Random computer freezes after installing new SSD

[unknownHero]

Hi, as the title states I've been experiencing random freezes ever since I installed a Samsung 840 Evo 250gb SSD.

Prior to this my computer was working fine using a corsair 60gb SSD. I used the data migration software that came with the Samsung SSD to clone the original SSD that I had and everything seemed to be fine. That is until one time I was just checking some email and the computer just froze up. When I say freeze up I mean it doesn't go to a BSOD. It means I can't move the mouse, the keyboard doesn't work. I tried pressing ctrl-alt-delete, ctrl-shift-esc but nothing works except for a hard reboot. This has happened 3 times now and seems to be completely random so I am having a hard time trying to figure out what exactly is going on. Event viewer doesn't show anything that I've not seen before and only logs the unexpected shutdown case. The third time it happened seems the most bizarre in that the reset button failed to work and I had to hold the power button to shut the computer off. The fan in the case was also going like crazy.

At the moment I am seriously considering doing a fresh install but I am worried in case the SSD is at fault and that I may have faulty hardware and was wondering if there was anyway I could check to see if this is the case?

Samsung magician the software that comes with the SSD reports the drive health status as good so has anyone ever experienced anything like this before?

My Computer specs:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
CPU: Intel Core i5 760
Motherboard: Gigabyte H55M-UD2H
RAM: Corsair Dominator 8gb(2 * 4gb)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Case: Silverstone Sugo SG01
Power: Silverstone 750Watt

 

[bigmck]

Try putting the 60 GB SSD back in and see if you have any freezes.

 

[unknownHero]

I might try that but it seems highly unlikely that it will freeze since I have been running with the 60gb SSD for years and had no problems like this. It's only after I installed the Samsung SSD that I have encountered this. No other hardware has changed at all.

To me there are only 2 possibilities:

1. I have a defective SSD
2. The cloning process didn't work as well as it initially seemed

The only way I can test for option 2 would be to do a clean install and see if it freezes however as I said the freeze is random so I would just have to wait it out. It's been about 1 week between the 2nd and 3rd freezes.

 

[Ranger4]

Check that the SATA & power cables are properly plugged into the SSD & motherboard. Did you have to remove any RAM when fitting the SSD if so just check to make sure it is seating properly.

 

[unknownHero]

Already checked the SATA and power cables and they are fine. No other hardware was touched other than the disks. The way it is set up I only have to pull one disk out and put the other in, you don't have to touch anything else.

It just so happens that I've experienced the same type of crash again just a little while ago. The same thing as the 3rd time. Keyboard and mouse unresponsive, fan is going like crazy, reset button doesn't work. I let it run like this for a while to see what would happen, finally the computer made a beep and then reset itself.

I've already thought about overheating but I've never had these problems before with the 60gb SSD. CPU temps are usually around 35 - 40 degrees Celsius and about 60 - 65 under intensive use. This is the same for the GPU, usually the GPU fan doesn't really get going unless I'm running something intensive that makes use of the GPU like playing a game etc. In general the PC is probably around 40 degrees Celsius when just doing basic stuff like browsing the net, watching a movie etc

No idea what's going on, unless somebody on these forums has any idea what's going on then I'm preparing myself for a fresh install to see if that will solve the problems.

 

[bigmck]

I have used this imaging software without fail. I would at least give it a try before a Clean Install. Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download Be sure and make the boot disk.

 

[whs]

For cloning you could also try this - worked every time I used it.

Paragon Migrate OS to SSD - System migration to Solid State Drives (SSD) - Overview

 

[unknownHero]

Just want to update people on whats been happening.

I tried a clean install on the samsung and freezing still occurs so i thought there was a fault with the disk but I've now put the 60 gb ssd back and the computer still freezes.

Anyone have any idea what may have happened?

 

[whs]

Did you have a look into the Event Viewer. Maybe there are some clues.

 

[Golden]

I had a similar problem which I solved by power cycling.

To do this, I did the following:

1. Power off laptop, unplug power lead, and remove battery.
2. Press and hold down the on/off button for 30 seconds, then release
3. Disconnect the SSD
4. Press and hold the on/off button for another 30 seconds, then release
5. Reconnect SSD, reinsert battery, reconnect power lead.
6. Insert installation USB, reboot and install as normal

Ignore the battery step in the case of a desktop PC. Hopefully this helps.

 

[unknownHero]

@whs what would I be looking for?

Other than critical I have noticed this error

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk3\DR3

but not sure what this means.

The c drive is listed as disk 1 in computer management.

 

[whs]

Sounds like a static electricity problem.

 

[unknownHero]

I will try that golden.

Whs - I found out disk 3 is the external hard drive I have so thats not the problem. I do not think event viewer is going to be helpful in this situation.

As for the static electricity problem how can I be sure that is what the problem is and id it is what remedies are there?

 

[pscowboy]

Random freezes are most often the power supply. Even relatively new, they can develop a bad rail.

Swap out and see if the freezing stops. You could try borrowing a friend's, other than purchasing a new one. But I advocate having a spare to all my clients.

My next choice would be one of the ram sticks. Remove the one furthest from the cpu first. If the freezing stops, you have your answer. Still freezing, take out the one you initially left and put the other one into the closest slot to the cpu. I would not do this test until you rule out the ps.

 

[unknownHero]

Well after taking goldens advice, still using the 60gb drive I powered everything off and, took the power cables out and the sata cables and then reconnected everything. Windows loaded up and a message popped up saying it detected the disks on my computer and it seems everything is stable with the 60gb disk.

Having said that I'm not 100% sure, since freezes have been quite random. With this happening to the 60gb disk at least I can kind of rule out a faulty Samsung ssd. If I try the same thing when swapping the disks out it might work and be stable.

@pscowboy - I guess psu is a possibility but testing this out is going to be difficult, I don't have the money for a new psu after buying a new ssd nor do I know anyone who can give me a spare psu.

With regards to the RAM my own experience with RAM problems is that they tend to lead to BSOD rather than freezing the computer so I think it's unlikely to be RAM related.

 

[Golden]

Repeat the power cycling with the Samsung now. Lets see what happens.

 

[unknownHero]

@Golden - Yeah I'm going to try that. At the moment I'm continuing using this setup just to reassure me that everything is fine plus I need to do some work on a stable machine. It's been running for 2 days now just doing everyday stuff and I've not experienced a freeze yet so I'm quietly optimistic that it should work on the Samsung ssd too.

As an aside how did you come across this solution and why does it work?

 

[unknownHero]

Hi, just wanted to let everyone know that Golden's advice worked. I've got the Samsung SSD in the machine and everything seems to be running fine. The computer has been working for about 3 days and I've experienced no random freezes so far. Everything seems to be stable so I'm going to mark this as solved.

Thanks everyone.

 

[unknownHero]

Hi, unfortunately I'm going to have to reopen this thread since the computer froze yet again last night. At first I just noticed the mouse suddenly becoming unresponsive and then all of a sudden the computer froze. Mouse and keyboard didn't work. Luckily the reset button was still functioning this time so I hit it and windows let me know that the computer restarted unexpectedly.

Also I turned crash dump on and I got a dump file but I'm not sure what it means. I viewed it using WhoCrashed.

Here it is:

crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\121213-9250-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: [FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]ntoskrnl.exe[/FONT] (nt+0x75BC0)
Bugcheck code: 0x101 (0x31, 0x0, 0xFFFFF880009E8180, 0x1)
Error: [FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT[/FONT]
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: [FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]Microsoft® Windows® Operating System[/FONT]
company: [FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]Microsoft Corporation[/FONT]
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that an expected clock interrupt on a secondary processor, in a multi-processor system, was not received within the allocated interval.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

Anyone have any ideas what this could mean?

 

[whs]

Did you check in device manager whether any devices are flagged. Driver problems are difficult to tie down because there are too many.