Intel 510 SSD 250gb - Random Freezes and Boot Failure

[idata]

Hi, I've been running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on an Intel 510 SSD 250gb drive just fine for almost 9 months. About a month ago I began running into random lockups on my computer. I'd open Firefox or Outlook and the computer would hang. The window would turn really white and opaque. I could still move the mouse cursor around but couldn't do anything else. Couldn't Ctrl Alt Del or bring up Task Manager via Ctrl Shift Esc. Eventually it would freeze up completely, requiring a forced restart/shutdown. It only happened once or twice a week, and I thought nothing of it.

But in the last 3 days it's been happening several times a day. It can happen at any time without warning, it doesn't matter what I'm doing. I've the computer unattended and come back to it frozen up. I've even left it at the Windows log in screen before, came back and it was frozen. I could be browsing the web, go to open a new tab, and it freezes up. There doesn't appear to be any pattern or direct cause.

Then when I do a force restart, the system fails to boot from the drive. BIOS still detects the drive but it won't boot from it, it falls back on my DVD drive and asks me to insert boot media. If I restart a few more times or shut it down, wait a little, and turn the computer on, it'll successfully boot into Windows.

I ran chkdsk and it didn't find any problems. I run TRIM about once a week as recommended in the SSD toolbox. I'm not noticing a performance slow down. There are no indications of failure in the SMART attributes and fast diagnostics passes.

BUT the Data Integrity Scan in Full Diagnostic Scan consistently fails. It either ends with a notice telling me contact reseller or Intel, or the system locks up as described above and leaves a whole bunch of large text files on the drive.

Should I contact Intel and start an RMA process?

[idata]

I just got a new Intel 510 SSD 250gb and am experiencing the exact same issues. Random pc freezes, screen turning white and then am unable to restart Windows after hitting reset, instead getting a message asking me to insert bootable media and hitting any key.

Did you ever get this resolved? Did you have to RMA?

[idata]

I have the exact same problem. Now i cant access my boot drive and cant get computer started. Panic! Will I loose all of the stuff on that drive?

[idata]

Sorry for the late reply TK, but yes I did end up having to RMA. I contacted Intel and described the issue and the troubleshooting steps I took and the rep initiated the RMA process.

iddilassen, you should be able to access the boot drive if you just turn off your computer for a little bit and turn it back on. If not, your issue is not quite the same, if your drive is completely inaccessible you may lose your data. I was able to back up my drive and restore it to a new drive.

[idata]

Run a very good test of your RAM right off...

http://www.memtest86.com/ http://www.memtest86.com/

Yes!!! It REALLY is 25 years old++ now!!!!

If you have a dead RAM stick... The whole show just dies...

Not a hard drive issue at all in the 99.9% most cases...

I replace RAM sticks most of the time now in the cases of real hardware failure...