Why does my Dell Latitude randomly lose the SSD after crashing?
Asked by
MellowCedar42
I'm using a Dell Latitude 7390 that was passed down from work. It has a replacement battery and an SSD moved over from another laptop. During normal use, it occasionally crashes with a message saying the system encountered an error and needs to restart. After rebooting, it reports "no bootable devices found," but turning the laptop fully off and powering it back on usually makes Windows start normally again. Could the SSD, its connection, or something else be failing? I need to keep the laptop reliable for biology classes.
Answers
The SSD is the most likely problem, either because it’s starting to fail or because its connection is intermittent. Shut the laptop down completely, reseat the SSD, and make sure the connector and retaining screw are secure. Then run Dell’s built-in hardware diagnostics by pressing F12 during startup and selecting Diagnostics. Check the drive’s health and back up your classwork immediately. If the issue continues, test with a known-good SSD; if that drive also disappears, the laptop’s connector or motherboard may be at fault.
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MellowCedar42: Would testing with a spare SSD be the best next step? I really need to get this working reliably.