3 dead Kingston NVMes in 1 year...why?

[ThePiePieper]

So, not impossible to be from a close batch that is faulty. I would change the disk asap for another manufacturer's one.

Yea, Kingston had always been good to me for other SSDs and storge, but no more.

if Kingston replaced them it's less probable they failed from a power surge or any kind of outer influence unless the customer service is very understanding



@OP the drives were detected by the bios the whole time? have you tried to recreate the partition table, reformat the drives?

I believe so. The last 2 would boot to Windows recovery but nothing would work from there. The previous drive i attempted to format and reinstall windows but the process would fail each time.

 

[wNotyarD]

If I don't replace my MB, i will on the next drive. The bottom slot isn't the main but if I'm only running the OS on it, it should be fine.

Good call. If anything, it may zero in or rule out either your first slot or your Ryzen (the first slot is directly connected to it while the second's to the chipset, if I'm not mistaken).

 

[Dan.G]

Have you tried running them from an external USB adapter?
But I don't think you'll be able to use them as boot drives?

 

[ThePiePieper]

Have you tried running them from an external USB adapter?
But I don't think you'll be able to use them as boot drives?

No, i ordered an adapter as a way to try and recover something if i can get it to boot one more time. But at this point, i'm moving on to another manufacture and possibly a MB replacement.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Crap, i listed my old PSU. I do have a Corsair 850 in now after i upgraded to the 6900xt.

My post on other forums have not had any common responses outside the power issue, which i've updated to reflect the current PSU.

So to make sure I understand, you have had SSDs fail with two different power supplies?

IMO, you are either extremely unlucky and got 3 SSDs that, on their own, failed prematurely or you still have a power issue. It should be noted that as an entire category of electronics hardware, SSDs are considered very reliable. So IMO, unless the 3 SSDs, were in the same manufacturing production run and came off the same assembly one after the other, the odds all 3 were bad from the factory are pretty slim.

Did you check the wall outlet to make sure it is wired properly and outputting the correct voltage? Incorrect voltage may seem unlikely but it can happen. And it happened here.

I came home one evening to hear all my UPSs beeping, but power was still on. A quick check on the LCD status display panel of my UPS on this computer showed the incoming line voltage was 146VAC!!!! It should have been ~120VAC. Another quick check with my multimeter confirmed, 145.8VAC and the 220VAC outlet in the garage was showing 291.6VAC. Not good - especially for things like air conditioning and refrigerator compressors.

I called the power company, told them I was a technician and what I had found, then told them if they didn't want to pay to replace all the air conditioners and refrigerators in this neighborhood, they needed to send someone out right away. And [happily], they did - like in 15 minutes! The electrician checked the power entering my meter and confirmed what I had reported. This also established the problem was not on my end, but with theirs - thus affecting at least every home supplied by that common transformer. That was at least 8 homes.

Had I not had all those UPS alarms yelling at me, I probably would have fired up the computer and with the voltage being that hot, it might have put too much strain on the PSU regulator circuits and allowed excessive voltages to be distributed to the various components. This could have resulted in several unexplained, and expensive hardware failures with my computers, and with other devices in the house.

 

[Shrek]

A quick check on the LCD status display panel of my UPS on this computer showed the incoming line voltage was 146VAC!!!!

Yikes

I have a meter running in the kitchen so I can keep an eye on voltage; even calibrated it myself (against a Fluke DMM) so it is accurate (was out by a few volts).

Had I not had all those UPS alarms yelling at me, I probably would have fired up the computer and with the voltage being that hot, it might have put too much strain on the PSU regulator circuits and allowed excessive voltages to be distributed to the various components. This could have resulted in several unexplained, and expensive hardware failures with my computers, and with other devices in the house.

Since most computer supplies can handle a range around 100 - 240V, they would probably have been fine.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Yikes is right! What is scary is I never would have even suspected it was the mains voltages if not for my UPSs alarms going off. None of my neighbors are tech savvy so no doubt, they would not have been suspicious either - as one by one, refrigerators, freezers and AC compressors started to die - not to mention TVs and computers, and light bulbs burning out.

I like that little meter you have there. I might have to get one. The UPS LCD displays are great, but you have to manually push a button to "wake" the display panel up. The outlet checker I linked to earlier displays the voltage, but it is not exactly aesthetically pleasing for full time display.

I put something similar into the cigarette lighter socket in my truck after I went through 2 new batteries in 2 years. Turns out, I was just unlucky and got bad batteries. Or maybe I was lucky because they were replaced free under warranty and my alternator was not at fault. Unfortunately, despite 6 different gauges in my dash, I only have an idiot light for the alternator status. For being so inexpensive, that little meter is surprisingly accurate being spot on, at least to the 10th of a volt, according to my DMM.

Anyway - back on topic, @ThePiePieper, don't assume your outlet is properly wired AND grounded to Earth ground, or that your incoming voltage is correct. Check them with a decent outlet checker like the one I linked to in Post #5 above. Even if it is wired correctly, consider a good UPS with AVR. A decent 1500VA UPS will easily support your computer, at least one LCD monitor and a modem and a wireless router. And note the biggest advantage to having a good UPS with AVR is NOT backup power during a full power outage - that is only a minor bonus feature. It is the AVR (automatic voltage regulation) feature that makes a good UPS with AVR so valuable - much more so than even the best surge and spike protector.

But just in case you do have a full power outage, if you quickly and completely power off your computer and monitor(s), a good UPS with AVR will keep your wireless network alive, potentially for several hours so you can at least have Internet access with a wireless laptop, tablet or smartphone.

 

[ThePiePieper]

So to make sure I understand, you have had SSDs fail with two different power supplies?

No, i've always had the 850 in this system. I had pulled my parts list of PCPartPicker and wasn't paying attention to the fact I had changed the PSU after being lucky enough to score a 6900 at a reasonable price.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Well, then my original advice stands. If you are still worried even more SSDs will fail, I would swap in a known good PSU.

 

[Space Lynx]

@ThePiePieper You got to be shitting me. My KC3000 died today. I just been using it as a storage drive lately for games, and I went to download Chivalry 2 on it that I got from this months Humble Bundle... and it said "failed to write to disk", so I go to properties, scan drive, Windows 11 says unable to scan drive, unable to find drive... even though I can navigate the drive...

So then I do scan and repair drive and it says failed, unable to see drive.

What. The. Fuck. Never buying Kingston again. I am going to initiate the warranty as I bought it direct from Kingston website... hopefully I can get a replacement, but I expect that will die eventually to based on this thread. @W1zzard seriously, never had a nvme drive ever fail on me, or SSD for that matter, or HDD... ever... not a single one in 25 years of PC gaming... hell my Dad's old pentium 1 PC he uses offline for work still has the original drive working in it. Only linking you W1zz, cause I bought it based on your review. Normally I'd say weird shit can happen in this industry, but based on this OP experience, I think this is a bigger issue at play.

Fuck Kingston, never again mates, never again. bloody hell. out 90 bucks, cause I already know the replacement is probably going to act up eventually too. sigh.

 

[wNotyarD]

Never had a nvme drive ever fail on me, or SSD for that matter, or HDD... ever... not a single one in 25 years of PC gaming...

Fuck Kingston, never again mates, never again. bloody hell. out 90 bucks, cause I already know the replacement is probably going to act up eventually too. sigh.

I went through 3 dying Seagate HDDs in the span of 2 years in the early 2010's (one 500G, 750G and one 1T). Won't ever get one again.

 

[Devon68]

I have been using the Kingston KC3000 1GB as my boot drive and can't find anything

that being said, I never have had this much trouble in my life, so I will not be buying Kingston or MSI in the future.

Guys you are scaring me. I just ordered a KC3000 2TB a few days ago since I saw it was a bit better than a WD Sn770. I mean I will use it as an external steam drive.

 

[mechtech]

8months old..........so far so good.................
1TB OS
2TB steam

 

[Dr. Dro]

Guys you are scaring me. I just ordered a KC3000 2TB a few days ago since I saw it was a bit better than a WD Sn770. I mean I will use it as an external steam drive.

No need to worry, I don't think your drive will fail. OP's system must have some lingering electrical issue or bad setting that's causing a malfunction.

As for me though, I very much trust Western Digital with my data. For both SSDs and HDDs. But I've owned Kingston, Intel, Lexar and Adata SSDs, all of them work well to this day. I even have an OCZ RevoDrive SSD still in service after over 12 years.

The one storage vendor I've had rotten luck with is Seagate. Every Seagate HDD I've ever owned has malfunctioned or died entirely. But I very much reckon this is a me problem, I've just been unlucky. Their devices are also fine.

 

[Space Lynx]

Well Kingston did right by me, they already shipped my replacement drive from the warranty claim. I sent in the failing KC3000 drive last week. I was surprised by how smooth and quick it all went, very happy with the outcome. Says my replacement drive arrives next week, which is great for me.

 

[Arkz]

Bout 3 months old I think. That 79 though.. 3080 might be cooking it.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Well Kingston did right by me, they already shipped my replacement drive from the warranty claim. I sent in the failing KC3000 drive last week. I was surprised by how smooth and quick it all went, very happy with the outcome.

I have always felt how a company treats their customers AFTER the sale is just as important as the products they sell when it comes to evaluating a company AND whether or not I will do business with them again.

NO DOUBT, next time you are in the market for a new drive, Kingston will be one of the first you seriously consider. And you sharing that good service here is why I suspect Kingston will be among the first others, including yours truly, will consider too.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[mechtech]

Well Kingston did right by me, they already shipped my replacement drive from the warranty claim. I sent in the failing KC3000 drive last week. I was surprised by how smooth and quick it all went, very happy with the outcome. Says my replacement drive arrives next week, which is great for me.

Ya, I've always had good luck/experince with Kingston, and their rma/warranty. As for the OP, there are a ton of drives with the E18 and 176L micron. I would assume most of them get their firmware from Phison, but I could be wrong............

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