W.D Black causing error code A2 ONLY on Restart

[Gh0sT-NoVa]

Just built my PC last weekend. But the W.D Black drive is old from previous system. It only have games nothing else in it.

My specs

Maximus XIII Hero ( currently latest BIOS )
10900K
32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro
1X W.D Black 2TB
1X Crucial MX500 2TB
2X Crucial MX500 1TB
1X Corsair MP510 960GB

So just built the PC last week, now it's on the 8th day.
So I've been trying to find the cause of this weird issue. Whenever I'm on Desktop, booted into Windows. If I were to Restart my PC, when it booting up during POST.
I will get hit by A2 error code.

So I nailed it down it was my W.D Black 2TB causing the issue, if I don't have it plug it. I can restart my PC no issue at all.
The problem only happens with warm boot never cold boot...

Also another weird issue have been happening I wonder if it's related, some of my SSD drives will randomly disappear...
It's not always, but the weird thing is it's not always the same drive. It could be F: this time but then it can be G:, I notice this issue happened to me least 3 times now.
And here's the mind blowing part, all I have to do is either shut down / restart my PC and the SSD will magically appear again.

Even though my HDD is causing me the restart issue, it never disappear, least so far it didn't.
I also did the W.D Lifeguard software, extended test. My W.D Black passed the test no issues.
S.M.A.R.T show all drives healthy, all running at the speed it should.
I've already tried

1) Changing the SATA ports, SATA cable.
2) Changed SATA power cable
3) Updated Windows.
4) Updated firmware for my SSD

Few more other things which I think it's irrelevant since it didn't help. I've tried almost every possible solution. I can't seem to find out, what's the problem !
All I know now is I fix my Restart issue by disconnecting my W.D Black 2TB drive, but why is it causing this problem if the drive passed test ?

Also why are my SSD disappearing and reappearing without me having to do anything beside a simple restart ??
What's going on ???

 

[Nebulous]

I'm thinking the WD Black drive is starting to fail (or the controller board is). Once it's cold the control board isn't warmed up yet, so the drive will act normal. Once the system is up and running, the drive is warm, that's when the control board (or something on it) will start to act up. Spinner drives are mechanical driven by a control board. These are not in infallible and over time will fail.

I have 5 spinner drives in my rig. 2 sets in Raid-0 ( 1 set for games, 2nd set for media). These drives are over 7 years old and I know at some point they will just fail and die out. It's happend to me before. At some point i will eventually replace my spinners for SSD's, but I need large ones and those can get alittle pricey.

I suggest you replace the drive. Spinners are so cheap nowadays, you can snag a large one for your games easy.

 

[Gh0sT-NoVa]

I'm thinking the WD Black drive is starting to fail (or the controller board is). Once it's cold the control board isn't warmed up yet, so the drive will act normal. Once the system is up and running, the drive is warm, that's when the control board (or something on it) will start to act up. Spinner drives are mechanical driven by a control board. These are not in infallible and over time will fail.

I have 5 spinner drives in my rig. 2 sets in Raid-0 ( 1 set for games, 2nd set for media). These drives are over 7 years old and I know at some point they will just fail and die out. It's happend to me before. At some point i will eventually replace my spinners for SSD's, but I need large ones and those can get alittle pricey.

I suggest you replace the drive. Spinners are so cheap nowadays, you can snag a large one for your games easy.

Damn that's a shame..beacuse this drive is only I think about 3 - 4 Years old. I yank it from my previous system.
it was running fine before I move it to my current new build.

But if I'm being honest, this drive did took some abuse. My downloads ( videos etc whatever ) + games all goes into this drive.
I download videos nearly everyday and they are least about 200mb each video....anime lol...so yeah easily 12 - 24 episode for each of them.
I filled up the drive a few times already with games, erased them and made room for new ones, so I guess it have been written quite load of times.

Especially when I was moving to my new system, I dump all my games into the W.D Black and migrate it to my current system then moving them to my SSD.
So I guess it took lot of beating lately lol...maybe it's finally time. Not to mention on my previous system, it was installed at the back of the casing, I was using Corsair Air 740, there was no airflow there cooling the drives at all.
My country is rather hot, I remember the W.D Black was running least 40C ++ but never above 50C, I think it never touches 50C though. Maybe 50C max but never high as 60C.

Wouldn't surprise what you said was true, about the controller failing soon, because at the very beginning on my current new PC, this apply to everyone after a new build you would need to update windows, install drivesr etc right and you often have to restart your PC.
At the beginning it was all fine, till I think it was 3rd day...then it started happening....
Also what I notice is, sometimes maybe like say 1 out of 10 times. I got lucky my PC would Restart fine it won't get stuck with A2 error code, so maybe the drive is truly dying.

For now I think I will just unplug it, maybe if I'm free next weekend I may connect it back to my previous PC and see how it goes.
Will update. Kinda ironic, my dream is that one day my system is full SSD only, and it seems like it's coming true...

If I'm on a hunt for a good reliable 2TB SSD recommendation ?
( I think SATA ones will do, no point getting NVME drives just for storing data )

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Do you have Windows on NVMe? Looks like a good setup if you do.

Just one year ago, I was using a Crucial MX500 500 GB SATA SSD and it was looking good. No Windows 10 corruption, but suddenly, Crystal Disk Info kept alerting me about the percentage plunging, in just one year, the lifetime plunged to 82 percent!

 

[Gh0sT-NoVa]

Do you have Windows on NVMe? Looks like a good setup if you do.

Just one year ago, I was using a Crucial MX500 500 GB SATA SSD and it was looking good. No Windows 10 corruption, but suddenly, Crystal Disk Info kept alerting me about the percentage plunging, in just one year, the lifetime plunged to 82 percent!

Yeah my Windows is installed onto my NVME drive, Corsair MP510 960 GB.
The rest are all SATA SSD, for my games.

As I said, the 2TB W.D Black is just an extra drive I salvaged from my previous system, feel like a waste just toss it away.
Since it's a 2TB and quite a great drive, I thought I may help conserve my SSD lifespan by dumping all my big files, download etc into my W.D Black instead as mechanical drives are more lasting.

" No Windows 10 corruption, but suddenly, Crystal Disk Info kept alerting me about the percentage plunging, in just one year, the lifetime plunged to 82 percent! "
But damn sorry to hear about that, sounded scary...but I mean least Crystal Disk Info is warning you.
Mine is just WEIRD ! It's just showing 100% Healthy, Passing all the test...( W.D Lifeguard, their own software, I did extended test too which is the long one to really test the drive )
Unless maybe like your case, maybe showing it's fine now, but it's nearly on it's way out ?

But this is the first time I have a HDD dying on me, especially a W.D drive ! Beside this drive isn't that old, it's only 3 Years - 4 Years, but I did hammer the hell out of it lol...but I think mechanical drives are able to take more beating than what I put it through don't they ?

In all honesty I rather it's the drive dying on me causing this issue than any other thing, but it still felt bit extreme...I mean when I'm Restarting my PC, when I get hit by the A2 error code. My PC is actually like frozen, I can't even enter the BIOS !
Even by pressing the Reset button on my casing it doesn't help ! I spam Delete trying to get it multiple times it won't work....have to be a complete shut down...then it revives....

 

[EarthDog]

I thought I may help conserve my SSD lifespan

Don't worry about that stuff. Ever. Unless you're writing 10s of GB daily to the drive for the life of the drive, you don't need to worry. Take some time to look up SSD lifespan tests....

Here's one from 5+ years ago - https://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead/

If possible, reformat the drive and run diagnostics on it to see if there are bad sectors that can be repaired.

 

[Gh0sT-NoVa]

Don't worry about that stuff. Ever. Unless you're writing 10s of GB daily to the drive for the life of the drive, you don't need to worry. Take some time to look up SSD lifespan tests....

Here's one from 5+ years ago - https://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead/

If possible, reformat the drive and run diagnostics on it to see if there are bad sectors that can be repaired.

Yo EarthDog, it's been too long lol. Not sure if you still remember me lol..

Maybe I will run another diagnostics. I actually did the test before I format it and combine my partition back together.
You do mean by using the W.D Lifeguard software right ?

I'm not denying what yo what you said about the bad sectors, but I did the test once it came out all positive is it possible that it missed it something ?

 

[EarthDog]

Try a different software to confirm...HDSentinal.

 

[Gh0sT-NoVa]

Try a different software to confirm...HDSentinal.

Sure I will give it a shot. But maybe during the weekends lol...been so stressful diagnosing it. Just gonna enjoy my PC at the moment.
But I definitely will update.

 

[EarthDog]

lol, just run it at night and when you wake you'll have the info.