Eerily similar problem here. Identical setup to the OP, except an older MB.
I have a Mid-2009 15"MBP. Swapped the optical drive for an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD and Optibay Knockoff two days ago. Worked great for about 12 hours before the system crashed and the computer became un-bootable.
-Took the system back apart, and nudged, unplugged, and plugged cables for a while to try to isolate the problem. Seems to be a physical problem - it would occasionally boot after disconnecting and reconnecting... but a tiny nudge would screw the whole thing up. I'm fairly sure the problem is where the logic board connects to the optical drive cable.
-SSD is still working in an enclosure. No such luck for the Optical Drive, which is now back in its proper place. It seeks on boot but isn't recognized by the OS. Yikes! Hoping the problem is with the cable, but like the OP I'm not terribly optimistic.
-Will be taking it to the Apple store soon... would rather not drop $30 on the cable if it's not necessarily the problem.
-Weird to have the same problem with the same SSD. Hope it's a coincidence...
Steven, what knockoff OptiBay are you using? Mine is the Nimitz model, available on ebay.
-Apple store and stomaching the logic board replacement if necessary is all I can think of now. Worth noting that this would be the second time the logic board has failed. Last time it was the actual HDD bay.
Anyone have other suggestions to test or repair it?
Thanks,
Ben