SSD problems

**Allane** · 08-19-13, 07:30 PM

I'm really close to throwing my SSD from the top of the old Qwest building downtown just to ensure its goddamn destruction.

I've been getting this issue where my video card drivers will fail for no reason and leave me with a screen full of artifacts. I've logged temperatures for both my CPU and GPU at the times of failure and none of them exceed safety specs. Hell, none of them get above 74C, EVER. This issue is most prone to happen in Battlefield 3, though it has happened in Guild Wars 2. The worst part is, now the screen fades to straight black and locks up my computer. It's a good thing no one can hear my raging when this happens.

I've checked, rechecked, and rewired the SATA cables going to my SSD and into the motherboard. The AMD drivers I have installed are the ones known for Nvidia like stability, so I know that the drivers themselves are not the issue. My video card has been dusted, reseated, re-everything - the card is in perfect condition and has been since I got it.

Therefore, the only suspect left is my SSD. I have a Patriot Wildfire, which uses the SF-2200 controller. I know that Sandforce is prone to this sort of issue, but this is anomalous and ridiculous. I've never had it happen twice in one day, but getting it twice in one hour? With a factory new SSD?

I'm at my wits end. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them before I have to spend money on getting a new solid state drive.

**Ace22** · 08-19-13, 09:28 PM

The only time I've gotten artifacting is when oc'ing my vid card. Regardless of having good temps. Is the vid card overclocked? Have you tried backing that oc off if it is?

**Allane** · 08-20-13, 07:27 AM

My 7870 comes with a factory overclock, so I guess I could downclock it to reference specs and see what happens.

**rush2049** · 08-20-13, 03:00 PM

I'm not saying this is the issue, but for your reference. Once a video card (or a processor) overheat badly enough it can permanently damage it.... doesn't matter if you take good care of it after that, its had it.

Ideas of what the issue could be:
-motherboard sata controller is failing
-motherboard pci-e slot is bad or has been damaged, or cpu socket, or cpu pins

Check the system event log (google for howto) for system errors or halts, see if there is anything to help around the exact times the issues occur.

------------edit---------------

If you are convinced its your SSD, you could do a windows integrity check.
System File Checker (sfc)

Also you could run a FULL checkdisk including bad sectors (in an elevated prompt: chkdsk /X /B) You'll probably have to restart, and depending on your disk size and ram size this will take a long time.....

**Allane** · 08-21-13, 08:00 AM

Underclocking the 7870 seems to have brought back some stability, but I haven't had enough time to really test it out. But like I said, I take very good care of my parts and the 7870 has never gotten above 74C unless it did so in factory testing.

As for the motherboard SATA an PCI-E slots, this is a brand new motherboard, less than 3 months old. I visually inspect every motherboard that I get to make sure pins aren't bent (granted, checking a PCI-E slot is awkward, but I had this issue on an AMD motherboard too).

I already ran the file checker and it didn't pull up anything interesting. I don't mean to shoot down your suggestions because I appreciate them, I simply need more time to see if this underclock is the real solution, since when and if it happens is completely random.

The strange part is, my PSU is a Seasonic X 650w Gold Certified, and known for preventing voltage surges that would trigger an overclocked video card to fail like this. I'm at a loss to explain why a factory overclock is unstable with a high quality motherboard, CPU, and power supply.

**Bunni** · 08-21-13, 08:11 AM

Hit me up on steam, I have a similar if not exact issue. Mine however is caused by my gpus overheating and cause the drivers to crash. Though my drivers do crash regularly in certain games.

Get the error recovery message that windows gives you when your drivers fail. If your computer does not recover, try hitting ctrl-alt-del and wait for the lock screen to appear the hit cancel. You should be presented with a recovery report.

Mobile-

Edit: nvm looks like you got it.

**Ryan Evans** · 08-22-13, 05:14 AM

Originally Posted by Allane

I'm really close to throwing my SSD from the top of the old Qwest building downtown just to ensure its goddamn destruction.

I've been getting this issue where my video card drivers will fail for no reason and leave me with a screen full of artifacts. I've logged temperatures for both my CPU and GPU at the times of failure and none of them exceed safety specs. Hell, none of them get above 74C, EVER. This issue is most prone to happen in Battlefield 3, though it has happened in Guild Wars 2. The worst part is, now the screen fades to straight black and locks up my computer. It's a good thing no one can hear my raging when this happens.

I've checked, rechecked, and rewired the SATA cables going to my SSD and into the motherboard. The AMD drivers I have installed are the ones known for Nvidia like stability, so I know that the drivers themselves are not the issue. My video card has been dusted, reseated, re-everything - the card is in perfect condition and has been since I got it.

Therefore, the only suspect left is my SSD. I have a Patriot Wildfire, which uses the SF-2200 controller. I know that Sandforce is prone to this sort of issue, but this is anomalous and ridiculous. I've never had it happen twice in one day, but getting it twice in one hour? With a factory new SSD?

I'm at my wits end. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them before I have to spend money on getting a new solid state drive.

Did you try updating the firmware of your SSD? By firmware, I mean the sandforce controller firmware & patriot SSD firmware. Also if you not done, BIOS firmware upgrade would help as this can be a cause of compatibility issues between these chunks of hardwares. My gut feel is, sandforce bug issues if at all exists, will usually get resolved forever after any minor firmware patch updates. All the best pro!

**Hocus Pocus** · 08-22-13, 07:31 AM

Originally Posted by Allane

Underclocking the 7870 seems to have brought back some stability, but I haven't had enough time to really test it out. But like I said, I take very good care of my parts and the 7870 has never gotten above 74C unless it did so in factory testing.

As for the motherboard SATA an PCI-E slots, this is a brand new motherboard, less than 3 months old. I visually inspect every motherboard that I get to make sure pins aren't bent (granted, checking a PCI-E slot is awkward, but I had this issue on an AMD motherboard too).

I already ran the file checker and it didn't pull up anything interesting. I don't mean to shoot down your suggestions because I appreciate them, I simply need more time to see if this underclock is the real solution, since when and if it happens is completely random.

The strange part is, my PSU is a Seasonic X 650w Gold Certified, and known for preventing voltage surges that would trigger an overclocked video card to fail like this. I'm at a loss to explain why a factory overclock is unstable with a high quality motherboard, CPU, and power supply.

Weird, I actually just installed a 7870 Sapphire 2gb OC gpu in my rig and had issues. Mine wasn't an artifact issue, because I didn't make it that far. My first major issue was that windows would not recognize the card and labeled it as a standard VGA. Therefore, I wasn't able to successfully install catalyst, which meant the drivers I downloaded didn't mean anything. Ultimately what I had to do is open the device through device manager, right click, update drivers, and load from the CD. After that I was able to update the drivers from AMD overdrive. Probably not your case, but if it's not properly recognized you might have issues. The artifact thing seems like a PSU issue imo.

**Ace22** · 08-22-13, 11:42 AM

Here's 2 threads dealing with similar issues. There is a nice check list of things to try before returning your vid card as defective.

Bad artifacting in games. [Solved] - Graphics Cards - Graphics & Displays

8800 gts Artifacting? - Nvidia - Graphics & Displays

**Allane** · 08-22-13, 12:05 PM

The video card isn't the problem here. I've owned the card for close to 2 years and has been flawless until just recently. Down clocking the card seems to have had the desired effect, though I don't know why the issue is here in the first place. Every card and PSU is different I suppose, I just have an unlucky combination. I'll adapt.

As for the SSD firmware, this isn't my first rodeo, let's leave it at that.

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