Samsung 980 SSD failure - System Error Exception, 'NTFS.sys' probably corrupted
I built a PC a couple of years ago, the specs are:
* i9 12900K * Asus Tuf 3080 10GB * Asus B660M Tuf Mobo * 32GB Corsair Vengeance RAM (DDR4) * Samsung 980 Pro 2TB (and no other drives in this PC) * Windows 11 Pro
I use it for CAD work and gaming, namely CoD (sorry, it's what everyone I know plays). Anyways I run everything stock, no OC'ing, and essentially no unnecessary firmware updates (including the one that apparently bricked 980s), just Nvidia Driver updates and Windows updates. I don't have a ton of random software on it either, just Dropbox, Drive, CAD stuff, Adobe, etc.
It's been working fine but yesterday I decided I'd run some CoD in the afternoon and it got stuck in a BSOD boot loop. I hadn't BSOD'd in a long time, I don't actually remember the last time, maybe in 2023? Anyways, it would show the Mobo splash page (press F2 to enter bios) then immediately show the BSOD screen with the error stated in the reddit post. I tried the following:
* Using Asus's Safe Mode boot option, which is to hit the power button while restarting (at the aforementioned Mobo splash page 3 times. It looked like it was about to go into safe/recovery mode settings for half a second, the shade of blue was different than the BSOD, then it BSOD'd anyway. * I made a recovery key on my main computer, a MacBook. I made a USB installation key with instructions from Puget to make sure. I still got BSOD even when I changed the startup disk to be the USB (obviously I changed the priority in BIOS). * I removed the SSD, and was successfully able to boot into the USB installation key. Then I tried to reinsert the SSD into the NVME slot; maybe a bad idea, but nothing happened. When I restarted from the USB key with the SSD installed, back to BSOD. * I tried putting the SSD in the other M.2 slot, and weirdly I was able to see the Windows login page for half a second before it BSOD'd. * I tried using a NVME to USB3 adapter. Whenever I inserted the USB3 adapter in, I'd BSOD from the USB installation key. * I tried downloading Samsung Magician on MacOS, and it wouldn't show the SSD when I plugged it in. MacOS showed it, and even let me go through my files (I didn't back that machine up but also didn't really have personal files on it). * Eventually I went to Micro Center and bought a 990 Pro, installed Windows 11 Pro again, and everything was great. Side note: 990 Pro is absurdly quick, I reinstalled everything in less than an hour, except for CoD because Activision servers are trash. * Here is where it gets crazy: I downloaded Samsung Magician on my fresh Windows 11 install, and within a few seconds it BSOD'd. * I tried to do the same thing again by booting Windows Safe Mode, and the same result.
In every instance the error was the same, pointing to something messed up in NTFS.sys. Fortunately I was able to pull up the SSD on my Macbook and got a couple files I might need in the future, so nothing important was lost except for a couple hundred bucks and my time, but I use the computer for work so whatever.
Compared to others I didn't have a satisfactory outcome but if it happens to anyone else (i.e. this gets indexed in Google and someone sees how it troubleshot it) then the outcome might not be satisfactory to you, particularly if you don't have a MacBook that won't freak out over a bad Windows NTFS.sys file.
The only other thing I guess I could try would be to diagnose it on another Surface machine (my dad's), but I don't think it'll do anything better than my 'new' PC did, unless Windows 10 could help. One other thing:
* I mentioned before I made USB installation key via Terminal in MacOS. It didn't actually let me install Windows—I was missing 'media drivers' or some annoying error when it looked for which disk to write Windows 11 to. * I tried looking for multiple drivers, the Intel VMD/RST thing, the Samsung 990 Pro driver, and nothing would load up when I was installing from the USB key. * Finally, I did use my dad's very old and slow Surface 4, and made a Windows Installation key with the Wizard/tool that Microsoft provides. That worked perfectly.
TL;DR: Windows boot loop, tried to make a USB key in MacOS and had to use a Windows computer anways, Sunday evening wasted. If anyone has their own experiences to share with regards to NTFS.sys errors, feel free to comment.
EDIT: also, I couldn't access dump files via Windows because it crashes the PC, so I'll need to see if I can find that in MacOS, assuming those files wrote to the SSD.