I Built a PC for a friend, sometimes it boots to Windows, sometimes it doesn't

[thegadgetlad]

So I built a PC for a friend. It's my second PC build. Both were a success, without any issues. 

 

He rung me up today and said that most of the time, it boots into Windows no problem (off the SSD). But occasionally, it will say 'Select Boot Device or Insert Boot Media'. I'm fully aware of what that means, but why would that message appear if Windows is working fine and sometimes boots flawlessly? BIOS settings show Boot Priority is fine. I can't think of a reason.

 

Any ideas? 

[Crunchy Dragon]

Might just be a slightly faulty drive, sometimes being detected, other times being undetected. Or a faulty cable/port.

[thegadgetlad]

Just now, Crunchy Dragon said:

Might just be a slightly faulty drive, sometimes being detected, other times being undetected. Or a faulty cable/port.

Samsung Magician says drive health is 'GOOD'. Does that mean the drive must be ok? 

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, thegadgetlad said:

Samsung Magician says drive health is 'GOOD'. Does that mean the drive must be ok? 

It must be, yeah. Try different cables and SATA ports.

[mockedarche]

I had this weird issue to when I first built my pc. It also caused some random lag in windows I concluded that it was ram.... it wasn't not I do have a nice 3200 mhz flare x kit 16 gb for my r7 but ultimately it was the sata port my ssd was plugged into. I would suggest changing what port the ssd is plugged into and testing it.

[thegadgetlad]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

It must be, yeah. Try different cables and SATA ports.

 

1 minute ago, Ohsnaps said:

I had this weird issue to when I first built my pc. It also caused some random lag in windows I concluded that it was ram.... it wasn't not I do have a nice 3200 mhz flare x kit 16 gb for my r7 but ultimately it was the sata port my ssd was plugged into. I would suggest changing what port the ssd is plugged into and testing it.

Thank you for the suggestions. 

[Murasaki]

Samsung Magician has an option to check SMART information. If CRC Error Count is a big number and/or not 0, that would indicate a loose/faulty cable.