Brand new 1TB m.2 NVMe. Crash twiced past two days.

JeRM said:

While pulling the logs and everything I realized I left only my 1 stick of 8GB RAM installed, but typically there would be 12gb total.

The PC randomly resets mid-game during Apex Legends. That's all I can say as of now. I included reliability report screenshots and uninstalled SupportAssist to see if that was part of the problem.

Let me know if anything else is needed. I really appreciate the help from whoever may dive into this with me.

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WindowsForum AI said:

Thank you for providing this information. Based on what you have shared, it appears that you may be experiencing a hardware issue related to either your RAM or your NVMe drive. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Test your RAM: Since you mentioned that you are currently running with only one stick of 8GB RAM, it's possible that this could be causing the crashes. Try removing this stick and replacing it with the other 8GB stick to see if the crashes still occur. You can also run a memory diagnostic tool such as Windows Memory Diagnostic to check for any errors in your RAM.

2. Test your drive: You can use a drive diagnostic tool such as CrystalDiskInfo or Western Digital Data Lifeguard to see if there are any issues with your NVMe drive. Make sure to back up any important data before testing the drive, as running these tools can sometimes result in data loss.

3. Check your temperatures: High temperatures can cause your system to crash, especially during intense gaming sessions. Use a program such as HWMonitor to monitor your CPU and GPU temperatures while gaming to see if they are spiking to unsafe levels.

4. Update your drivers: Make sure that all of your drivers are up to date, especially your graphics card driver. You can use a program such as Driver Easy to easily update all of your drivers.

5. Check for malware: It's possible that you may have a virus or other form of malware on your system that is causing the crashes. Use a program such as Malwarebytes to scan your system for malware and remove any threats that are detected.

I hope these steps help you to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

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Steps to Diagnose the NVMe Drive:​

1. Run a Detailed S.M.A.R.T. Scan:
   • Use a tool like CrystalDiskInfo, Samsung Magician (if it's a Samsung SSD), or the diagnostic software provided by the drive's manufacturer.
   • Look for parameters like:
     • Reallocated Sectors Count—Indicates unusable sectors.
     • Power On Hours—Gives you an idea of how much the drive has been used.
     • Wear Leveling—For newer SSDs and NVMe drives.
     • Critical Warnings—Check for wear or error counts.
   • Run Extended/Long Tests to thoroughly check for early failures.
2. Benchmark the Drive:
   • Use benchmarking tools like ATTO Disk Benchmark or CrystalDiskMark to test the drive’s performance and see if it behaves erratically during heavy usage.
3. Check Firmware Updates:
   • Many NVMe drives ship with problematic firmware that might cause stability issues. Visit the manufacturer’s website to download and apply the latest firmware update.

Rule Out Other Factors:​

1. Ensure Proper NVMe Installation:
   • Confirm that the drive is properly seated in the M.2 slot and locked securely with a screw.
   • Check the motherboard manual to ensure the M.2 slot supports the NVMe you're using.
2. BIOS Settings:
   • Verify that the BIOS is configured properly for NVMe drives:
     • Enable AHCI mode (vs. IDE) for SATA/NVMe drives.
     • Disable legacy modes if using modern hardware.
   • Update the motherboard BIOS if it’s outdated, as newer updates often fix storage instability problems.
3. Test Without the Drive Installed:
   • Temporarily remove the NVMe drive and boot the system using only the remaining storage.
   • If the crashes disappear, this confirms the NVMe as the cause.
4. Temperature Monitoring:
   • NVMe drives can throttle or cause system instability if they overheat:
     • Use tools like HWMonitor or HWiNFO to monitor the drive's temperatures. Temperatures beyond 70°C under load are a red flag.

Memory (Optional Check):​

• Before any firmware flash or continued stress testing, make a full copy of irreplaceable files or a disk image. If the drive is flaky, further writes can make recovery harder.

• Run CrystalDiskInfo to read SMART attributes (Temperature, Reallocated Sectors, Uncorrectable Errors, Percentage Used / Wear). Save the output.
• Also run the drive manufacturer’s official utility (TEAM/brand tool, Samsung Magician, WD Dashboard, Crucial Storage Executive, etc. — vendor tools expose controller/firmware strings and offer official diagnostics and firmware updates.

• Use the vendor tool’s extended/self-test and run a long SMART/extended test.
• In a non‑production run, do a controlled heavy-write test (e.g., 20–50 GB sequential write while monitoring) so you can reproduce the symptom while logging telemetry. If the drive fails during this, stop and collect logs. Community benches often used ~50 GB continuous writes as a repro.

• Note the exact firmware version the vendor utility reports. If there’s a firmware update for your exact model/part number, follow the vendor’s instructions and only flash after you have backups. Firmware is a common remediation for controller edge-cases. Also check for a motherboard BIOS update (some BIOS fixes improve NVMe stability).

• Use HWiNFO / HWMonitor to log NVMe temperature while you game (Apex). NVMe controllers can hit thermal thresholds and behave erratically; vendors recommend heatsinks/thermal pads for sustained loads. If temperature spikes toward 70–80°C under load, add cooling (M.2 heatsink, better case airflow).

• Power down, remove the M.2 screw and reseat the module; try a different M.2 slot if your motherboard has one. If the system is on the edge of PCIe lane or power quirks, changing slot or adding a heatsink can help.

• After a crash, check Event Viewer (System) for disk errors, NVMe errors or Kernel‑Power (Event ID 41) and any device disconnects. If drive “disappears” from Device Manager/Disk Management, preserve the logs and stop writing to the drive — imaging before further writes is recommended.

• If it becomes inaccessible or disappears during the repro test: power off, reseat, boot to a Linux live USB or vendor diagnostic image and see whether the device enumerates at the host level. If it remains unreliable, open an RMA with the vendor (provide SMART dumps, firmware, timestamps and Event Viewer logs).

• Avoid very large single-session writes (>~50 GB) and delay any large game installs or Steam updates to that drive until firmware/diagnostics are resolved. Backups + staging updates are the recommended safety steps.

• Walk you through the exact CrystalDiskInfo output to interpret SMART fields (paste the screenshot or the SMART values).
• Give the exact vendor-tool steps for TEAM (or tell me the exact brand/model/firmware string and I’ll point to the correct utility and firmware page).