Hardware issue? Software issue? SSD beginning to die?

I've had this issue with my MBA resuming from sleep. I posted about it in the Mountain Lion section of this forum, but I am beginning to think it's actually a hardware issue, and I am looking for advice. The MBA is out of warrantee, but I have a private insurance plan that will cover major repairs.

Here's what happens when I let my MBA sleep for many hours: On resume, it freezes. Sometimes pressing the power button will cause the curser to show up, sometimes I get a spinning beach ball, most of the time I get nothing at all. I've left it like this for 30 minutes, nothing. I've closed the lid again and come back 10 minutes later, nothing.

The only thing I can do is a hard restart. Normally the MBA started normally after this. Lately, the Macbook Air has been booting to either a white/gray screen, or it shows the folder with a question mark icon flashing (meaning it cannot find the boot drive). I hard reboot it again, holding down "option", and it does not see the internal drive. After a few minutes, it offers me to boot into recovery, but still no hard drive. I do a hard reboot again, and again hold option. This third time it recognizes the hard drive fine, and boots into it just fine. Everything remains fine until I again leave it it in sleep for several hours.

What I have tried so far:
- Reset all pmset settings to default
- Resetting SMC
- Resetting NVRAM
- Clean reinstall of OS X 10.8.2 (still happened on that version)
- Updated to 10.8.3 again
- Run it with filevault disabled and enabled (its usually enabled)
- Messed around with various auto-login and password login window settings
- Reseated SSD
- Done a long hardware test
- Left it sleeping after quitting Chrome

I am calling on the MacRumos brain trust! Is this a software issue or a hardware issue? If software issue... I am out of ideas. If hardware, how do I test for which piece of hardware it is?

 

Thanks guys, this does help confirm that it's most likely the SSD. I'm at the Apple store now waiting for my appointment. I'm out of warrantee, so they shouldn't have any hesitance to identify an expensive problem. Hopefully they will be able to confirm what the problem is.

 

Genius said it was either the SSD or the Logic Board, but most likely SSD. SHe said a new SSD would cost a bit over $900, but they offer a fix and replace anything that is broken service for $280 flat fee, regardless of what parts are broken.

I'm going to do the repair, as soon as I hear back from insurance.

 

It's a 2011 MBA with 256GB SSD, I never bought APP and the 1yr has expired. Apparently a $900 is what a 256GB SSD replacement costs if you order just that sku from Apple. However, they also offer a $280 we-fix-anything option for newish computers in good shape.

 

Thought I'd update this thread with the progress regress.

I got the MBA back from the Apple store last night. According to their report, they replaced (1) the logic board, (2) the SSD, and (3) the IPD cable. The third is the cable that attaches the keyboard and trackpad to the logic board. Overall, not bad for $280, or so I thought.

I get home, everything works fine. I begin re-installing OS X (because I like to start super fresh, and Apple put back the iLife suit which I don't use, and it takes up a ton of space on the SSD). At the point where the installation needs to reboot, it does so and then doesn't come back on.

Nada. Nothing. Zip. Totally unresponsive.

Pressing the power button does nothing. Pressing anything does nothing. The power cable light shows green. I tried holding the power button for 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 60 seconds. Nothing. I tried holding it with the power cable disconnected, with the computer upside down, waiting an hour and trying again.

So I'm taking it back to the Apple store tonight, and I'm pretty upset. I brought it to them in a glitchy but somewhat usable state, paid them to fix it, and now it's completely and totally dead.

My first thought was that it could be the IPD cable they replaced. However, I don't think thats it anymore (correct me if I'm wrong). They keyboard and trackpad worked just fine while the MBA was on. I used them to type in quite a few things. I'm now thinking it could be a faulty logic board, or something else broke with the power management.

Either way... it looks like another week without a computer.

Edit: I now see that the keyboard and trackpad have have seperate cables, both called the "IPD" cable. Not sure which was replaced by apple.

 

The Apple Store on Boylston St Boston felt my pain. They figured out that I got a faulty logic board, and replaced it very quickly. Dropped it off in the evening before they closed, and picked up the next morning. So far so good.