Intel 750 SSD Failure on System Resume

[DF2]

Hi there, I recently purchased an Intel 750 SSD (2.5 inch drive, model number SSDPE2MW400G4R5) and am having some major issues with getting it to run smoothly. I originally had it as a boot drive for Windows 10 on a newly purchased Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 Motherboard. Everything with the installation went smoothly. The drive was connected to the motherboard via the M.2 to U.2 Add-in-Card. My experience was fine until attempting to resume from the sleep or hibernation state on my computer. Except for a few random instances, the SSD failed to resume the system from sleep and would eventually give up and restart the system altogether. Specifically, my monitors would show nothing and have no display signal, further my mouse and keyboard would quickly disconnect (after waking the computer) and stay disconnected. However, The computer fans would turn on along with all interior lights and stay running. After auto-restarting, I would then be greeted with a blue screen of death with the error message "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE". After the next restart (due to the BSOD), the system would then boot fine, usually taking me to the state where i had originally left the computer when it was slept. Attempting the hibernation state would cause the same error (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE) to appear which would then cause a restart which (after automatic windows repair at the splash screen), would load where i left off at before hibernating the computer. The ensuing hours were then dedicated to trying to find the root cause of the problem. I'll briefly summarize the actions (that I can remember) taken below:

• Downloaded Intel SSD Toolbox and ensured all drivers were up to date.
• Uninstalled and reinstalled intel ssd drivers along with various others such as nvidia display drivers.
• Changed Power State options to high performance, and changed the hard drive turn off option to "never"
• Downloaded the latest (non-beta) BIOS version for Motherboard. Specific version ID was changed from F2 to F3 (Full hardware info will be provided below)
• Ran Windows Memory Diagnostic Test, which came back with no errors on the RAM.
• Ran Full Diagnostic Test on SSD through Intel SSD Toolbox, which came back with no errors.
• Re-checked for any loose connections within computer case.
• Uninstalled various non-core programs, and closed non-critical processes before attempting to sleep. Most likely coincidental and non-repeatable, I actually did get the system to resume a few times from the sleep state doing this method. However, after restarting and closing out the same programs and processes, I could not replicate the result. A couple hours of attempts and I gave up on this path.
• Uninstalled windows 10 altogether and reinstalled Windows 8 cleanly. The issue still persisted in the hibernation and sleep state on windows 8 as well.

At this point, I was out of ideas and decided that the best path forward was to put windows 10 on my SAMSUNG 840 EVO 500 GB to further isolate, confirm, and better diagnose the Intel 750 SSD and the drivers as the underlying issue. As a result, I disconnected all other hard drives/SSD's along with the Intel 750 SSD and installed Windows 10 on the Samsung SSD, I once again attempted the sleep and hibernation states multiple times and over several restarts after installing various programs and drivers. I did not have any issue occur once. The system resumed in roughly 7-10 seconds every time, without a problem.

I now connected all my other storage devices to my PC to once again test for problems. First of all, the Intel 750 SSD was detected and accessible under my devices and drives. I then proceeded to test the sleep state once again without issue on multiple instances. However, the total time to resume from the sleep state increased to roughly 20-30 seconds. Further, the Intel 750 SSD was now no longer detected by windows. Checking Event Viewer lists two relevant entries occurring during system resume.

1. Error at 12:54:59 AM at Source "stornvme" (event id 11): The driver detected a controller error on \Device\RaidPort2.
2. Warning at 12:55:04 AM at Source "disk" (event id 157): Disk 4 has been surprise removed.

At this point, I entered into Device Manager and disabled, and then re-enabled the "standard NVM Express Controller". This immediately caused windows to detect the ssd once again and fixed my issue (until the next sleep state is attempted). If anyone could provide any guidance to me on this issue it would be much appreciated. I do know that users have had similar issues with other M.2 SSD's not resuming from sleep state. One solution I've also read about is to disable link power management? However, I don't want to attempt anything else until I perhaps hear from someone with more experience on solving an issue like this. Thanks so much for reading this far, I'll provide a summary of my specs below, but please let me know anything else needed to help aid you all in solving this!

Operating System

Windows 10 Home 64-bit

CPU

Intel Core i3/i5/i7 6xxx @ 3.50GHz 23 °C

Skylake 14nm Technology

RAM

16.0GB

Motherboard

Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z170X-GamingG1 (U3E1) 28 °C

Graphics

XB270HU (2560x1440@144Hz)

VG248 (1920x1080@144Hz)

VG248 (1920x1080@144Hz)

TOSHIBA-TV (1920x1080@60Hz)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (EVGA)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (EVGA)

ForceWare version: 353.62

SLI Enabled

Storage

223GB SanDisk SDSSDHII240G (SSD)

931GB TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (SATA)

223GB KINGSTON SV300S37A240G (SSD)

931GB TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (SATA)

372GB NVMe INTEL SSDPE2MW40 (Unknown)

465GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 500GB (SSD)

931GB TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (SATA)

Optical Drives

HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW UH12NS30

Audio

Sound Blaster ZxRi

[DF2]

Thank you for the update Jonathan. Please let me know how any further testing goes. Just for reference, my board is actually a Gigabyte, not an Asus motherboard. I've refunded my SSD now but would not be opposed to purchasing a similar drive once this is sorted. Have a great day and best of luck with everything!

[jbenavides]

Hello,

We would like to inform that the new https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/23931/Intel-Solid-State-Drive-Data-Center-Tool Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center Tool, version 2.3.0 contains a firmware update for the Intel® SSD 750. If your system shows abnormal behavior, please update the Firmware of your SSD.

The new firmware release will also be available in upcoming versions of Intel® SSD Toolbox and Intel® Firmware Update Tool.

[AMawl]

Dear all, I have had exactly the same problem with my 2.5 inch 750 series ssd and would really appreciate it if anyone could inform us whether the newest firmware has indeed solved the problem or not, also is the PCI express x4 version also affected by the same issue? thanks

[jbenavides]

Hello Max_p,

Since the last posts, there has been a new driver release for the Intel® SSD 750 Series. The issue has been reported for systems using the 2.5 in and AiC versions of the drive, and it appears to be a due to a combination of factors. We strongly recommend to apply the following if the system has problems resuming from sleep:

- Update the Firmware of the drive using https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/23931/Intel-Solid-State-Drive-Data-Center-Tool Intel® SSD Data Center Tool. The new firmware will also be available in the new releases of Intel® SSD Toolbox and Intel® Firmware Update Tool that should be available after October 16, 2015.

- Update to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/23929/Intel-Solid-State-Drive-Data-Center-Family-for-NVMe-... Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center Family for NVMe Drivers, version 1.3.0.1007.

- Contact the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support and make sure you are using the most recent BIOS update for your system.

[Hvand2]

I think I have a related issue with my GA-Z170XP-SLI with F5 firmware (latest) en also latest firmware for my 750 ssd. When I boot my computer it always goes into bios settings mode first, and there I see that the nvme drive is connected using PCIe gen 1. When I reboot it's switched to gen 3 and the pc boots normally.