Help! Is My SSD Failing? Also Having Problems With Pitool.

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Im having Read/Write errors when using Pitool with Steam every time (opening steam VR on its own does not produce this, only when Opening it through Pitool).
But as long as I close the message I can still go ahead and use steam VR, however im wondering if this is the cause of my pings as it seems to be affecting connection. If I go online in AMS2 (Only sim i've tested this with recently) in VR i get massive pings now, and this never used to happen! Same servers without VR and its fine, business as usual.

Also I've been experiencing 100% Disk usage quite often, which should'nt be happening as I've 160GB free on my SSD and 32Gb of ram, plus the PC is only 2 years old! However I ran a CHKDSK and it stated no problems, but also found 4KB in bad sectors, which has worried me i may have a failing SSD, is this possible after 2 years!

Also (because of the read write error) I took out both ram sticks (one 2 years old, one less than a year old) to check ram was ok and tried just one at a time. No probs with the old one, yet PC will not boot with newer one! Yet when both are in it runs fine and registers both.

Here's a screenshot of one of the read write errors, and a shot of the CHKDSK results.


I've not experienced problems running VR online in AMS2 until now.
My PC is part of my livelyhood.
Should I be worried, can anybody help?

 

[GeekyDeaks]

Did you actually do a memory check? Reason I ask is that it not booting with one pair seems highly suspicious. Does it not even get to the BIOS? If you have not already done so, I'd run the memory check in the BIOS as a starting point.

EDIT: I just realised the first image you posted looks like a memory error, not a disk one. I'd definitely be checking the memory if you haven't yet

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Did you actually do a memory check? Reason I ask is that it not booting with one pair seems highly suspicious. Does it not even get to the BIOS? If you have not already done so, I'd run the memory check in the BIOS as a starting point.

EDIT: I just realised the first image you posted looks like a memory error, not a disk one. I'd definitely be checking the memory if you haven't yet

Hi mate, thanks so much for the reply!

It boots fine with both sticks, fine with just one (the older one) but does not boot with just one (the newer one) no matter which slot i put it in. I can't remember just now but i think it either got to Motherboard screen but no further, or it was just dark screen/nothing then shut down and tried to boot again over and over till I turned the rear power supply switch off. Done a memory check, said no problems, but it aint booting with that new stick on its own thats for sure.

Like I siad its strange as that stick is only under a year old, will have to get in touch with my PC company!

Thanks again !

 

[pattikins]

Did you reset the bios (clear CMOS) each time you switched the memory?

What type of memory do you have, & are both sticks the same brand/model?

Does the constant 100% disk activity happen when you're using your headset, or when it's idle...?

 

[RasmusP]

Memory sticks can sometimes simply go faulty. Since there's no data on them, it's not a big issue as long as you have multiple sticks overall.

Your "testing" isn't really clear to me.
So you have 4 slots on your mobo and 2 sticks of 16gb?

With stick 1 in slot 1 it's running fine.
Stick 2 in slot 1 it's not booting?

Or did you leave stick 2 in slot 2 while slot 1 was empty?

You should also check stick 2 in slot 1 and stick 1 in slot 2.
To make sure it's the ram and not the slot!

 

[Neilski]

I'm also on board with the "iffy memory" suspicions. Memtest86 is my go-to testing software (takes a while for a thorough test).

Another remark: you didn't run chkdsk with the /r or /b options so I'm pretty certain it won't have attempted to find bad sectors (the output also doesn't mention finding any). This would seem to mean that the 4 kB it mentions (a single physical sector, I believe) must have been found on some previous run...

 

[Durge Driven]

Hard to know when you don't list hardware.
Some motherboards use slots 2 and 4 for 2 sticks..
Usually furthest slot and second furthest slot from CPU.
Using slots 2 -4 move memory away from CPU allowing more air flow.

 

[Durge Driven]

Last sentence.....

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Hard to know when you don't list hardware.
Some motherboards use slots 2 and 4 for 2 sticks..
Usually furthest slot and second furthest slot from CPU.
Using slots 2 -4 move memory away from CPU allowing more air flow.

Sorry, just added it to my signature, my motherboard is a two slot Gigabyte

H310M S2 2.0 ​

Thanks V much for reply!

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Did you reset the bios (clear CMOS) each time you switched the memory?

What type of memory do you have, & are both sticks the same brand/model?

Does the constant 100% disk activity happen when you're using your headset, or when it's idle...?

Sorry not worded that right, 100% disk usage happens quaite alot bu not all the time, usually when steam or Firefox is loading on boot but it can happen just when browsing. Too be honest its not the main fproblem its the read write errors im more concerned with, I'll have to check on if its doing it with VR on as i've not done that yet, its very strange that im getting ridiculess pings just by having VR on though.

Have not reset Bios at any point.

Have added memory type to my signature, its DD4 2666 RAM two sticks of sixteen each in a dual slot MB, i think they are two slightly different generic looking sticks, will double che3ck next time im at my PC. Thanks v much for reply!

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Sorry, just added it to my signature, my motherboard is a two slot Gigabyte

H310M S2 2.0 ​

T

Memory sticks can sometimes simply go faulty. Since there's no data on them, it's not a big issue as long as you have multiple sticks overall.

Your "testing" isn't really clear to me.
So you have 4 slots on your mobo and 2 sticks of 16gb?

With stick 1 in slot 1 it's running fine.
Stick 2 in slot 1 it's not booting?

Or did you leave stick 2 in slot 2 while slot 1 was empty?

You should also check stick 2 in slot 1 and stick 1 in slot 2.
To make sure it's the ram and not the slot!

Its a dual slot MB, tried with older stick in either slot, works fine. Newer stick in either slot, no boot! Thanks V much for reply!

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

I'm also on board with the "iffy memory" suspicions. Memtest86 is my go-to testing software (takes a while for a thorough test).

Another remark: you didn't run chkdsk with the /r or /b options so I'm pretty certain it won't have attempted to find bad sectors (the output also doesn't mention finding any). This would seem to mean that the 4 kB it mentions (a single physical sector, I believe) must have been found on some previous run...

Really whats your memory problems or symptoms? I'm afraid I don't know about /r or /b options with chkdsk, not heard of that before? Thanks V much for the reply!

 

[GeekyDeaks]

Really whats your memory problems or symptoms?

I think @Neilski was just saying it sounds like a memory issue, not that he has a similar problem I also concur with his recommendation that you try a more exhaustive test (e.g. https://www.memtest86.com) as problems might only show up with specific bit patterns

 

[RasmusP]

Have added memory type to my signature, its DD4 2666 RAM two sticks of sixteen each in a dual slot MB, i think they are two slightly different generic looking sticks, will double che3ck next time im at my PC.

Mixing ram sticks can sometimes cause issues. But it's quite rare with ddr4 and it should definitely run with only one stick, no matter which one.
However if you have enabled an xmp profile, the newer stick might not run with that profile.
So I would recommend to set all ram related settings in your bios to default or "auto" and check with the older stick if it's showing 2400 MHz.

Then put the currently not-working stick in alone and check if you can get into the bios.
If not, I'd say the newer stick is faulty and needs to be replaced

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

(takes a while for a thorough test).

Bloody heck you weren't kidding, been on the go nearly 2 hours now and looks like it's only half way through! No errors so far though!

 

[Neilski]

Bloody heck you weren't kidding, been on the go nearly 2 hours now and looks like it's only half way through! No errors so far though!

That's encouraging. You can let it run multiple times but as long as it finishes at least one complete pass (with the full suite of tests) then you should be able to feel reasonably relaxed that there isn't a major issue with the memory. Rarely, a problem will only manifest when the machine is doing something a bit funky (maybe power-supply sag plays a role in this??), but generally a clean bill of health from Memtest86 is saying the the problem isn't with the DIMMs.

One question to consider: how repeatable are your problems? Your first post indicates a slew of separate things (connected?) with at least the Pitool one being an "every time" thing. I think you called that a "read/write" error by the way, but the screenshot seems to indicate a "memory could not be written" error, which might simply be a software/driver bug rather than a hardware issue.
When you get the 100% disk usage errors, I would suggest checking with Task Manager to see which app is hammering the disk - if you use the "Processes" tab and sort by Disk utilisation you should spot the culprit. Firefox will certainly hammer the disk occasionally for me, but it's rare and when it does occur it's usually only for a few seconds (extremely bloody annoying when it does do it at a bad time though! I'm generally losing patience with Firefox in fact).

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

That's encouraging. You can let it run multiple times but as long as it finishes at least one complete pass (with the full suite of tests) then you should be able to feel reasonably relaxed that there isn't a major issue with the memory. Rarely, a problem will only manifest when the machine is doing something a bit funky (maybe power-supply sag plays a role in this??), but generally a clean bill of health from Memtest86 is saying the the problem isn't with the DIMMs.

One question to consider: how repeatable are your problems? Your first post indicates a slew of separate things (connected?) with at least the Pitool one being an "every time" thing. I think you called that a "read/write" error by the way, but the screenshot seems to indicate a "memory could not be written" error, which might simply be a software/driver bug rather than a hardware issue.
When you get the 100% disk usage errors, I would suggest checking with Task Manager to see which app is hammering the disk - if you use the "Processes" tab and sort by Disk utilisation you should spot the culprit. Firefox will certainly hammer the disk occasionally for me, but it's rare and when it does occur it's usually only for a few seconds (extremely bloody annoying when it does do it at a bad time though! I'm generally losing patience with Firefox in fact).

Yes it ran 3 passes, no probs, not one single error, on the main full test, which was a massive relief! Was running for nearly 3 hrs!

And oh my muthfudging life! Can't believe this but, I tried going online in other sims in VR just to check my ridiculous pings were not just down to any new problem with the latest build of AMS2 and, nope, same stupid pings in eveyone! Then I had a last ditch idea, very last thing I could think of! My Mum had borrowed my TP Link box (kinda like etherent but using the houses mains link) and I've been using her WiFi dongle instead since (for a couple of months), swapped em back today.... Would bloody Adam and muthfudging Eve it, it's only completely solved the massive pings! I'm back to normal online in VR again! After all that and a week and a half of stress about it it was the bloody WiFi dongle, but it works fine even with the dongle when I'm not in VR! Go figure!

And yep, the older my Firefox gets the more it eats disk usage, for several seconds but better after a clear out!

And the Pitool software still throughout the read write error every time I open steam with it, but it still works, I just have to ignore the error. I tell you though, pimax software has never been easy, I love my pimax but NEVER buy one if you want an easy life, bloody nightmare! Thanks so much for the help mate!!!!!

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Oh PS, ran a special SSD storage checker, it reckons there's no probs with it either!

 

[RasmusP]

After all that and a week and a half of stress about it it was the bloody WiFi dongle, but it works fine even with the dongle when I'm not in VR! Go figure!

Did your WiFi dongles stick in exactly the same USB port?
For me it sounds like the VR USB traffic caused hiccups in the WiFi-USB-traffic. Probably same USB controller on the motherboard.

So having the sticks in different ports might make a massive difference. Or it's just how the WiFi dongles work.

I would recommend a pci-e extension WiFi card. It separates USB and internet completely.
If the "good" WiFi dongle doesn't kill your ping, it might cause issues with the VR USB connection..

 

[blekenbleu]

USB 3 hash from the VR headset cable may provoke EMI issues with that dongle.
Consider adding ferrite beads to the VR USB cable near its ends.