I'm running into a frustrating problem where my two Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSDs keep disappearing, or as I call it, 'ghosting,' while playing games on Steam and Battle.net like CS2, R6, Warframe, and Overwatch. I use one SSD for my system boot and the other for games, but I keep getting errors like 'file not found' or 'device does not exist' when a game crashes. It doesn't completely vanish from my Device Manager or File Explorer, but I can't access any files. On top of that, it disappears from tools like CrystalDiskInfo and Samsung Magician until I restart my PC, after which it works normally—until I try to play a game again. Interestingly, it seems to only happen with specific games; titles from Epic Games Store and Ubisoft work just fine.
I've already tried a bunch of troubleshooting steps, including testing a SATA SSD, swapping hardware components, changing BIOS settings to Gen 3 mode, and even sending the drives back to Samsung for them to check. They returned saying the drives were fine. I installed an Asus TUF Gaming Z790-Plus WiFi motherboard, and everything seemed stable until I updated the BIOS. After the update, the ghosting issue returned, I rolled back the update, but the problem persists. I'm wondering if there are specific BIOS settings that might help prevent these SSDs from dropping connection during intense gaming. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
I had a similar issue when I built my PC. After getting a new motherboard, it turned out there were conflicts with drivers after updates. I ended up running the troubleshooter and set my apps to run as administrator, which fixed a bunch of problems for me. Might be worth a shot!
It sounds like a pretty annoying issue! First off, have you checked the PCIe power-saving settings in your BIOS? Sometimes those can cause issues with SSD connections under load. Also, make sure your Windows power profile is set to 'High Performance' to prevent any throttling that might lead to these drive errors. Lastly, do a full CHKDSK /R /F on your drives just to be safe! You might want to check your event logs for any disk errors too.
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