HELP Diagnosing Startup/HDD /BT? Issue

[greenfrog5]

SSD with Mavericks and admin account
Larger HDDs with my user account (home), storage and clone backups
I'll post more as needed, but am on iPad since hackintosh won't boot so want to minimize typing.

Periodically, (2 or 3 times in last 18 mos) my computer would unexplicitibly crash while I wasn't using it. Main SSD boot drive would exhibit:
Partial boot, hanging on Apple logo or login screen
Not being recognized in bios (randomly, a few reboots and it resolves)

Past times, the drive wouldn't load at all, even booting into backup drive there was no way to access/repair disk. I removed it and used an external SATA dock which DID recognize it and allow me to repair/rebuild (in Drive Genius - not sure Disk Util would access it or not...). Upon fixing, and reinserting the drive, everything was fine again. I figured I'd replace the SSD with something larger/better, but it worked fine for months. Until it happened again - but again easy to fix... Etc

Anyway, I came home to an unresponsive machine today- black screen, live cursor, beachball.

Similar symptoms as described, except the disk is available when I boot into backup drives without physically removing and using the dock. Using DG to verify, then repair, then rebuild, a few things were fixed. Still having issues: drive won't boot, sometimes isn't recognized, and beach balls on login screen so -v doesn't show anything. -x allows you to enter a u/p but beachball when submitting it.

Booting into backup drives works ok, sometimes recognizing the problem drive for access/repair, other times, not.

I just don't know what to do next besides a) reimage from a BU or b) replace the drive.

Is this just the beginnings of a drive failure? I'm curious to find what is actually going on before wiping clean because the drive otherwise seems fine.

Also, most reboots my IO Bluetooth dongle doesn't connect my keyboard and I need a wired keyboard to login and reconfigure. Don't think it is actually related, but maybe?

Im happy to provide specific tech info as neede, I just wanted to get this basic info online as I continue to troubleshoot and get a working keyboard again...

 

[Going Bald]

Try replacing the SATA cable to the troublesome drive and/or changing the port it is connected to on the mainboard.

 

[greenfrog5]

I swapped the HDD's position with another internal drive (new cable, new SATA port) with no change in behavior. Beachball after login screen loads, but before I can select a User account. Booting with -x and I can enter a PW, but it freezes while submitting it.

I am now repeating the process that has successfully restored functionality in the past: removing drive, using USB dock to repair/rebuild/etc. Then reinstalling. I don't' expect it will work this time, as I already ran this procedure with the drive IN the machine without success.

I have ordered a replacement SSD but am still interested in trying to pinpoint the issue while I have the drive accessible, but not bootable - if only as a learning process... I do have a recent clone/backup that I can clone onto the drive too, but again, prefer to do some troubleshooting before erasing any evidence of the problem. I just don't know what to do next to locate the likely issue.

 

[greenfrog5]

Ok, so using the external SATA dock I ran Verify/Repair/Rebuild using Drive Genius. Only Rebuild fixed a few things, however rerunning Rebuild required additional fixing... (like the 'fix' isn't taking).

Then I use Disk Utility, where Verify and Repair Disk produce 'all OK', but Repair Permissions finds a few things. Part way through repairing them, the disk suddenly disconnects, prompting a 'please eject before removing' error. It can't seem to get through the entire thing without ejecting itself, now 5 or 6 times in a row

I'm conceding that the disk is failing and awaiting its replacement on Friday. At least I get to do a fresh install of the newer OS now rather than continuing to avoid upgrading an aging system.