Gigabyte board, BSOD then no boot drive.

[ilirc]

Hello, I'm having some issues with my system, the system in question is this:

CPU: i7 3770
RAM: 4X4GB DDR3
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H
GPU: Msi Gaming r9-270
PSU: 80 plus bronze 600W.
SSD: 240GB Kingston uv400

The problem just started appearing recently and it is of this nature, while working the system freezes and i get a quick glance at an BSOD (very quick) and then the system reboots and I get the no bootable drive error. If i try again after a couple of hours it might work, but not necessarily. Once while trying to make it work (rebooting and unplugging SSD) I even bricked the BIOS (reboot loops and no post), but I found some tips on how to make the Gigabyte board to boot from the 2nd BIOS and everything went back to normal.

Things that I have tried:
1. Flashing all sorts of different BIOS (the ones on gigabyte website).
2. Changing SATA cable.
3. Different Drive (tried to install windows on a different SSD, while installing the system froze, and when i reboot, the system wouldn't recognize the drive)
4. Removing all but one RAM stick
5. Removing all other SATA drives
6. Booting from a USB hdd (works)

I would say I'm very much "electronically educated" as I have an electrical engineering degree so I have tried everything practical that I can think of.

Do you have any suggestions or should I throw this piece of sh*t board out the window.

 

[rocktalkrock]

Have you gone into the Device Manager and looked for any yellow warning signs, particularly with your Storage Controllers?

 

[ilirc]

Have you gone into the Device Manager and looked for any yellow warning signs, particularly with your Storage Controllers?

Yup, no issues there. No issues at all while I'm using Windows, everything is fine and then it freezes. One thing I have not tried is using the system with internal graphics only. Will report if I get anything fixed that way.

 

[rocktalkrock]

1. When you say "6. Booting from a USB hdd (works)", do you mean you can boot from the USB HDD and continue using the machine for hours and it will not freeze, or only that you can boot successfully into Windows and then you stop using it?

2. Describe how often this freezing/crashing happens. Roughly how long can you usually run the machine before it freezes on you?

3. Is there no noticeable pattern as to what you are typically doing when the freezing appears?

 

[ilirc]

1. When you say "6. Booting from a USB hdd (works)", do you mean you can boot from the USB HDD and continue using the machine for hours and it will not freeze, or only that you can boot successfully into Windows and then you stop using it?

2. Describe how often this freezing/crashing happens. Roughly how long can you usually run the machine before it freezes on you?

3. Is there no noticeable pattern as to what you are typically doing when the freezing appears?

Hey man, thanks a lot for trying to help.

1. The way I tried to boot from a usb HDD is, immediately after the system froze and I got the "no boot device" error, i took the SSD (the one my windows is installed in) and plugged it in a USB 3.0 enclosure, and it worked (but I couldn't get into windows because usb interface and not SATA, and i could only load windows from Safe Mode), after that i took the same SSD and plugged it through sata again and it wouldn't work.

2. Usually it happens after 2-3 hours of use, lately it's been happening after a shorter period of time.

3. Just usual stuff, some light Photoshop work, watching a stream, playing CSGO sometimes, but no actual patterns, sometimes it might happen while writing a Word document, sometimes it might happen while playing a game.

 

[rocktalkrock]

1. When you say "6. Booting from a USB hdd (works)", do you mean you can boot from the USB HDD and continue using the machine for hours and it will not freeze, or only that you can boot successfully into Windows and then you stop using it?

2. Describe how often this freezing/crashing happens. Roughly how long can you usually run the machine before it freezes on you?

3. Is there no noticeable pattern as to what you are typically doing when the freezing appears?

Hey man, thanks a lot for trying to help.

1. The way I tried to boot from a usb HDD is, immediately after the system froze and I got the "no boot device" error, i took the SSD (the one my windows is installed in) and plugged it in a USB 3.0 enclosure, and it worked (but I couldn't get into windows because usb interface and not SATA, and i could only load windows from Safe Mode), after that i took the same SSD and plugged it through sata again and it wouldn't work.

2. Usually it happens after 2-3 hours of use, lately it's been happening after a shorter period of time.

3. Just usual stuff, some light Photoshop work, watching a stream, playing CSGO sometimes, but no actual patterns, sometimes it might happen while writing a Word document, sometimes it might happen while playing a game.

You said "I even bricked the BIOS... the made the board boot from the 2nd BIOS and everything went back to normal."
After you did this did you go into the BIOS and check all the setting were the same way you had them before the BIOS first bricked?

Just from what you're describing it sounds like an overheating issue. Your using the computer for a few hours, the temperatures climb, it crashes, the system reboots and you get the no bootable drive error, but if you try again after a couple of hours it might work.

Try running a program like UserBenchMark and see what it shows. http://www.userbenchmark.com/

 

[ilirc]

1. When you say "6. Booting from a USB hdd (works)", do you mean you can boot from the USB HDD and continue using the machine for hours and it will not freeze, or only that you can boot successfully into Windows and then you stop using it?

2. Describe how often this freezing/crashing happens. Roughly how long can you usually run the machine before it freezes on you?

3. Is there no noticeable pattern as to what you are typically doing when the freezing appears?

Hey man, thanks a lot for trying to help.

1. The way I tried to boot from a usb HDD is, immediately after the system froze and I got the "no boot device" error, i took the SSD (the one my windows is installed in) and plugged it in a USB 3.0 enclosure, and it worked (but I couldn't get into windows because usb interface and not SATA, and i could only load windows from Safe Mode), after that i took the same SSD and plugged it through sata again and it wouldn't work.

2. Usually it happens after 2-3 hours of use, lately it's been happening after a shorter period of time.

3. Just usual stuff, some light Photoshop work, watching a stream, playing CSGO sometimes, but no actual patterns, sometimes it might happen while writing a Word document, sometimes it might happen while playing a game.

You said "I even bricked the BIOS... the made the board boot from the 2nd BIOS and everything went back to normal."
After you did this did you go into the BIOS and check all the setting were the same way you had them before the BIOS first bricked?

Just from what you're describing it sounds like an overheating issue. Your using the computer for a few hours, the temperatures climb, it crashes, the system reboots and you get the no bootable drive error, but if you try again after a couple of hours it might work.

Try running a program like UserBenchMark and see what it shows. http://www.userbenchmark.com/

It's not overheating, I tried stress-testing it with prime95 for example, and it wouldn't do the freeze thing, but then 2 hours after, while visiting a simple website, it did the bsod freezing. And the cooling in my case is excellent anyway so overheating is out of the question. By the way, tried it with internal graphics only, as well, no success.

 

[rocktalkrock]

1. When you say "6. Booting from a USB hdd (works)", do you mean you can boot from the USB HDD and continue using the machine for hours and it will not freeze, or only that you can boot successfully into Windows and then you stop using it?

2. Describe how often this freezing/crashing happens. Roughly how long can you usually run the machine before it freezes on you?

3. Is there no noticeable pattern as to what you are typically doing when the freezing appears?

Hey man, thanks a lot for trying to help.

1. The way I tried to boot from a usb HDD is, immediately after the system froze and I got the "no boot device" error, i took the SSD (the one my windows is installed in) and plugged it in a USB 3.0 enclosure, and it worked (but I couldn't get into windows because usb interface and not SATA, and i could only load windows from Safe Mode), after that i took the same SSD and plugged it through sata again and it wouldn't work.

2. Usually it happens after 2-3 hours of use, lately it's been happening after a shorter period of time.

3. Just usual stuff, some light Photoshop work, watching a stream, playing CSGO sometimes, but no actual patterns, sometimes it might happen while writing a Word document, sometimes it might happen while playing a game.

You said "I even bricked the BIOS... the made the board boot from the 2nd BIOS and everything went back to normal."
After you did this did you go into the BIOS and check all the setting were the same way you had them before the BIOS first bricked?

Just from what you're describing it sounds like an overheating issue. Your using the computer for a few hours, the temperatures climb, it crashes, the system reboots and you get the no bootable drive error, but if you try again after a couple of hours it might work.

Try running a program like UserBenchMark and see what it shows. http://www.userbenchmark.com/

It's not overheating, I tried stress-testing it with prime95 for example, and it wouldn't do the freeze thing, but then 2 hours after, while visiting a simple website, it did the bsod freezing. And the cooling in my case is excellent anyway so overheating is out of the question. By the way, tried it with internal graphics only, as well, no success.

This latest bosd follows the pattern you mentioned of 2 to 3 hours before it crashes. Try keeping Windows Task Manager open and watching Memory usage under the Processes tab. Maybe for some reason Windows is not handling memory properly, and eventually after a few hours your available memory runs out. Just a wild guess.