My desktop is about 15 years old, though I've upgraded parts over time. About a year ago, the motherboard failed, so I replaced it with another board using the same socket and reinstalled Windows 10. The current system has an Asus Z97A motherboard, an Intel i7-4790K, 32 GB of Kingston RAM, and a 480 GB SanDisk Ultra II SSD.
Yesterday, Windows suddenly became extremely slow. Task Manager would not open, browser tabs stopped responding, and I could not restart normally, although an already-playing video and its audio continued working. I eventually forced a reset, and since then the computer will not boot into Windows.
The BIOS still detects the SSD in its SATA device information, but it does not appear as a bootable option. The only boot choices shown are the DVD drive and a separate data drive. Selecting the SSD through BIOS boot override only produces a blank screen for a few seconds. I have tried restarting several times, recovering the BIOS, and leaving the computer powered off for a few hours.
I also tested the system with the SSD disconnected, and it reaches the BIOS within a couple of seconds. Does this suggest that the SSD has failed, or are there other boot or hardware checks I should try before replacing it?
3 Answers
You can also troubleshoot with the minimum hardware connected: motherboard, CPU, one RAM stick, and the display. Confirm that the system reaches BIOS, then add the remaining memory and peripherals one at a time. Since it already boots to BIOS quickly with the SSD removed, the SSD, its SATA cable, or its power connection should be checked first. Try another SATA cable, another motherboard SATA port, and a different power connector before concluding the drive has failed.
Try booting from a Linux live USB or another rescue USB with the SSD disconnected and then connected. If the live environment works normally without the SSD but hangs or behaves strangely when the SSD is attached, that strongly points to a failing drive or a problem with its controller. It may also give you a chance to copy important files before the drive stops responding completely.
I’ll give a live USB a try. That should also help separate an operating-system problem from a hardware problem.
The SSD itself is the main suspect, especially since the system becomes responsive enough to enter BIOS quickly when the drive is disconnected. Connect it to another computer as a secondary drive, if possible, and see whether it is detected and whether the files can be read. If it is accessible, check its S.M.A.R.T. health information with a drive-monitoring tool such as CrystalDiskInfo. A drive of this age may simply have reached the end of its life.
That makes sense. I’ll try connecting it to another computer so I can check whether the data is still accessible and inspect its health information.
I’ve confirmed that it reaches BIOS almost immediately without the SSD. I’ll test another SATA cable, port, and power connector before trying to recover the drive or replace it.