Random computer freezes after installing new SSD

[unknownHero]

Arc - you're taking this a bit personally. All I said was that some of the advice you gave I had done. I'm not sure what the problem is. Anyway let me try to recall all the steps that I have taken and some of the tests that I have already carried out so that everyone is on the same page.

1. cloned corsair f60 ssd to samsung 840 evo.
2. took corsair ssd out. put samsung ssd in.
3. computer freezing occured. thought it was a problem with the cloning.
4. did a fresh install on the samsung 840 evo. Problem still exists.
5. put the corsair ssd back in and thought everything was ok. freezes occured including a BSOD.
6. cloned the corsair to samsung 840 evo.
7. put the samsung back in. problem still persists
8. checked sata and power cables.
9. checked for unseated ram.
10. updated the firmware on samsung ssd and updated the bios from F9 to F11.
11. installed intel rapid storage drivers.

Tests carried out:
Ran sfc scannow - no integrity violations found on Windows.
Ran TDSSKiller - no problems detected.
Hot cpu tester 4 - ran for 6 hours, no errors reported.
Windows memory diagnostic standard test - no errors.
Windows memory diagnostic extended test - no errors.
memtest86 5.01 - ran for about 7 hours 5 passes made - no errors.

Tests I haven't done include checking the power supply but may have found a way to do this by buying a power tester unit.

Temps 35 degrees celcius to about 45 degrees celcius for all cores at idle or doing browsing etc.
Gpu temps 30 degrees celcius at idle.
Temps after playing a game are usually about the 50s or sometimes nearly 60 degrees celcius for all cores on the cpu.
Similar temps with the gpu.

Hopefully that gives people an idea of the things that I have tried and I don't get repeat questions or advice. If you know anything else I should do then please say so.

 

[Arc]

No, mate, I am not taking it personally at all, I dont have that much personal place left vacant

I am taking it as some effort in a place where that effort is not welcome, just the reverse of taking personally.

 

[unknownHero]

Arc - I'm not going to lie, I was a bit annoyed when I saw some of the advice in your post since I felt like you took no account of the things I already tried such as updating the bios etc. I know people want to try and be helpful but posting things or asking questions that I have already answered just gives me the impression that people can't be bothered to read the full thread. Quite simply I don't want to constantly repeat things that I have already done. It doesn't help me or give me any further insight into the problem.

Anyway I said my piece and if you feel that you don't want to help someone like me then that's fine. Let's not derail the thread any further.

On to business now, I think I have finally found the cause of the freezes on the computer and its not the SSD. I believe it's the graphics card driver that I have for the GTX460 on my machine that's the main cause of the problem. If I recall correctly the last thing I did on the 60gb SSD before cloning to the Samsung SSD was do a Windows update. This update included some drivers for the GTX460 and I think this is the reason why when I plugged the 60gb SSD back in, it also experienced freezing. It's caused by the driver. Doing some research and reading through the GeForce forums has been an eye opener for me and it seems that I'm not the only person to experience random freezes. Apparently both the 400 and 500 series of graphics cards are affected.

 

[Avaava]

Did that solve the problem for good?

I have the exact same problem that I've been dealing with for a year since it was built. The only exception is I use the intel 4000 onboard graphics video card. Did your computer freezing stop for good?
I upgraded my power supply and it worked for a couple of months and then froze. Now it can freeze at any time. Once a week, day, or Month. Very annoying problem.

 

[unknownHero]

Yes Avaava, once I rolled the graphics card driver back the problem stopped for good, I have since updated the graphics card and have not experienced any random freezes. In my case it was definitely the graphics card driver that caused the problem and not faulty hardware.

Why did you upgrade the power supply Avaava? Did you suspect this to be the problem?

 

[Cornelius III]

SSD is Freezing my Machine

I've been having precisely this issue since installing a Samsung 850 EVO in a SATA II laptop. Did you find a cure? I know it's not the SSD as I've already replaced it once with another new one. I've also done a clean install of Win7x64 twice, to no avail.

 

[Ranger4]

Hi Cornelius III. What problems are you experiencing. I assume from what you have said that the installation of Windows goes all right, but what happens then?.

Have you installed all the updates. After a fresh install you will have to do all the Windows updates & that can take a while.

Also check the Sony website for any new drivers you might need.

 

[Cornelius III]

Not the Graphics Driver

Hi Ranger4. Well, the list of what I've tried is long, but here goes at attempting to describe most of it. I've reinstalled Win7x64 onto a clean drive, twice. Second time after having replaced the drive with a second SSD from Samsung (via Amazon, who didn't quibble.) After both installations, I immediately updated Win7 (with a few hundred updates) before instaling Office 2010 and any other programs. Like 'Unknown Hero', below, I thought it might be my graphics driver because of the way the machine just locks, arbitrarily, and then the mouse, keyboard, everything is frozen with the only recourse being a hard boot. But I've rolled back the graphics driver to the one provided on the SONY support site for my machine (a VAIO VGN-SR29-VN) and the problem has since reoccurred.

I've read on another forum where someone else had the same issue and resolved it by switching from AHCI to IDE mode in their BIOS, but my BIOS is so lightweight that I don't even have that option. My Samsung Magician software informs me that AHCI is enabled, and that's it. Can't disable it in BIOS, so I can't see if that would cure things. I have just disabled 'RAPID' Real-Time Acceleration mode via the Samsung Magician software, but I don't yet know if that will help as it's not been long enough since doing it to test whether the issue will reoccur.

A bit more background: I installed the Samsung 850 EVO in my SATA II VAIO. It's around 7 years old, but it's in perfect nick and it's running an Intel Centrino Duo-Core 2.4Ghz so I thought it was worth the investment. Whenever the issue occurs the machine simply freezes and I have to perform a hard power off reboot. Immediately after doing that I see a DOS screen saying "WARNING. Hard disk failure imminent. Backup all important files and data and press F1 to continue." Which I do (press F1, that is) and then select 'Start Windows Normally' and just carry on. Another issue (although probably related) is every few hours or every day or two, you can never tell when it will happen, Windows Explorer simply stops working. When this happens I still have mouse and keyboard functionality, so I can 'restart Explorer' without having to do a hard reboot.

 

[Ranger4]

I really can't suggest what your problem might be, as it seems that it's probably hardware related. You mention the computer is 7 years old, so I suppose it came with Windows Vista installed or did it have Windows XP.

When you decided to change the hard drive to the Samsung SSD did you have Windows 7 installed or did you update from Vista or XP. If you had the same version of Windows installed that you now have reinstalled with the new SSD, did it perform OK then.

Below is a Sony website in the UK, that has some firmware & software updates for your laptop that might be worth having a look at.

Sony Support

 

[Cornelius III]

Ranger4 / SSD

Hi Ranger4. Yes, I do think it's a question of old hardware not coping well with the speed of the SSD. I've disabled RAPID from within the Samsung Magician s/w and so far the fault hasn't reoccurred, although it's only been around 24 hours and sometimes there would be a day or two between occurrences, so we'll see how things go. The machine did originally come with Vista, although I'd been running 7x64 on it for a while, having installed it clean on the previous HDD. I did a clean install to the SSD, as well (not a migration.) I'll see how I get on for the next couple of days. I may just have to return to an HDD. Shame, really, as the machine itself is fast enough with a decent enough CPU and utilising 4GB or RAM as it's running on 64 bits. Thank you for your advice. I don't reckon that disabling RAPID (which just writes to RAM to speed up I/O) will actually cure it, but who knows, so far so good ....

 

[Ranger4]

Hopefully that will overcome the problem. Get back if you are still having problems.

 

[GokAy]

Hmm, RAPID-RAM related, run a memtest86 overnight and make sure the RAM is ok. There is no such thing as not being able to cope with SSD speed. At worst SSD will be bottlenecked by your controller.

 

[Avaava]

I have the same freezing problem, and the same Samsung Evo 840 250 drive. I recently replace every component of my computer with exception of the SSD, and it froze again. The poster and I both have motherboards that are Sata 3.0 not Sata 6.0. I'm wondering if that's what's causing the freezing due to the speed not being handled right by the motherboards.

 

[WaterWorker]

Same

Hi,

I have exactly the same symptoms as this thread. Upgraded 5 year old Samsung R530 laptop with a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD. I have done a fresh install of win7 and it now has all its updates. Lockups are totally random.
The odd bit for me is that I also installed Ubuntu in a dual boot configuration on the same SSD. This has worked perfectly without any lockups. Same hardware, same SSD, different OS. It don't help me sort out my Win7 issue but its a curious observation.
Have the people on this thread found their own solutions or just having to live with it??

 

[aleks83]

Just registered here to admit that i have the same problem.

Had a 840 evo installed which worked without problems since i bought this machine.

Recently i added another 830 evo which worked fine in an old laptop for several years.

Since then the 830 evo gets recognized as an 840 and the pc freezes a couple times a day. Even Samsung Magician says its a 840 (not evo).


The freeze only happens when i have a lot of program's open.
I always have a lot of programs open so it might not be connected to the problem.

In case they may be a correlation, here are my specs:
Its a Dell Optiplex 9020 with i7 4790 3,6ghz with 8gb of 1600mhz ram and the mentioned drives at 250gb each.



First one to fix the Problem please let us know.

 

[bigmck]

You need to fill out you System Specs so we know what hardware we are dealing with.

 

[aleks83]

The specs are written in the message and now also in my profile

 

[bigmck]

Post a screen capture of your Disk Management. Be sure and expand the columns so we can read the print.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[MrChad97z]

Sata III Cables

Make sure your SATA cables are high quality and not the free ones that might be old or on the cheap side if they came with an older motherboard. Also make sure they are for SATA III. That will ensure the highest quality and speed. AND you have to replace ALL SATA cables. Not just the one that goes to your SSD. Any kind of hardware issue like this will cause freezing on possibily all SATA connections.

also make sure you do not have any mixed brands of RAM modules. When things start running faster, there is less tolerance for errors.