Having trouble with Shuttle XG41 freezing with HDD light on

[treypal]

Here is a little info on the build

Shuttle XG41
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80570E8400
Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
Crucial M4 SSD 64gb
WD 500 gb
Windows 7 pro 64 bit.

PC has ran fine since October, until a few days ago. Now it will sporadically semi-freeze up. The HDD light will stay lit, the mouse can still move, but it won't execute any commands. I have changed nothing on the machine.

Updated the SSD firmware, ran Memtest86 with no errors, and now I am stuck.


Any suggestions?

 

[o1die]

I would try disconnecting the ssd if it's your main boot device. Use the 500 gb western digital and boot up; try connecting the ssd while windows is running and see if it is detected under "computer". If the hardrive symbol is solid, this means the ssd still has a chance of being recovered. If the symbol is empty, then most likely the ssd is bad; Anytime you update the ssd firmware, you lose all your files, and have to either clone the ssd off another drive or start over with a fresh windows install. I've had two fail, and received brand new ones under warranty (different brand). It takes about two weeks to get a replacement; my last one happened right after the Taiwan floods, so it took longer for the replacement to arrive. Good luck.

 

[treypal]

Its currently booting from the SSD. And it runs for a while before acting up.

Is there any software to test SSDs?

Thanks,

 

[o1die]

No. Be sure you don't defrag any ssd; this can harm the drive. Have you tried a fresh windows install lately?

 

[treypal]

No defrag for sure.

The install is 4 months old, the computer doesn't have much software on it. I mainly use it for p2p, itunes, and spotify. I don't think it has a virus, it isn't doing anything else funny.

I'd do a fresh install, but I can't find the dvd/key for this particular machine.