Can a Windows bug cause the problem

[cns00]

I bought a 970 evo plus nvme ssd for my laptop on Jun 2019. My laptop froze on Jan 2023 and when I restarted the laptop I saw that the nvme ssd became unallocated space. I took the laptop to a repair shop and they told me that the nvme ssd spoiled because they couldn't format it. That was weird because it was still healthy so my guess is that the controller chip of the nvme ssd suddenly failed. I bought a 980 pro nvme ssd on March 2023.

 

My laptop again froze on Oct 2023 and when I restarted the laptop I saw that the nvme ssd became unallocated space. I took the laptop to another repair shop and they told me that the partition table of the nvme ssd was erased because of a motherboard problem but they didn't tell me what was the problem so maybe they are lying. The nvme ssd was formatted and I continued to use it.

 

My laptop again froze on Aug 2024 and when I restarted the laptop I saw that the nvme ssd became unallocated space. I restored from a Macrium Reflect image and I returned the nvme ssd to as it was. Thus the partition was erased again.

 

There is a chance that either the 980 pro has a defective controller chip and it is erasing the partition table or a motherboard problem is erasing the partition table. I want to send my laptop to another repair shop so I get a second opinion.

 

I want to ask if the 980 pro has a defective controller chip or the motherboard has a problem then is it normal for the partition table to get erased after 7 months and then again after 10 months? There is a very long time between each occurrence and if there really was a hardware problem then normally problems should regularly happen.

 

Another possibility is that a Windows bug is erasing the partition table but can that really happen? There should be safety measures to prevent Windows from messing up the partition table. Has anyone heard of an incident in which the partition table was erased by a Windows bug?

[BillBill]

2 minutes ago, cns00 said:

I bought a 970 evo plus nvme ssd for my laptop on Jun 2019. My laptop froze on Jan 2023 and when I restarted the laptop I saw that the nvme ssd became unallocated space. I took the laptop to a repair shop and they told me that the nvme ssd spoiled because they couldn't format it. That was weird because it was still healthy so my guess is that the controller chip of the nvme ssd suddenly failed. I bought a 980 pro nvme ssd on March 2023.

 

My laptop again froze on Oct 2023 and when I restarted the laptop I saw that the nvme ssd became unallocated space. I took the laptop to another repair shop and they told me that the partition table of the nvme ssd was erased because of a motherboard problem but they didn't tell me what was the problem so maybe they are lying. The nvme ssd was formatted and I continued to use it.

 

My laptop again froze on Aug 2024 and when I restarted the laptop I saw that the nvme ssd became unallocated space. I restored from a Macrium Reflect image and I returned the nvme ssd to as it was. Thus the partition was erased again.

 

There is a chance that either the 980 pro has a defective controller chip and it is erasing the partition table or a motherboard problem is erasing the partition table. I want to send my laptop to another repair shop so I get a second opinion.

 

I want to ask if the 980 pro has a defective controller chip or the motherboard has a problem then is it normal for the partition table to get erased after 7 months and then again after 10 months? There is a very long time between each occurrence and if there really was a hardware problem then normally problems should regularly happen.

 

Another possibility is that a Windows bug is erasing the partition table but can that really happen? There should be safety measures to prevent Windows from messing up the partition table. Has anyone heard of an incident in which the partition table was erased by a Windows bug?

I believe that the 980 had some firmware issues and they have since made some updates and I would suggest you update the firmware. 

[StDragon]

A few questions.

 

• What's the model of your laptop?
• Is the BIOS at the latest version?
• What version of Windows are you running; is it fully patched with Windows Updates?
• Have you upgraded the RAM prior to these issues occurring?

 

 

[cns00]

8 hours ago, BillBill said:

I believe that the 980 had some firmware issues and they have since made some updates and I would suggest you update the firmware. 

I have already updated the firmware when I bought the 980 pro.

[cns00]

8 hours ago, StDragon said:

A few questions.

 

• What's the model of your laptop?
• Is the BIOS at the latest version?
• What version of Windows are you running; is it fully patched with Windows Updates?
• Have you upgraded the RAM prior to these issues occurring?

 

 

1) Alienware 17 r5 i9 and I bought it on Jan 2019.

2) No. The bios was updated on Feb 2022 when the motherboard was replaced because the Nvidia graphics card spoiled. I am on bios version 1.18.0 and the latest is 1.22.0

3) I am using Windows 10 22H2 and I clean installed Windows on Mar 2023 when I bought the 980 pro. I haven't done any Windows updates at all and I am using a program to disable the Windows update services because I don't trust Windows updates because often they are bugged and it's luck if a Windows update messes up your PC.

4) The ram chips were replaced on Jun 2021 because they spoiled and I got BSOD. I did 5 passes memtest on April 2024 when the laptop froze on a blank blue screen while I was installing a game. I thought that the ram chips caused the bank blue screen. They didn't and no errors were found during memtest.

 

Can you please answer the questions in my post?

[Bjoolz]

15 hours ago, cns00 said:

That was weird because it was still healthy so my guess is that the controller chip of the nvme ssd suddenly failed.

SMART is completely useless with NVMe SSDs (Basically all storage health tools read the SMART which is the drive's self diagnostic). They nerfed it into the ground. The health hasn't been reliable for 10+ years though because it's up to the manufacturer how much the drive has to fail before the status changes. The percentage isn't related to the health at all, it's how much of the warrantied writes you have used. You have to know how to read the SMART attributes. If you used CDI, the information in the bottom half. This is where NVMe was nerfed, they removed almost all of the useful entries. I have seen hundreds of faulty NVMe drives and less than five showed any signs of failure in SMART. I don't even look at SMART anymore with NVMe drives (Some new SATA SSDs also use the "new SMART"). 

 

15 hours ago, cns00 said:

I want to ask if the 980 pro has a defective controller chip or the motherboard has a problem then is it normal for the partition table to get erased after 7 months and then again after 10 months? There is a very long time between each occurrence and if there really was a hardware problem then normally problems should regularly happen.

If the controller is bad, it could corrupt all kinds of stuff. If nothing else corrupts, just the partition data and it happens twice, I would consider that at least weird. The partition data is a tiny amount of data compared to everything else, statistically it's not likely for it to corrupt twice and nothing else to corrupt. So it would depend if you have issues with other data corrupting. I have seen quite a few M.2 drives not be seated properly so re-seating the drive is the first thing I would do. 

[BillBill]

8 hours ago, cns00 said:

I have already updated the firmware when I bought the 980 pro.

You'll need to update the firmware periodically. Not just once. 

[StDragon]

9 hours ago, cns00 said:

1) Alienware 17 r5 i9 and I bought it on Jan 2019.

2) No. The bios was updated on Feb 2022 when the motherboard was replaced because the Nvidia graphics card spoiled. I am on bios version 1.18.0 and the latest is 1.22.0

3) I am using Windows 10 22H2 and I clean installed Windows on Mar 2023 when I bought the 980 pro. I haven't done any Windows updates at all and I am using a program to disable the Windows update services because I don't trust Windows updates because often they are bugged and it's luck if a Windows update messes up your PC.

4) The ram chips were replaced on Jun 2021 because they spoiled and I got BSOD. I did 5 passes memtest on April 2024 when the laptop froze on a blank blue screen while I was installing a game. I thought that the ram chips caused the bank blue screen. They didn't and no errors were found during memtest.

 

Can you please answer the questions in my post?

You'll want to update the BIOS as it contains CPU microcode updates within it. Windows Updates will also contain microcode, but whichever is newer will supersede at runtime. Being you haven't applied either, you're probably running into issues with know buggy CPU errata.

 

As far as MS updates are concerned, you'll want to apply those as they contain updates that resolve BitLocker and security issues too.
 
 

[cns00]

13 hours ago, Bjoolz said:

If the controller is bad, it could corrupt all kinds of stuff. If nothing else corrupts, just the partition data and it happens twice, I would consider that at least weird. The partition data is a tiny amount of data compared to everything else, statistically it's not likely for it to corrupt twice and nothing else to corrupt. So it would depend if you have issues with other data corrupting. I have seen quite a few M.2 drives not be seated properly so re-seating the drive is the first thing I would do. 

No other data on the nvme ssd has been corrupted. You are right and if I really had a hardware problem and either the motherboard or the nvme ssd controller had an issue then logically I should regularly see weird things happen and data should get corrupted. Only the partition table being erased and the first time that it happened was after 7 months and the second time that it happened is extremely weird. 

 

Thus maybe the partition table is being erased due to a software issue and not a hardware issue. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SAlkAhCkFVd58Ic66-hjgHyCcPaiBlEK are the programs that I have on my laptop. Can any of my programs affect the partition table of the nvme ssd?

 

Windows regularly reads and writes from\to the partition table. Can a Windows bug erase the partition table and shouldn't there be precautions to prevent that from happening? The weird thing is that I was using the laptop and then it suddenly froze.

 

I am planning on buying a new nvme ssd. Is there really a need to do that?