Drive C: not found on reboot

Hi

My PC seems to be developing a problem whereby I'm working on it and something happens that makes me feel I need to reboot. This could be anything but NOT games - I don't play games at all (unless you call doing jigsaws playing a game). Since I am retired I just use my PC for doing leisure things only.

When I reboot, currently it mostly comes up OK but just lately it has started failing to find my OS C: drive SSD. I'm fairly certain this has nothing to do with the type or brand of SSD I am using which happens to be a Kingston 240GB (see also below re spare PC) which is set up for dual boot with Win7 and Win10. I've also done the obvious and checked the BIOS and no SSDs have been found including a Samsung 240GB SSD which contains just programs and data - NO OS. If I then switch off my PC and let the power supply settle for perhaps 15 seconds and then try again it runs up with no problem with both SSDs being found.

In fact I have another 'spare' PC upstairs that has the same problem albeit currently with a Sandisk 240GB SSD This is also setup as a dual boot disk with Win10 and Win7. Prior to this I had the same problem with a Sandisk 120GB (also dual boot) and a Kingston 60GB and a another Sandisk 64GB (one OS per SSD). Although I've never chased this since it is a 'spare' PC that is not often used. Now I seem to be getting the same problem on my main PC though, I feel it's about time to get something sorted.

Does anyone have any idea on what may be causing this as I'm at a complete loss at present? If anyone can help out it would be much appreciated.

I should add that I upgraded Win10 about four weeks ago to the Creators Edition although I doubt this is anything to do with it as my 'spare' PC has been doing this since the first version of Win10 back in 2015 and if I remember rightly it also did it with Win7 before that!

I hope I have described the problem adequately but if you have any questions please ask and I'll do my best to help.

Tracey

Hello Tracey,

I wonder if your SSD needs to be set up in the BIOS with Hot Plug enabled? You will find this is the BIOS Advanced section under PCH Storage Configuration

Hi folks

Sorry I've not come back to you before now but I've been busy doing other things.As to the problem I have - I've set the SSD to hot pluggable but its made no difference. As for checking and/or changing cables I find it very difficult to believe that a cable which is OK one second goes bad the next second and then is OK again once I switch off my PC and then back on again, all in the space of no more than about five minutes and probably even less. As I have said, I do check the BIOS and ensure the C: drive is the second in the list (the first being my DVD drive). My PC has only just rebooted (about 5 minutes ago) and I will check my C: drive is first in the list again as I think when this happens it tends to get pushed to last in the list. However, I still remain to be convinced it is anything to do with cables.

When it reboots on its own, I let it get to the point where it asks for a bootable disk then switch the PC off for about three seconds then switch on again. It then runs up as if nothing has ever happened so something is stopping the C: drive being found. Indeed is stopping either of my SSDs being found and I'm starting to wonder about the BIOS, i.e. whether I should update the BIOS that is, although I would prefer to leave that as is for the moment for obvious reasons. Snag is I really can't think what else it can be.

I've just had another little problem which entailed rebooting and I can report that my PC reboooted perfectly. However, I took the opportunity to check the boot priorities in the BIOS and as suspected Drive C: was the last in the list whereas the data SSD (a Samsung 830) was second so just maybe I do have a problem with my Kingston SSD. I'll see if I can transfer everything to a Sandisk SSD and see if that makes any difference. Will get back to you later.

I find it very difficult to believe that a cable which is OK one second goes bad the next second and then is OK again once I switch off my PC and then back on again, all in the space of no more than about five minutes and probably even less.

It's not so far fetched, just replaced one here which was causing boot problems.
A break in the wiring can make contact then not, just the vibration from a drive or fans could be enough to cause it to break and or reconnect, or the plugs on each end could not be making a tight connection, again vibration would be enough to cause the issue.

Just a thought. A while back one of my users was having issues with his Crucial/Micron SSD. Slow performance, drive disconnecting, etc. He was adamant about needing a new laptop. A little research and found that there was a SSD firmware update that corrected such issues, which it did.

So might want to check to see if there is a firmware update.

Hi folks

Thanks for the link dalchina but I've already sorted out how to check for and update the Kingston SSD firmware. As it happens there is no firmware update so this morning I've been occupied swapping my Kingston 240GB for a Sandisk Ultra II 240GB SSD from the PC upstairs. In fact thinking on it, I believe I was in error in what I said in my initial post. The PC upstairs has NOT been giving me the problems it used to since it has had the Sandisk 240GB fitted. I DO know that it was playing up in the way described when it had a Kingston SSDNow 60GB and a Sandisk 64GB installed, snag is I don't know which was the active one or which had what OS on it. Anyway I've now swapped the two 240GB drives over and we'll see what happens. I guess its just a case of wait and see now. Anyway, thanks for your responses folks, very much appreciated. I just hope this is the end of it.

Tracey