for now, everytime it acts up (refer to the first two images i sent) i force restart, then it takes me to a “no boot device found” black screen prompt with a “press F2 to launch diagnostics option”, i press f2, exit out of it then im taken back to systemd bootloader. im just hoping that either someone can help me find a solution or maybe the last option would be to just buy another ssd and reinstall (college student funds are tight smh)
As multiple people have said, it sounds like the drive is failing - the only way to be certain of this would be to run a proper diagnostic, ideally from a livecd environment rather than running from the drive you’re trying to test.
My usual go-to tools are part of UBCD, which can be booted from a USB drive and capable of running a full test.
EDIT: I should mention, UBCD requires that you set your UEFI/BIOS to boot in legacy/BIOS mode, so if you do use it ensure you change this setting first (and remember to change it back after when you’re done 
)
If you would prefer something with a full GUI and that will boot on UEFI without any tinkering, Hiren’s is my preferred alternative even though it is based on a stripped down Windows PE environment. You will just have to hold your nose while you run the diagnostics 
I will ALSO add, that oftentimes if a drive is dying, the stress of running a diagnostic can be the thing that finally kills it. This is less common in the age of flash media and SSDs than it was when we were all lugging around boxes of spinning rust, but is still possible. However, if the drive is indeed dying, you’re on borrowed time anyway and there’s no fix possible other than replacing the component. Just double and triple check those backups before proceeding.
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thank you, i’ll consider this option. but from the looks of it, i think it’s safer to just replace my laptop’s ssd no? i’ve backed up most of my school files and memes (very important) so all that’s left is to save up for it.
however, there is nothing wrong with doing a little bit of fixing myself.
You’re missing a step, I feel - replacing the SSD will resolve the problem if the current drive is indeed faulty, however, if it’s not the drive at fault but something else, then you have bought and installed a new SSD for absolutely no reason (which is wasting your money, something generally best avoided ).
Running a diagnostic on the drive will either -
A) Prove the drive is faulty and confirm that you should indeed buy and install a new SSD, solving your problem.
or
B) Prove the drive is NOT faulty and that the problem lies elsewhere, in which case you don’t need to buy and install a new SSD and can look to troubleshoot further having not unnecessarily spent money on a new SSD.
Do you see?
i completely understand, that’s why i’ll try your suggestion earlier and see what’s up
I agree on checking the SSD first (Before trying anything else in my message).
These steps are just from things I done when using Windows when there is nothing to lose at this point and too be honest I don’t know what many Linux message outputs are yet but could be worth a shot, but may even be worth just re-seating it (Taking it out and putting it back in) just in case of the off chance it’s a connection issue, along with re-seating RAM.
There isn’t anything rattling inside by any chance? I know some NVME SSDs are secured via a screw which may have come loose and could explain why sometimes it works and doesn’t. I could be mistaken but some of those messages look like possibly the system failed to reach the SSD so couldn’t close or stop certain processes. I have dealt with laptops while working in IT (Old ones outside of warranty) and sometimes things like this resolve the issue.
As mentioned though verify the SSD first and then everything else if there is no option but a quick check just in case. And I am relatively new to Linux myself so I could be wrong as Windows tends to not show any message output at all so I just try random stuff but just throwing some suggestions so you don’t buy or replace something that is not required, but that is all I can do due to lack of Linux experience.
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@Yuujin
At least start with checking the drive with smart.
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i’ll be asking an aqcuaintance who’s sorta like a repairman to check on the ssd and ram seating. my laptop’s chassis is pretty ok but i found out the hard way that it flexes more than i thought it would (one time, i grabbed it by one hand on the corner while it was on and i think it messed with the ram since there were glitching and artifacing happening when i did that)
will do 
im still trying to figure it out but… i think this is weird or at least i wasn’t prepared to see this result
maybe im using the wrong device name? i dont have any sda, and i checked with gparted that my ssd is called nvme0n1, i could be wrong though
Maybe my elderly eyesight is failing me but I don’t see /dev/sda mentioned anywhere in the screenshot you’ve provided, so it’s not clear what you’re talking about
oh i didnt clarify it, i was following the smartctl thingy on the arch wiki. and the example there showed ‘/dev/sda/’ so i thought i was doing something incorrect lmao my bad
That makes more sense than me going blind
sd(x) is the naming convention used for drives attached over scsi/sata/usb - sda would be the first detected drive, then sdb and so on.
nvme is just the naming prefix for nvme drives, which is the type of SSD installed in your laptop according to your configuration rather than the sata connection used in older machines.
A passed SMART test is a positive sign but unfortunately SMART isn’t infallible - I’ve seen plenty of dying drives happily passing SMART right up until the moment they finally go kaput.
A full diagnostic scan is really the only path to certainty.
Show the output from this command
lsblk -f
So yes you are correct you only have the nvme drive. The whole issue could have been caused by memory error since reading what you said.
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