Aurora R13, added Samsung 980 Pro SSD, freezing hard lock

I've got two Samsung 1tb 980 Pro NVMe (retail) in my new custom build (with MSI MB/Intel-i9/32gb/RTX-3080). They run perfectly.

BIOS is set to UEFI/AHCI. Just using Microsoft's drivers from Windows-11 Pro (64 bit). I'm getting the 4x4 speeds and everything.

Remember, do not install Intel-RST (or whatever they call it now-days). Yes, we have already been running alot of WoW and concurrent Discord for WoW-Raids.

I also did the firmware-upgrade and then 10% Over-Provision like Samsung suggests (at very end of drive) ... to both of them.

From my Notes:

Installed Samsung SSD-Magician v7.0.1 (latest). Set it's option to NOT startup with Windows.
- As these are both retail 980-Pro-NVMe-SSD
Upgraded firmware on both from 3B2QGXA7 TO 5B2QGXA7 (on D and then C)
- In only takes a few seconds to flash-it. Then 20-sec count-down, then it turns-itself off. Leave off for 30 seconds. It worked fine.
- On next boot, run Short Diags (100% perfect pass) and then Performance-Test. Getting Seq. read=6900/5200=write on both.

Samsung Magician seems to now classify both SSDs as officially being in "Power Saving Mode" (Trim Enabled and OP by 10%).

Normal temps seem to be around 38c . When doing heavy read/write operations, they tend to heat-up to around 49c.

While they do now support the new "Full (Power) Performance Mode" , my Google-research reveals that really only slightly speeds-up Random read/writes a bit. I think they are running crazy-fast/perfectly (and hot-enough) ... so I AM NOT using that new mode.

Yes, this is a retail 980 Pro (2 TB) also.

Intel VMD is disabled (that's what enables RST/RAID on the Aurora R13) in favor of the AHCI/NVMe option. But the Samsung software won't install their version of NVMe drivers still so I'm using the Microsoft also. Firmware is updated.

I actually was using my SSDs in the "power save" mode also (so with provisioning at 10% and power save) when the freezing happens. So that's why my only thought now is to try without it. I did see a Google search where someone suggested disabled PCIe Power Save Link State too.

But I believe this is firmly a Windows 11 or Intel 12th Gen hardware bug. I've reached out to Dell support but naturally hardlocks are difficult to troubleshoot. About 10 years ago I used to be a Dell Level 2 Specialist/SME for the SMB and XPS product lines, but it seems the troubleshooting logic hasn't changed much (they did the usual disabling services in msconfig and all, but since this is such a fresh install I highly doubt it's a software issue. Also I feel that Microsoft has ironed out enough software issues to where they rarely hardlock the OS.)

Odd.  I used the 2tb 980 pro as the main drive, and then later put the stock drive back in, and 980 pro is secondary now. 

Win 11 on stock drive

all games on 980 pro.

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@fuzzy_llama wrote:

Yes, this is a retail 980 Pro (2 TB) also.

1, Intel VMD is disabled (that's what enables RST/RAID on the Aurora R13) in favor of the AHCI/NVMe option.

2. But the Samsung software won't install their version of NVMe drivers still so I'm using the Microsoft also.

3. Firmware is updated.

4. I actually was using my SSDs in the "power save" mode also (so with provisioning at 10% and power save) when the freezing happens. 

5. I did see a Google search where someone suggested disabled PCIe Power Save Link State too.

6. But I believe this is firmly a Windows 11 or Intel 12th Gen hardware bug.

7. I've reached out to Dell support but naturally hardlocks are difficult to troubleshoot. About 10 years ago I used to be a Dell Level 2 Specialist/SME for the SMB and XPS product lines,

8. but it seems the troubleshooting logic hasn't changed much (they did the usual disabling services in msconfig and all, but since this is such a fresh install I highly doubt it's a software issue. Also I feel that Microsoft has ironed out enough software issues to where they rarely hardlock the OS.)

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1. Yeah, I run all my systems in AHCI (as I hate Intel-RST).

2. Never installed these elusive Samsung-NVMe drivers on any system. Over the years, I sometimes don't even install/use Samsung Magician. It's mainly for firmware upgrades (as you can Over-Provision the SSDs yourself just fine without it). Can't use them (or Magician) on Dell-OEM Samsung drives anyway.

3. Good. Yeah, I was surprised to see one already, but since system was new, I thought why-not. I'm not likely to ever do another to these two SSDs in their lifetimes.

4. Pretty sure, this is the normal mode that all Samsung NVMe SSDs have always run in.

5. That's in Windows Power Options, right? Yeah, I always keep that OFF (on all machines).

6. I have both of those and even 980-Pro and no problems here. Kinda my main reason for the detailed posts.

7. Cool

8. I can go along with that. I like my OS and software build-ups to be very lean. During trouble-shooting, I start simplifying and turning-stuff off. I love clean-installs from Microsoft.com ISO (good way to easily erase all the OEM software and customizations ... and just run Windows).

Personally, I think you might be barking-up the wrong tree here. If you feel that strongly about 980-Pro (causing problems), why not just remove it and clean-install Windows-11 to your original Dell NVMe-SSD? 

In my experience, Hard-Lock (without crash report) used to mean power-supply or hardware-failure. However, lately ... I've also seen bad Nvidia drivers cause it. Seems to have started around Intel 7th gen processors where you have the baby Intel-GPU that stays active always (and steps out-of-the-way when your dedicated video-card engages).

I've used both 980 Pro and WD Black SN850;s in my R13 with no issues - other than RAID not working..  Sounds to me like there is another issue.  

I would recommend you remove the drive and reinstall the OEM drive and see if that fixes the issue.  If if does, then 100% the Samsung SSD

Yeah, the SSD could be the wrong tree.

The main reason I haven't gone back to the OE drive is that I really want to get everything set up and actually start using this machine. It's frustrating sticking with a temporary drive.

But it might have to be my next step. My main hope with this thread was to see if anyone else has the same issue to confirm if it's a compatibility issue and seems a lot of others have the same set up without issue.

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@fuzzy_llama wrote:

 

1. My main hope with this thread was to see if anyone else has the same issue to confirm if it's a compatibility issue and seems a lot of others have the same set up without issue.

2. The main reason I haven't gone back to the OE drive is that I really want to get everything set up and actually start using this machine. It's frustrating sticking with a temporary drive.

 

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1. Sounds to me like we have helped you with that by now. You have 3 users saying Samsung 980-Pro NVMe-SSDs are trouble-free (and crazy-fast) and 2 of us even in an Aurora-R13. Many Dell-owners are running 12th-gen Intel CPUs, and thousands are using Windows-11. 

2. I suggest you use other machine for your daily-driver until this one is running 100%.

You might need to clean-install Windows again or who knows what. Get a minimal-config working perfectly, and build-up from there. If you feel like you might dig-yourself into a hole with next software or driver install ... Macrium-Reflect-8 is free. A full-perfect-verified Image of whole system takes minutes to create, and about the same time to restore if needed.

Like a house, the foundation is (most ?) important. You can't build-it-up (software wise) until it's working 100% properly. Much less really depend on it.

The Samsung provided drivers are for the 980 not the 980 Pro. Samsung does not provide drivers for the 980 Pro. Samsung Magician you may as well uninstall, it will recognise the drive but that is the end of its usefulness.

I have a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro as a second drive and it works perfectly once i figured out the above. 

I see a lot of people have it as their second drive, fewer as their primary OS drive.

Since changing out the heatsink on the 980 Pro (I had one that was a bit too big) and reconnecting components, the system has been more stable. I also have the Samsung Magician "Full Power Mode" enabled. I'm going to disable it for power saving features and see if it crashes again.

A lot going on, and I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm hoping it was something loose so I don't have to go back to the old drive.