NEW Alienware 17 Freezing and Disappearing mSATA Drive

Question

I have just received my new Alienware 17 and no sooner had I gotten all my programs, games and email setup, it started freezing. This first happened when I started it up two days ago. The screen stays on but thats about it. The cursor does move but it is the little spinning circle that indicating something is working... but it's not. :) So here is what I have:

Alienware 17 Base, 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4900MQ Processor (Overlocked, 8MB Cache, up to 4.0GHz w/ Turbo Boost), 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz (4x4GB), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M with 4GB GDDR5, 256GB mSATA SSD Boot + 1TB 5400RPM SATA 6Gb/s, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, 17.3 inch (439.42 mm) 120Hz WLED FHD (1920 x 1080) TrueLife w/3D Bundle

Once the first freeze occurred, I had to do a hard shutdown. I restarted several times, only find the same problem. After a few tries it stopped booting to Windows. I tried to do a repair but that did not resolve the issue. I then thought that I should restore a backup image, just to see if something went wrong while I was installing the new software and games. After loading a fresh backup, one created shortly after receiving the unit, I ran into basically the same problems. I ran a complete DELL diag on everything and it all checked out ok. However, when booting again, or trying too anyway... I got some funny issue I had never seen, the mSATA drive was showing up in the BIOS as 0GB. In the RAID controller software it was also showing as 0GB. I restarted a few time and eventually, it reverted to being the correct size. I downloaded gsmartcontrol and tried to check the drive but before it completed, it crapped out. Of note is that whent he freeze occurs, I hear the DVD perform a check for media... which also leads me to believe that the SSD decided to disappear. My next step is to remove the SSD and try loading the OS on the HDD and see if that solves the issue. BUT, I don't want to have to do a tear-down if someone has an idea left to try. The mSATA location is buried under everything else and while it is not normally a big deal, I am now in Africa and can't run out to get little screwdrivers, a static mat, blah blah blah... and I really don't feel like jacking up my new $3500 laptop. So if anyone has any ideas out there... PLEASE let me know. Thanks!

clavious · Answer

UPDATE:

OK, my bios was already up to date for the PC, flashed it again, just in case. Same situation with the SSD but I flashed that firmware also... just to be safe. Installed windows ultimate 64 from an iso just incase that may have been the issue. After loading windows and most of the drivers... same thing happens. PC stops responding and although the cursor moves, it is in a state of constant "busy." It is interesting to note, as I was watching for it this time, that when the freeze occurs, the DVD does in fact check for media. I am not sure if this check is because the SSD become unavailable to windows and maybe windows is trying to locate the os... never heard of that, but stanger things have happened. AND, as if that was not enough agitation for one day, my M17x r3 that I just got back from Dell repair center is having the same issue I sent it in for... the blue light on the power cable goes out when plugged in to the laptop. Grrrrrr.... it wouldn't be so bad if I was in the States and could ship it off to get repaired but I am in Morocco... no such luck here!

Just for giggles, I tried to reboot the 17 after the last freeze... after the windws splash screen... yea, it rebooted and low and behold, the Intel Rapid Storage screen now shows the SSD as 0gb's AGAIN and follows that with the ever popular "No Boot Device Found." I have owned Alienware for years... the M15x (stolen), M17x r3 (sitting here with an issue as noted above), an X51 (that has a fan control issue and I must use Afterburner to play games) and this BRAND NEW Alienware 17... which doesn't work!!!! Just frustrating.

OK... I ran the PSA diags (both quick and extended). No errors on either (pic included). However, here is the part I suspected, one time I booted after a freeze this morning and the RAID controller showed the SSD as 0gb size (pic included). I immediately went into the PSA diag and checked it there. The HD1 (SSD) showed 22mb (pic included). So I rebooted it again. This time the RAID showed 234gb (pic included). So, I went into the PSA diag and low and behold… it was back and HD1 showed 256gb (pic included). I wanted to note that after running both PSA tests, the HD1 always showed “NA,” you can see it in one of the pics. Haven’t used this PSA much so I don’t know if that is normal when addressing a mSATA drive. Just wanted to mention it.

So, it would seem that I have a disappearing mSATA drive… I just don’t know why. Any clue? Thanks as always!

Sorry, pics are located here http://img42.com/collection/zmHqw

Thanks again!

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

Hi!

I would like to get your Service Tag so I can review your case further. Please send me a private message with your tag, contact information and link to this thread so I can do some additional research.

clavious · Answer

Just a 'bump' to let everyone know that Dell and I are working on this issue and I will keep the group posted as to the outcome!  Thanks everybody for your continued support!

rfplanner · Answer

If you ever find out the reason for this, please let me know, I have the same exact problem.

In windows 8, I quite often find that the start up and shutdown times are very long.

On startup I very often get the message that the MSATA drive is being checked, and after startup that the wastebasket is corrupt.

clavious · Answer

Hey RFPLANNER,

Yea, well I received no love from Dell regarding my issue. After countless hours of trouble shooting, it seems the mSATA drive is DOA in my system. So, since I am not physically in the US right now (I am a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco.), Dell will not ship anything to me under my warranty. Being farsighted, I expected as much and ordered a new drive and it is on the way here now. I will have to wait until I go to the States to RMA the dead drive. It just kills me that Dell has a service center here in Morocco but "cannot" ship anything to the service center for repairs because I have an Alienware. God forbid someone think outside of the box to find a solution... common sense is a dead trait in business. Such a shame. That soapbox being used and kicked aside, there are plenty of AWESOME sales right now on mSATA drives. Tigerdirect has great ones and I actually purchased a Crucial M500 - 480GB mSATA drive for $250. Doubled the space. So, you can keep jacking with the same issues or follow my advice and swap it out. Good luck!!!

Clavious

General Draxeo · Answer

I'm having a similar issue!

I have an Alienware 17 that I've had since last September, and recently it has been acting up in a similar way to what you described.

For me, when it starts up it seems normal for the first couple of minutes, but then everything freezes permanently until I restart it. I noticed a small error message from the taskbar that says that the Intel RST service is not working, and when I clicked on it I was briefly able to spot an error with the SSD.

After searching online I found an older post from 2011 that said something about an Intel RST update that was not working properly with a particular type of program for the SSD (The terms were a bit out of my league).

Here is the link:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-17-m17x/580968-m17xr3-ocz-vertex-2-ssd-intel-rapid-storage-technology-driver-issue-read.html

I hope this problem gets fixed, I'm not sure I'm tech savvy enough to be able to work through all of these steps.

rfplanner · Answer

Hi Clavious, What I ended up doing to fix my problem was to reformat the MSATA drive and doing a full format, not a quick format, that seems to have solved my problem for now. I thought about a new MSATA, I am in China and they are cheaper than dirt here, but the thought of taking the whole thing apart to replace it is nauseous. I already have a 500GB and 1TB SDD inside, so the upgrade would not really do much for me. Cheers

Alienware-Naomi · Answer

Hi General Draxeo,

There's a few easy troubleshooting steps you can follow that will help identify the problem:

Make sure you have the latest BIOS A10.
Try to do a System Restore using a recovery point before the error started to come up. If there's none, you can also use AlienRespawn to restore to factory settings.This will rule out software and driver related problems.
Run an ePSA diagnostic and AlienAutopsy to check for hardware errors.

Let me know how it goes!

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NEW Alienware 17 Freezing and Disappearing mSATA Drive

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