Samsung 840 Pro Freezes During Very Specific Tasks.

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Sassbogs

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Aug 2, 2013
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I purchased a 256gb Samsung 840 Pro just before January of 2013, and I've been having some slight issues with it using Windows 8, 64bit.

It performs beautifully while loading games, during game play, and while web browsing, but it always hangs during very specific tasks, forcing me to hit the reset button on my computer case. (the small led light, by the button, that normally flickers, stays lit without flickering, so I am assuming it is frozen).

1) It will freeze when trying to "scan for hardware changes" via the Device Manager under Control Panel

2) It will freeze when trying to run the Samsung Magician 4.0 or 4.1 software.

3) It will freeze when trying to install driver updates from the Intel servers (specifically, LAN and Networking drivers such as the Intel 82579V Gigabit Ethernet Controller).

I once managed to get the Samsung Magician software (4.1) to update the firmware before it froze, but I'm not sure if the update stayed because it required a reboot and relaunch of the program to finish the update (I believe), and it froze before it could relaunch.

I've reinstalled the OS twice now, using the new windows feature that completely restores the system by using the OS disc. Since then, I have updated all my drivers, including manually finding and installing the 82579V Ethernet Controller mentioned above, and I have installed all Windows updates. I have even updated my motherboard's BIOS to the latest version. This has been very frustrating for the past 7 months, and I'm just now getting serious about solving the issue. I can't seem to find any forums or guides that hint to a solution for my seemingly isolated malfunction.

Any help or navigation would be greatly appreciated.


My system specs:
Asus p8z77v-Pro...Intel 3770k...EVGA gtx680...Corsair Dominator RAM (16gigs @1600mhz)...Samsung 840 Pro 256gb...Corsair AX 850watt PSU...Windows 8 64bit.
 
Solution
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I fixed everything.

I decided that this had to be a hardware issue, so I unplugged the power cable and peripherals and opened up my computer. I read about the SATA ports in my ASUS P8Z77V-Pro (motherboard) manual, and found something interesting. It appears that when I initially put together my computer, I had put BOTH the Samsung 840 Pro SSD and the LG DVD optical drive in the "Asmedia 6gb/s SATA III" ports (these are the two navy blue plugs at the top). I found that the two grey ports (Intel SATA III) should work better for the SSD, so I plugged my Samsung 840 Pro into one of those. I then read that optical drives should be plugged into one of the four light blue ports at the bottom (SATA II, I believe). So, I plugged my two...
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Sassbogs

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Aug 2, 2013
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I have quadruple checked this in BIOS, and it has always been in AHCI mode. Is there something else I am forgetting to do in BIOS? Should I disable the S.M.A.R.T status check? Beneath these options, I see all 6 of my sata ports empty with the "hot plug" option grayed out. Not sure why all 6 ports are empty while my SSD and DVD drive are detectable elsewhere in BIOS...

I was just reading about others having a freezing problem while "scanning for hardware changes", and they mentioned something about disabling "dynamic ticks". Someone also said they just disconnected their DVD drive and everything was running fine. I really doubt my DVD drive has anything to do with my issue.

As I said before, the SSD performs perfectly during normal use.
 
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Sassbogs

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Aug 2, 2013
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So, I disabled dynamic ticks, and that fixed the freezing problem when scanning for hardware changes on MOST devices (thank you, ur6beersaway), but my system still hangs when I try to scan for hardware changes on the drive itself (my SSD). It also still hangs when I try to run Samsung Magician 4.1 on a fresh download and installation.

While the frustration has been lessened, it still continues...

Does anyone else have any advice?
 
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Sassbogs

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Aug 2, 2013
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Alright, so I followed all of your advice, but I'm still having issues. Apparently, when I was unsure if I had successfully updated the firmware via Samsung Magician, I actually had; I downloaded the firmware update from the post above, and tried to manually install it, but it said I already had that version installed.

Thanks for all your help though. Much appreciated. I suppose I'm just going to have to ignore the "scanning for hardware changes" freezing issue.

Is there some other SSD optimization software out there that is not only compatible with my 840 Pro, but better than the garbage Samsung puts out for their own drives?
 
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Sassbogs

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Aug 2, 2013
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I fixed everything.

I decided that this had to be a hardware issue, so I unplugged the power cable and peripherals and opened up my computer. I read about the SATA ports in my ASUS P8Z77V-Pro (motherboard) manual, and found something interesting. It appears that when I initially put together my computer, I had put BOTH the Samsung 840 Pro SSD and the LG DVD optical drive in the "Asmedia 6gb/s SATA III" ports (these are the two navy blue plugs at the top). I found that the two grey ports (Intel SATA III) should work better for the SSD, so I plugged my Samsung 840 Pro into one of those. I then read that optical drives should be plugged into one of the four light blue ports at the bottom (SATA II, I believe). So, I plugged my two devices into the new ports, put my case back together, and booted up. Every one of my problems was fixed. "Scanning for hardware changes" now completes successfully and without freezes, and Samsung Magician software loads and runs fine.

My problem was having both my SSD and optical drive plugged into the two "Asmedia" SATA III ports.

IN CONCLUSION:
If anyone else was having these same problems as I was, be sure that your SSD is NOT plugged into the top two "Asmedia" 6gb/s SATA III ports, but the grey "Intel" 6gb/s SATA III ports, instead. ALSO, plug your optical drives into one of the lower four SATA II ports.

This was not an easy problem to troubleshoot, and I would suggest that the hardware manufactures should be made aware of this issue.

Still, ur6beersaway, thank you for all of your efforts and help. I'm going to read more of that SSD Optimization guide you posted.
 
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BBandito

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Jan 9, 2014
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Holy crap mate, how awesome are you for documenting this really obscure, and bone numbing to diagnose, problem. Just swapped my Samsung SSD drive to the intel SATA ports on my ASUS MB and presto everything works! Same symptoms as you describe and same solution. You have saved me hours of time and frustration. Damn you're good.

 
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Torquer2

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Jan 13, 2014
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I am having the same problem with a Samsung 840 EVO in my system. But I don't really know if it is the SSD.

Please explain what you mean by "freeze". Does it freeze for a few seconds/minutes and then resume normally? In my case, it is locked up solid; the mouse does not move. The only way to get the system running again is to power it off; even the reset button does not work. There is nothing in the Windows systems logs about the event, when I reboot.

This is a completely new build: Intel Haswell i5, MSI Z87 motherboard, Samsung SSD, Windows 7 Pro. It has never failed when I am actually using the system. It always locks up when it is sitting at near idle overnight (bittorrent is about the only app running). I really don't know how to attack this. It smells like a hardware problem, but with all new hardware I don't know where to start. I will look at the SATA port issue described here.


 
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BBandito

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Jan 9, 2014
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It's a complete freeze, total and irredeemable, you have to power off (4 second hold on pwr button). Using Intel chipset SATA ports on my MB instead of the asmedia ones fixed the problem completely for me. I'd suggest you check if your MB has a range of SATA ports and try your SSD with an intel based controller / port.



 
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limen

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Mar 30, 2014
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Wow, I can't believe that worked.

For the record I'm running Windows 7, and when I gave Samsung Magician user control privileges at startup, it would cause my PC to show graphics artifacts - flickering and tearing and stuff. Switching my SSD to its own SATA controller (the upper one on my SATA II GA-P35-DS3L) seems to have solved it.

Thanks a lot!
 
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mille3j3

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Sep 1, 2014
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This helped tremendously. I have an Asrock Z87 Extreme 6. It's my first build and the literature and components for this motherboard it seems lacked the clarity offered by other brands. My SATA ports are all gray and the only thing the manual says is "To minimize the boot time, use Intel® Z87 SATA ports (SATA3_0) for your bootable devices". I wouldn't have even thought to look for that had it not been for this thread.
 
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Dawid Kielak

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Dec 20, 2014
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I am experiencing the exact same problem (with Samsung 850 Evo and Windows 10). My motherboard is a z97 one (asrock z97 extreme6), and the only thing that works is disconnecting the optical drive completely.

I have the SSD connected to sata3_0, HDD to sata3_1, and have tried connecting the optical drive to sata3_a1 and sata3_a4 (neither is an intel sata).

Is there a reason why this works on z87 but not on z97?

Do you guys have an idea how to solve it? Should I get in touch with the motherboard producer?
 
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