I had a strange issue today where my computer randomly restarted and went straight to the BIOS screen. I noticed that my Samsung 990 Pro had vanished from the boot order, and even the LED wasn't lighting up. After testing it in a different computer, it powered on just fine. But now that I put it back in my original machine, it seems to be working again, though I noticed a clicking sound coming from the M.2 drive, similar to what I heard in the other machine. The LED on the M.2 is also blinking in strange ways. Is this a sign that the drive is failing?
2 Answers
It sounds like your drive could be overheating. Have you noticed if it gets really hot? If it’s touching 80 degrees while gaming, that might be a problem. Overheating can definitely cause issues like the ones you’re describing.
That sounds pretty hot for your setup. I've got a similar cooling arrangement with an NZXT case, so I’d expect better temps. Maybe there’s something off with your cooling or it could be just a failing drive.
You might want to consider getting that drive RMA'd. I had a Samsung SSD that did something similar—random BIOS crashes that started happening daily after a while. My temps were okay, and I thought it might be related to my device. Ended up putting it in a laptop where it didn’t get stressed too much, but the issues continued. Once I sent it back, the replacement has been solid so far!
I did feel it getting warm during bootup in the other machine. It might be due to the workload; I normally see it hit around 80 degrees in games like Space Marine 2. The restart actually happened when my computer was just idling, so that’s concerning.