ACER PREADATOR TRITON PT715-51 freezes and disconnects second NMVE(PT715-51)

ACER PREADATOR TRITON PT715-51

With only one WD BLACK 1TB NMVE SSD everything goes ok, but the moment I add a second identical SSD the laptop freezes [even at power on it seems like it's stuck in some sort of internal BIOS loop], sometimes does bootup in windows but if you want to write/read on the second SSD after a while it disconnects the second SSD [the D drive disappears], and ultimately at some point it gives also the BSOD.

The moment I remove the second NMVE everything returns to normal. It does not matter on which NMVE slot [0 or 1] is connected, or on witch SSD is the OS installed. As long as you have only one NMVE everything is fine. By the way, the NMVE's are brand new.

I have updated the laptop to the latest BIOS firmware 1.10, and I have installed the latest drivers, but nothing changed. In my humble opinion this could be a HW design problem, maybe a new BIOS release will fix this issue.

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ven98

Have you tried setting the SATA mode from BIOS to AHCI? Have in mind if the BIOS is already in RAID, setting it to AHCI will cause it not to boot even with one SSD, but at least you will find out if you will experience the same issue with the 2nd SSD. Setting it back to RAID will make the laptop boot again from the first SSD, but just in case I would advice to create a recovery drive of windows and back up your data.

You can try setting the SATA mode to AHCI and then install windows on the 2nd SSD and then check if the 1st SSD will be detected as a second drive.

Commodore_1995#

In addition to the tip of colleague ven98, try reversing the slot ssds! It is important to also inform, that removing ssd, can break the array!

Kaverin

Thanks ven98 for your answer.

The laptop is an acer predator triton PT715-51 [CPU I&-7700HQ, 32 GB RAM, WIN 10] with windows 10 Home.

In BIOS you cannot change the SATA option [is set to RAID and cannot be changed, it is in grey and you cannot move the cursor to that option in order to change it]

Originally it came with 2 nmve each 256 GB and being factory locked to RAID 0 in Windows it showed one drive of 512 GB.

Like I said above when installed 2 identical NMVE 1 TB each, those ssd are recognized in BIOS [if you are lucky enough to arrive up to the BIOS part] on slot 0 and 1, but most of the times the system hangs before the predator logo with a black screen [like being in an infinite hardware detection loop], some times after a long waiting period it does boot up in windows but when you try to read/write on second SSD, [not the one with the OS, that one works well] the speed drops drastically to a stand still and after that the SSD is disconnected and disappears from windows explorer. After some time the system goes BSOD …

Thanks egydiocoelho for your answer.

I have tried every possible combination of slots, etc. For example I put the OS on SSD lets's say nr.1, SSD nr2 being empty. Change the slots between them but still the problem remained. Then installed the OS on SSD nr.2, formatted the SSD nr.1 and again checked alternating both slots. Same result.

The NMVE are brand new and in perfect condition. Separately [only one installed in laptop], they work very well. When you try to put them both inside, hell happens …

I still believe this is a hardware issue related to RAID 0 acer forced BIOS.

It's almost unreal that on a laptop this price tag to find this kind of issues … wake up Acer !!!

Please make a new BIOS release to solve this issue.

Thank you all

Kaverin

In my laptop, two WD Black nmve 1TB each are not recognized as one 2 TB drive [as I believe it should in RAID 0] but as individual drives, drive C and D

You cannot break the array is there is no array at all

Commodore_1995#

OK! Can you tell the exact model of ssd? Have you checked if there is any firmware for ssd?

ven98

Have you tried removing windows from both SSDs and then installing it, while the 2 SSDs are connected?

In some Acee devices creating a supervisor password in BIOS unlocks some of the locked settings(e.g secure boot), so maybe it unlock the option to change to AHCI.

Kaverin

Yes. It worked … kinda, you could choose on which SSD to install it [0 or 1] in windows setup steps. But then at the end of the installing process it freezes in black screen. After a hard reset [long power button push] it starts in windows but with the problems stated above. The only stable situation is installing windows with only one nmve installed. Of course, after adding the second SSD the problems reappear, but with only one, the system is stable

Kaverin

SSd types are WD Western Digital Black NVMe SSD MDL: WDS100T2X0C-00L350 PC SN700

Commodore_1995#

you said that in the installation of windows, both ssds are identified, correct? if yes, before installing windows in ssds, try to convert them before to gpt, like this:

a) press shift + f10 and enter these commands, always giving enter on each one: diskpart, list disk, sel disk x, clean (delete all), convert gpt! Do these commands in both ssds and then continue the installation!

After installing windows, check for any firmware updates: http://downloads.wdc.com/fwupdater/Win/WDFirmwareUpdater.zip?v=w

ven98

As you mentioned the reason for this is most likely because the sata mode is set to raid. Did you try creating a supervisor password to see if it will unlock the sata mode options?

Do you mind creating a RAID 0 array between the 2 drives and installing windows on a RAID 0 volume?

Kaverin

Thanks for the answer egydiocoelho

The firmware of the SSD are up to date [checked with WD SSD Dashboard] They are manufactured September 2018 and are made in Malaysia. I honestly believe there's nothing wrong with the SSD's

Don't get me wrong, but I still don't understand what's that got to do with the fact that the laptop WILL NOT start 9 out of 10 times with both SSD installed. It does not pass even the BIOS check … it goes black screen of death … lol. I don't believe it even matters what OS you have installed.

In my humble opinion it's either an ssd firmware issue, though I highly doubt it, or a hardware issue with the laptop, a design flaw from ACER, more likely.

However I will try your suggestion. Going GPT on drives though MBR should work well up to 2 GB.

Kaverin

2 TB, sorry

Kaverin

Yes supervisor password is set, but it does not unlock the SATA mode option. Also user password is set, though is of less importance. In this model of laptop, strange, but you CANNOT change the RAID option … it's only view only … view and cry

Also toyed in BIOS with erase all secure boot settings and change TPM (TCM) state to disable … nothing changed

truth is you have a bunch of fancy BIOS options but when you try to add a second SSD it's game over

Unless ACER unlocks the RAID 0 to AHCI I believe this model of laptop is prone to this issues.

If one ask me, will I pay the same money again, you know the answer …

I'm so disappointed, nothing was cheap, the laptop, the ssd's …

Kaverin

Let's hope ACER prepares a new BIOS to correct this issues

Commodore_1995#

Have you tried converting ssd to gpt? First disconnect one ssd and convert to gpt and then do the same thing with the other ssd! I think it worth the try!

Kaverin

Not yet egydiocoelho. I will try that as well. After both drives are GPT I will try to reinstall windows on one of them, while both are plugged in. Thank you for your support. Keep you posted

Kaverin

Did went GPT on both drives individually [with some third party live dvd sw.] Installed them both in laptop. First thing noticed, much faster boot time, and no BIOS loop or waiting time, the predator logo appears much faster as fast as booting with only one SSD installed. Then I installed windows 10 on hdd 0. However at the end it did BSOD on me "Your PC run into a problem and needs to restart. We'll restart for you" … To be honest I didn't wait for the restart. Did a hard reset instead. After that windows started normally.

Strange thing, I tried to copy from an external Samsung Portable SSD T3 MU-PT1T0B via thunderbolt USB typeC port to the D drive. It started at 300 and something mb/sec then the speed dropped to zero and this time it disconnected the external drive Maybe that one has to be GPT as well … who knows

Now I am copying from an external WD elements via usb 3.0 to the same D drive with around 95 mb/sec and it appears to be stable.

Still not 100% happy, but I must admit it's a big improvement.

Thank you egydiocoelho !

Commodore_1995#

OK! Let me see if I understood! The two ssds are connected in the two doors m2 2280, correct? Both initialized correctly and are detected in the bios, correct? Does windows recognize both drives? Have you updated the ssds firmware? Did you install the notebook drivers with this program? https://drp.su/en
It is possible that the USB port drivers are not installed. This interferes with the transfer rate!

Kaverin

Thank you guys for your assistance and help but I'm afraid I have bad news ... again. Today the laptop started experiencing the same symptoms stated in the upper posts.

First I noticed a longer than usual boot up time, [the BIOS HW identif that runs in background, never understood why ACER would hide that info … I remember the good old times when the PC gave you a summary of what you have inside at every system powerup], then windows started loading with the usual rotating circle. Then I tried to copy from the same external HDD that worked yesterday and surprise, system froze again with the SSD speed dropping to zero. Nothing worked anymore, the windows, the closing X, the CTRL+ALT+DEL ... system is totally frozen. Then of course the usual windows BSOD, then the laptop would not boot again [BIOS black loop of death] until I took out all the laptop back screws, took out the second SSD and … voila, the system is yet again up and running [with only one SSD of course] …

I noticed that supplementary removing also the back power cord after a laptop power down would get you past the Black Screen of Death up to the … Predator Logo Screen of Death … where of course the system freezes again …

At this point I truly start to blame ACER, because the SSD's are up to date with the latest firmware and I did tried everything, MBR/GPT, changing slots, etc.