SSD disconnects in Windows 7 and BSOD

Well, I've been trying to resolve this issue for 2 days now with no luck at all. This just happened suddenly while I was using the laptop and hasn't stopped since. No new programs were installed, no new drivers, etc. Was just working and wham!

The problem is my SSD, which is my primary drive, will unmount causing an eventual BSOD. It's eventual because Windows will still attempt to read/write data until it eventually crashes, BSOD. Once on the desktop it's just a matter of time, which various, that it will occur. This is usualy within 30mins however. Once it does and reboots it gets stuck at the BIOS screen where you see the Alienware logo. I then have to manually power down the laptop and power on again for it to boot properly. And yes, the SSD is recognized by both BIOS and Windows until the next failure.

I have multiple errors pointing to the SSD,

1. fail to write to SSD
2. monitoring/checking deice manager
3. I/O read/write failures
4. Using file manager to view the drives where C is missing

I've done quite a bit to try to resolve this including Googling for any additional info but all have thus far failed. Here's what I've tried so far,

1. Make sure SSD is prevented from sleeping
2. Updating to latest firmware
3. Fresh install of Windows with new partitions
4. temperature monitoring, all < 70
5. Checked disk for bad sectors, no errors
6. Checked memory, no errors
7. Reseated SSD and HD
8. Reseated CPU for the heck of it

I have a spare HD lying around so I will be giving this a shot shortly here. My hope is that it is the SSD and hopefully not the motherboard. My question and reason for posting this here is whether some of you might have experienced this or better yet might have other suggestions I could try. Thanks in advance.


Andrew,

 

I'm no expert on this issue but I love troubleshooting so I thought I'd chip in a little.

1. Have you tried using both drive bays, and have you faced the same problems, if so?
2. Do you have AHCI enabled, and did you install your Windows with AHCI enabled?
3. Have you tried using another drive and better yet, another SSD? This would identify if its the motherboard itself or just the drive.

I'm assuming your drive is at fault here (I certainly hope so since that will save you a lot of trouble) and hopefully the experts on the forums can help you out. I have no trouble running 2 drives on my R4, an SSD and the stock hard drive. By the way, which SSD are you using?

 

I think I can safely report that it is indeed the SSD that is dying out on me. I've tried 32bit Win7 and still had the same issues and just now been running Win7 64bit on my old 5400RPM 60gig drive with no crashes. Keep in mind I've been reading up on the issues and using some of the advices posted there, hence the 32bit windows and such.

I'll post if it happens again, otherwise it's as good as solved. Now to find a new SSD and yay for price drops lately And no, I can't get use to the 5400 RPM drive as my primary, everything is slow hahaha