I put together a new PC just two months ago and everything was running smoothly until this morning when Windows stopped recognizing my NVME drives—one for Reaper and the other for my music library. I suspected it might be a glitch from a Windows update since my main drive with the operating system, which is the same model, is still functioning perfectly. After spending hours troubleshooting, I've come to the conclusion that both drives are completely dead; they don't show up in the BIOS or Windows at all—it's like they're not even there. I also noticed that when I turned my computer off and unplugged everything for 5 minutes, the motherboard and case LEDs stayed lit. It was only when I unplugged the DisplayPort from my monitor that all the lights went off, which seems odd. This makes me wonder if the monitor might have supplied some kind of voltage that could have damaged my drives. Any thoughts on whether this extra voltage could have caused my drives—and also my graphics card—to fail?
1 Answer
Hey, do you have heat sinks installed on your NVME drives? If you do, try taking them off and check for any signs of oil seepage from the thermal material. That oil can be conductive and may lead to a short circuit, which can take out your drives. Clean any oil you find and give your PC another go. It might just save the day!
I do have heat sinks from the motherboard, but I don’t see anything that looks off on the drives. They’re shiny under light, but I tried wiping them with a paper towel and didn’t get anything out. Wish it was that simple!