535 SSDSC2BW480H6 - Dies Occasionally On Motherboard

[EForo]

I have a Intel SSD 535 - SSDSC2BW480H6. It has begun to fail on my motherboard, started happening about 4 months ago. It worked fine for about a year and a half but about 4 months ago it started to not show up on my motherboard. Initially I had to install a new ssd hard drive, however it showed up on the bios screen one time. Now it goes off and on randomly. I have to do several reboots in order for it to come back on line. I did run the Intel Solid State Drive Tool box for a full diagnostic Scan but nothing failed. Just started a second scan right now. Checked for a new firmware but no update showed, so now I have the following questions:

• Are there any other settings I can check for the SSD or the motherboard to root cause this?
  • I changed out the cable and power cable.
  • I am pretty sure it is a SSD issue at this point since the other SSD is working 100%.
• How can I start an RMA process?
• If it is an RMA what if the issue cannot be repeated?
  • The issue is random some times it works sometimes it doesn't/

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

[idata]

Hi eforonda,

Thank you for posting in the Intel® communities.The issue you are describing has similar symptoms of an issue reported with the DevSleep feature of some SSDs (including the Intel® SSD 535 Series). The DevSleep feature allows the device to go into a low power "device sleep" state, but sometimes the motherboard does not signal to wake up the SSD back.It may be possible to solve the issue without the need of an RMA, so let's first try the following in order to recover the drive.The first recommendation is to update the BIOS version of your motherboard to the latest one, as it may not support the DevSleep feature in the current BIOS version. However, if there are no updates available for the BIOS, we can try to disable the DevSleep feature on the SSD by following the steps below:

1. Back up the drive.
2. Download the file issdfut_2.0.15.iso: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25348 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25348
3. Go to https://rufus.akeo.ie/ https://rufus.akeo.ie/ and download Rufus.
4. Connect an empty USB flash drive to the PC.
5. Open Rufus. Change only the option Device and select your USB flash drive.
6. Still in Rufus, go to ISO image, click on search and select the issdfut_2.0.15.iso file that you previously downloaded.
7. Go to your BIOS and set the USB flash drive as the primary drive in the boot priority menu.
8. Reboot your PC. Once the PC starts again, it should enter in the firmware update tool for your SSD.
9. Update the firmware and then boot Windows*.

Note: If the PC doesn't boot from the USB flash drive or gives you an error, please go to the BIOS again and change the boot mode to Legacy only. The try again these steps.Please try this process and let me know how it goes. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.Have a nice day.Regards,Diego V.

[EForo]

Hello Diego,

Thank you for the information, I have updated the bios. However, I am not sure if it the new version supports Devsleep, there is no mention of the new bios supporting Devsleep in the release notes. I did try updating the firmware on the SSD, and have been unsuccessful in getting to the update firmware tool. I boot to the usb stick however the boot stops with the following error:

couldn't find an input interrupt endpoint giving up. unable to connecto X server: Connection refused server error.

I did the legacy only mode but I get the same error. The motherboard I am using is a Gigabyte g1 gaming ga-z170mx-gaming 5 firmware/bios version: F22f. In case you can look into the settings I need to change.

How large does the USB stick have to be? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Also is there maybe another reason for the issue given that the ssd never had an issue for about a year and a half?

Thanks,

[idata]

Heya, I have done this with 1GB NanoFlash. Also Rfus ask me how to write ISO, I use ISO recommended mode, but you can try other "DD" mode. With this FW will be RG2P /sounds, like performance I hope/ Also with that USB can switch between 2 versions of firmware.

[idata]

Hi eforonda,

I've just tried to boot from the USB flash drive to see if I got the same message as you did, but it worked fine for me.I used a 16GB USB flash drive. I formatted it before creating the bootable unit. Regarding to the BIOS settings, I only had to change in the Boot menu the option of booting from storage devices to "Legacy Only", and set the USB flash drive as the first drive to boot from and everything worked fine.Could you please try to create the bootable unit once again and try it one more time? This is how I created the bootable unit:

1. I downloaded the Rufus 2.18 Portable version. This is the direct link: https://rufus.akeo.ie/downloads/rufus-2.18p.exe https://rufus.akeo.ie/downloads/rufus-2.18p.exe
2. As I mentioned, I formatted the USB flash drive prior creating the bootable unit.
3. In the Rufus application, I selected the ISO image that you downloaded before and I selected the option MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI-CSM in the second setting from the top. Then I started the process. Please check the screenshot below to see the settings I used to create the bootable unit.

Please try it again and let me know if you get the same error message again.

Regarding to the issue itself, it usually start happening after some time of using the drive which is the same scenario that you described. That's why it seems to be related to the DevSleep feature. Although there is also the chance that the drive has another issue. We can check the health of the drive by checking the SMART attributes. In order to get this information, please run the Intel® SSD Toolbox and get the SMART attributes report of the drive. You can download the Intel® SSD Toolbox from this site: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27656/Intel-Solid-State-Drive-Toolbox https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27656/Intel-Solid-State-Drive-Toolbox

Have a nice day.

Regards,

Diego V.