I built my PC about a year ago with 32 GB of RAM, an RTX 4070 Super, and an Intel i7-13700K. After moving from the Netherlands to Croatia and leaving the computer unused for the summer, I set it up with a new monitor and found that Windows 11 was extremely sluggish. Task Manager showed the system drive at 100% usage whenever I moved the mouse, despite each process using only around 0.1 MB/s. CPU and memory usage stayed low, while system processes showed response times between 700 and 1600 ms. Windows logs also contained many Event ID 129 warnings. Reseating the drive did not help. The drive is a Lexar NQ790 M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD installed in an MSI Pro Z790-S WiFi motherboard. Is the SSD probably failing, or are there troubleshooting steps I should try before replacing it?
2 Answers
Boot from a separate Windows PE or Linux environment and see whether the computer is still slow. If the lag disappears, the issue may be Windows or a driver; if it remains, that points more strongly to the drive or another hardware component. In this case, replacing the SSD resolved the performance problem, so the original drive was likely failing. Before doing anything intensive, prioritize copying important data to another drive and avoid repeated repairs or writes that could make recovery harder.
The exact SSD and motherboard models matter here. Try installing the SSD in another M.2 slot, or test a known-good drive in the same slot to determine whether the problem follows the drive or the motherboard. Checking the SSD's health and error data with CrystalDiskInfo would also be useful.
I couldn't get CrystalDiskInfo installed because the system freezes every few seconds. The drive is a Lexar NQ790, and the motherboard is an MSI Pro Z790-S WiFi.
It turned out to be the SSD. I installed a new one and the computer is working normally again. Now I just need to find the safest way to back up the data from the old drive.