Intel SSD 730 frequent freeze/hang Win 8.1 & 10

[BOsta]

I've endured this issue for weeks, and despite trying everything under the sun I can't seem to nail down what the problem is. My machine will consistently hit 100% disk utilization - even though nothing in Task Manager indicates much of a load on the drive - and freezes the entire machine for minutes at a time.

I noticed this for the first time earlier in the year, shortly after Witcher 3 came out. I'm playing the game, the HDD LED on my case goes solid and the machine freezes. Sound continues to play as though the system is still running as usual. Mouse is visible after attempting CTRL + ALT + DEL but screen is black and no further keyboard input is accepted; sometimes instead of CTRL + ALT+ DEL, I can ALT + TAB to desktop, but after that initial switch no futher input from mouse or keyboard are accepted. After 2-3 minutes, the machine snaps back to its normal state and "catches up" on the input from the time when the machine was frozen - in the ALT + TAB situation, clicking on Start menu, Window Search field, Quickstart icons, etc will all execute in order.

Once this happens (usually during a game), it is guaranteed to happen again within 5-10 minutes. System continues in running-frozen-running pattern indefinitely until I exit the game.

I did see a small number of BSODs - KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR and one other that I can't recall. System will not successfully write dump information to disk, even after leaving it for half a day in the hopes it would.

Whenever this happens, I can check the System log in Event Viewer and find tens if not hundreds of entries regarding the storage device. Most are in the following pattern:

Warning10/23/2015 1:35:14 AMdisk153None

The IO operation at logical block address 0x227b0708 for Disk 0 (PDO name: \Device\0000002d) was retried.

Or:

Warning10/17/2015 6:00:18 PMdisk51None

An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\DR0 during a paging operation.

After a ton of those, I will come across one or more entry that says:

Warning10/23/2015 1:35:12 AMiaStorA129None

Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued.

As the errors point to an issue with the page file, I checked Advanced System Settings and under Virtual Memory, "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" is checked. Currently Allocated is 1024MB.

I've attempted the following software fixes:

- Installed Intel SSD Toolbox and ran Optimizer, Quick Diagnostic, and Full Diagnostic

- Installed and Uninstalled multiple versions of Intel RST software

- Installed multiple versions of standalone AHCI/RAID driver, both RST and RSTe

- Deleted all Intel RST and RSTe drivers from system

- Stopped and disabled Superfetch, Windows Search, BITS services

- Applied registry "fix" found here: http://www.ithacks.com/2012/10/14/fixing-an-ssd-freezing-on-windows-7/ Fixing an SSD Freezing on Windows 7 | IT Hacks

On the hardware side, this problem has persisted despite the following changes:

- Swapped out SATA cable that was attached (bundled with MB) for the one bundled with the drive, then a 3rd-party cable

- Two completely different sets of same speed/density memory (Crucial and PNY)

- Two completely different video cards (MSI GTX 770, PowerColor R9 390)

- Multiple power supplies

- Two completely different motherboards!

If this isn't a software/driver issue. I'm down to the drive or the CPU at this point. My machine is currently set up with the following components:

Intel Core i7-3820 (stock, never overclocked)

MSI X79A-GD45 Plus motherboard (most recent BIOS - 17.9)

4x4GB PNY Anarchy DDR3-1600

PowerColor PCS+ R9 390

Antec HCG-750

Corsair H90 Liquid Cooler

Intel 730 SSD 480GB

PLEASE HELP!

[BOsta]

After I reinstalled Windows 10, I went to the MSI Support page for my motherboard that you linked and only installed the drivers they have listed on that page. I was hoping that would help isolate the issue in case there was some conflict with the RST components I had installed last time.

I will try the Driver Update Utility later tonight and let you know if that solves the problem.

[BOsta]

It's now been three days without any problems since my most recent change, though I'm hesitant to call the case closed just yet. When I installed the RSTe SATA driver, I had about a half week where nothing went wrong despite a few lengthy gaming sessions, so I'd like to take a couple extra days just to be certain I've solved the problem this time.

Before attacking the problem again on Monday night, I did a little more research and came up with another plan of action. I realized after looking over the motherboard's QVL list for memory that the RAM modules I used to test with were close to those listed, but none of them were an exact match. The Crucial, Kingston, and AMD/Patriot modules I had were the same density, speed, and voltage as the approved DIMMs from the same manufacturers, but the model numbers didn't match. Looking around my home, I found an older machine with 4x2GB of Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600 installed that was an exact match with the MSI QVL list.

I threw those sticks in, and even though they're not a fully matched set they immediately worked in quad channel mode without a hitch. I put my machine to the test right away, trying out the two games I've had the most consistent trouble with (World of Tanks and Witcher 3) and a couple others that are demanding on hardware. After three nights of multiple hour gaming sessions, I haven't had a single hiccup, and perhaps most tellingly the CRC value reported in the SSD's SMART report has not increased since I swapped out the memory.

I'm hoping that this was just an issue where the board in question is very particular about the memory used with it, and the SSD will remain in good health going forward. If I don't see any further issues by the weekend, I will mark this resolved.

Thanks for your help!

[jbenavides]

Hello Thunderbolt7,

Thank you for the update, It is good to know you had some improvement on this issue. Please let us know if the issue reappears after testing.