked at the boot menu and was shocked to see the SSD drive, containing the Win 10 OS, was not to be found. The boot menu sequence was Windows Boot Manager, then 1 TB data HDD. I also noticed the POST beep sound was disabled. I put the SSD back in the boot sequence and enabled the POST beep sound.

Since then computer has been running normally. But...what caused the SSD to be removed from the boot sequence? Is it starting to fail? Should I replace it?

[SecondCor521]

Strange.

I used to work on SSD firmware, but not at Sandisk. But it's been years and I was not a particularly low-level guy - I read about how that stuff works but didn't deal directly with the hardware and firmware that implemented it.

My best guess is that either (a) when you reset the BIOS and/or (b) the problem originally started happening, the BIOS decided that the SSD shouldn't be in the boot sequence. It may have decided this because during the process where the BIOS is looking for (enumerating is the proper term IIRC) drives to find an OS to boot, the SSD wasn't responding properly on the ATA bus.

An SSD not responding properly during enumeration means that the drive is not sending back the proper electrical signals on the SATA bus at the proper time, or the proper values, or at the proper voltage levels. The enumeration process generally only happens on boot (or perhaps coming out of various low power modes, I can't remember).

It's rather unusual for the enumeration process to fail. We only saw it rarely, and usually in our compatibility lab and usually only with "weird" (i.e. new or unusual) hardware setups. Your standard Dell / HP / Apple systems all enumerated just fine all the time, and the components in your system don't sound strange to me - in fact I think we used ASRock boards in the office.

Sometimes systems were built in such a way that the timing by the host system were just on the hairy edge of complying with the ATA/SATA spec (I'm assuming you have a SATA drive), so sometimes they would fail. The most common symptom of this would just be the BIOS saying something like "boot drive not found" - not the stuff you're describing.

But that was my company's drives' hardware and firmware. Sandisk is probably similar but could be anywhere from somewhat to quite a bit different.

The slow Windows boot sounds like a different issue, honestly.

Probably the best advice I could give on whether the drive is about to fail is to use a SMART utility to read the drive's SMART attributes. They're the industry's answer to exactly this sort of situation. Then see if you can find documentation on your drive's specific SMART attributes and what they mean. (There are industry-wide standard SMART attributes that have common meanings, and then each manufacturer can (and usually does?) implement their own SMART attributes, sometimes with cryptic or non-published meanings.) Sandisk might offer their own SMART attribute utility / reader / data interpreter - you can use theirs or any free one out there; it's a simple ATA command.

If I saw any SMART attributes related to read/write failures of more than, like 1 or 2, or anything temperature-related, or data-retention related, yeah, I'd replace the drive ASAP - it's probably a (very rare) failure of the underlying flash memory chip and you could easily be headed towards a data loss of anywhere from a couple of bytes to the whole drive (depending on a lot of things). If the SMART attributes hint at anything else, I'd probably call Sandisk SSD tech support and ask them for help.

Depending on how much you value the information on that drive, it might not be a bad idea to take it to a different system, buy another SSD at least as large, and clone the whole thing over as a safety measure.

The other thought, is that if the drive is still under warranty - probably not, but maybe - you could return it and ask for a replacement or your money back. My company analyzed returns and we had some (handfuls out of millions) that were different varieties of hardware failures. We also had a larger number of "NTFs" - no trouble found, which meant the drive was fine but got blamed for some other failure the customer was experiencing.

HTH.

[ShokWaveRider]

I would remove the SSD put it into a USB Sata external Enclosure and plug it into another computer to see if it can be read. Just to prove the SSD is good. I always keep an enclosure around for this purpose, or to pre-load SATA disks.

[Helen]

This place is a wealth of information!

[Sunset]

I had a problem with my SSD not booting the machine, turned out the data cable was not plugged in the correct order. So it was looking to boot from another drive that was boot-able but had no OS.

I had caused this issue by removing my drives.

[SecondCor521]

Oh, Sunset's comment reminded me of something else - the SATA cable itself might be bad or going bad. Again not common, but you could try swapping the SATA cable out for another one and see.

Or have a Sandisk SSD hardware engineer come to your house with a bus analyzer and try to recreate the problem ;-)

[qwerty3656]

I have an old computer with a bunch of drives in it (poor mans server/backup). If I go to the boot section in the BIOS it only lists a few drives. I have to first go to the drive area in the BIOS and order the drives I want to boot to the top of the list.

[NW-Bound]

Back in the IDE HDD days, I often had hard drives disappearing or acting flakey. It turned out to be a bad connection. In those days, the ribbon cables had 40-pin connectors. Lots of pins for a chance of a poor connection.

SATA serial cables have fewer contacts, hence are more reliable. Still a bad contact can happen over time. Removing and reinserting the cable ends would get it working again.

This is also a common occurrence with the RJ-45 Ethernet cables between my routers, modem, and switches.

[BeachOrCity]

Once this is over consider getting a MacBook. The new ones are super fast run most all the regular sw and you will have far fewer issues.

I was a tech windows guy since it was invented. I made the leap in 2014. 1 day to get used to it and more productive after one week. Once I went mac I never went back

[Qs Laptop]

Thanks to all that responded, especially to SecondCor521 for the thorough answer.

I'm going to download Sea Tools, a disk diagnostic tools from Seagate. I didn't see an equivalent tool on Sandisk's website.

If that shows any problems I'll buy a new SSD and transfer the data and programs over to it. I can transfer Windows 10 and all my applications, correct?

ShokWaveRider, the SSD has performed normally since I restored it to the BIOS boot sequence.

Sunset, I didn't change the cable's order inside my computer so I don't think that's what caused the boot order to change.

qwerty, Setting the boot sequence was done when I built the computer. I've never gone in there and monkeyed with the boot sequence so I don't understand why it would be suddenly missing. My solution was similar to what you did--put the SSD drive to the top of the HDD list in the boot sequence. It's working just fine now.

NW-Bound, I did remove and reseat all SATA cables when I did the pin-out voltage test of the power supply.

SecondCor521, I don't think it's the SATA cable, but I suppose it's a possibility. Getting a Sandisk tech to come to my house? Likely not going to happen!

BeachorCity, My computer is a desktop, not a laptop, and I don't think I'll be getting a laptop (though I'm considering it.)

[SecondCor521]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qs Laptop I'm going to download Sea Tools, a disk diagnostic tools from Seagate. I didn't see an equivalent tool on Sandisk's website. If that shows any problems I'll buy a new SSD and transfer the data and programs over to it. I can transfer Windows 10 and all my applications, correct?

You should be able to, yes. Newer versions of Windows do various forms of hardware tethering with the CPU and the original SSD, but if you have a legitimate Windows copy it's got to be possible somehow. You might need to dig up your license key.

You'll either be able to clone the disk with a disk cloning tool (which may cause Windows to complain about licensing keys and such), or reinstall Win10 and all your apps on the new drive. I sometimes like to do the latter to clean out all the clutter I've accumulated over the years.

[Sunset]

I would clone the disk, much faster, and it's been years but when I did it with Window's it didn't complain as nothing else on the computer changed except the HD.

Could be an opportunity to move to a larger SSD. I'll admit when I did this with Ubuntu, it and an encrypted disk, it took a LOT of effort to get it to see the larger disk. I used clonezilla , maybe a commercial software does it easily. Often comes with the SSD.

[JoeWras]

Yes, clone it and move away from that SSD. It is 8 years old. SSDs fail. You likely have a lot of writes on it. Perhaps BIOS sometimes sees something weird and goes in a safe mode.

Don't mess around, save your data. When my SSD failed, it was flakey for a few days, and then it became a brick.

Here's my story and other's stories:

Primary SSD failed on my computer at 4 years

[Time2]

Just want to brag, I assembled my home built computer in 2011! It is still running flawless, Win 10 Upgrade went smooth a while back. I can't take the credit for my computer, I have a friend that did a bunch of research decided on parts and built his. I was in need of a new computer so I ask him to send me his parts list and I built mine with his chosen parts.
I keep telling my friend, I hope his computer gives up first, so he can put another parts list together before I need it.

[ShokWaveRider]

[QUOTE=Qs Laptop;2786954 I can transfer Windows 10 and all my applications, correct?[/QUOTE]

Yes, download Macrium Reflect Free. I have used it for years to restore my "C:" drive whenever I have any concerns. It is a very legit and reliable program.

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Time2 Just want to brag, I assembled my home built computer in 2011! It is still running flawless, Win 10 Upgrade went smooth a while back. I can't take the credit for my computer, I have a friend that did a bunch of research decided on parts and built his. I was in need of a new computer so I ask him to send me his parts list and I built mine with his chosen parts. I keep telling my friend, I hope his computer gives up first, so he can put another parts list together before I need it.

I caught the assembling a home built computer bug a long time ago. I used to go to these computer shows (don't see them around anymore) where vendors would sell their stuff (mostly hardware, some software). Kind of like a flea market for computers.

I'd be envious of folks who knew the difference between a hard drive and a modem (this was when I was a Mac Plus only, afraid to open up a computer case person). They'd talk about modem cards and motherboards and I didn't have a clue what they were talking about but sure sounded like fun. Once you open up the case, install something and that works, the bug has started .

[Time2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer I caught the assembling a home built computer bug a long time ago. I used to go to these computer shows (don't see them around anymore) where vendors would sell their stuff (mostly hardware, some software). Kind of like a flea market for computers. I'd be envious of folks who knew the difference between a hard drive and a modem (this was when I was a Mac Plus only, afraid to open up a computer case person). They'd talk about modem cards and motherboards and I didn't have a clue what they were talking about but sure sounded like fun. Once you open up the case, install something and that works, the bug has started .

My son in his 20s built a computer a few years after I built mine. He had a friend that had built his computer so the were working on the dining room table, I was near, at my computer desk, but I wasn't involved in the build. He was about to fire it up to hear the post, he was nervous and ask me if I was nervous, I said no, but I was nervous the first time I fired up MY computer! It fired up without issue.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Time2 My son in his 20s built a computer a few years after I built mine. He had a friend that had built his computer so the were working on the dining room table, I was near, at my computer desk, but I wasn't involved in the build. He was about to fire it up to hear the post, he was nervous and ask me if I was nervous, I said no, but I was nervous the first time I fired up MY computer! It fired up without issue.

Good to see.

In the past, I've fried a CPU or two during builds. This is before CPUs got smarter and self protected in case of overheating.

[Ian S]

I've used Hard Disk Sentinel for years to monitor my hard drives and SSD's. It's easy to see hard drive and SSD health and it will warn when there are problems and give info on what those problems are. It often goes on sale at BitDuJour.

[MC Rider]

Assembling the parts is not so hard, but getting the software to play nice and work makes me want to bang my head at times.