Did my SSD drive die again?

[Skiz]

Oh, c'mon... I go in the office and turn on the PC, only to realize that it isn't fully turning on.

I press power and everything sounds normal. I hear the power supply going, the 120mm fans, etc. Again, sounds all normal. But then I quickly realize that my monitors aren't kicking on from their power save mode... neither of them. Since each monitor is plugged in to a different GPU, I can eliminate the possibility of one of those being the problem. My speakers are also just as I left them, turned on and fully functional, yet I never hear any sound at all, much less the Windows startup chime.

The PC is running and everything appears to be functioning power-wise, but it would seem that my Windows drive (the SSD) has gone kaput... AGAIN.

Anyone have a different theory before I call OCZ tomorrow to tell them what I think of their drives? :dry:

(I guess I could try a different drive on that SATA cable in order to eliminate the cable being the issue, but I'd say there's an almost 0% chance the cable is the problem)

[clocker]

The Vertex2 I RMAd a few months ago has disappeared and is being replaced yet again.
Casual perusal of their forum uncovers a rather disturbing trend of the Vertex to go paws up perhaps more frequently
than a normal person would consider reasonable.

Like, the Vertex seems to suck, apparently.

[tesco]

Nothing points to it being the SSD imo.
If you get nothing on the monitors, it could be almost anything, but I'm betting either a GPU or the motherboard.
Disconnect one graphics card, your hard/optical/ss drives, and try booting. If nothing, replace the graphics card with the other graphics card. If nothing, probably the motherboard...

[Cabalo]

If you don't even see the POST, my first guess is the memory sticks may be slightly displaced. It happened to me quite a lot in the past.

[clocker]

Nothing points to it being the SSD imo.

Skiz describes exactly what happens when an SSD fails...BIOS knows something is connected but can't figure out what it is and just hangs there, dithering.
Unplugging the drive should allow the system to POST and give the "No Operating System Found" message.

I've never seen RAM spontaneously unseat itself but in the interest of thoroughness, I guess it could be checked.

I'd actually suspect the PSU as the culprit if the SSD turns out to be fine.

[tesco]

Nothing points to it being the SSD imo.

Skiz describes exactly what happens when an SSD fails...BIOS knows something is connected but can't figure out what it is and just hangs there, dithering.Ah, I would expect it to at least show somethig on the screen.
Usually when teh BIOS starts detecting devices is after it checks CPU, GPU, RAM, etc. and startts to display something on the screen.
I guess we'll have to wait and see; skiz left us hanging. :(

[clocker]

Ah, I would expect it to at least show somethig on the screen.

You're right, I misremembered.
I did get a BIOS screen...it just hung at detecting devices.

I'm still thinking PSU.

Skiz, where you be?

[tesco]

Ah, I would expect it to at least show somethig on the screen.

You're right, I misremembered.
I did get a BIOS screen...it just hung at detecting devices.
That's exactly what happens with my dead hard drive.

[clocker]

So, OCZ is replacing my failed Vertex 2 30GB for the second time.
Their RMA procedure is a bit clunky but surprisingly fast (especially given the July 4th long weekend) and I should have it by the 12th.

Of course, I have no clue why/how the drive failed and am almost expecting this one to die again soon.
If it does I think I'll put the remaining 30GB drive in an external enclosure and use it as a super flash drive.
Then I'll start looking into other options for the OS.

[Skiz]

Sorry guys, been a bit busy playing host with some friends being in town.

I've got an RMA number, but I'm going to do some further troubleshooting based on what's been posted thus far. I'll post back with results, either way.

[Skiz]

Well, it looks like I jumped the gun on this one. :blushing:

Turns out it was my second 8800GTS that was malfunctioning. I never figured that would be the culprit with the symptoms I was getting. Remember, neither monitor was coming on and there was no Windows boot sound. Plus, the fans were running on all three GPU's so that furthered my confidence in them.

After reading the posts here, I decided to take the SSD to a friends house and plug it in. Lo and behold, it worked. I was totally confused. I double checked the GPU lights and fans and all looked fine, so I decided to try switching them around. Sure enough, I had one screen come on with Windows. After some more fiddling, it turned out that the second 8800GTS simply isn't displaying anything. While I'm happy the SSD is fine, now I'll have to spend $100+/- to replace the card. Although, being as I don't play video games anymore, I can prolly suck it for a year or so until I do an upgrade.

Anyone have a good 8800 GTS collecting dust? :whistling

[Skiz]

Good news it seems. I finally got around to looking at a replacement 8800GTS and realized that EVGA has a lifetime warranty on their cards as long as it was registered. RMA completed and sent off yesterday. :happy: