Windows 7 Clean install, cant boot with my media drive connected

izaktaylor

New Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Windows 7 64bit
Asus P7P55D-E LX
8GB Crucial SDR DD3
EVGA GTX 260
Samsung 470 SSD 128gb (Startup Disc)
Seagate 2TB
WD 2TB <--- Problem Drive
WD Velocirator 300GB
LaCie 2TB external connected with eSata

Last night i installed a new Bootup disk drive (128gb ssd). The PC started up fine with most of the hard drives plugged in (via sata 2). I plugged in the last drive, which was the WB 2TB. During bootup, the computer started normally. It showed the bios started up and showed a screen detecting the external. Just prior to the windows welcome screen the boot stopped. Only a cursor in the top left Hand corner displayed blinking at me. Through the process of elimination i determined only when the WD drive was plugged in did I have this problem.

The WD drive wasn't the previous OS drive. Its just a basic media storage drive. I checked the bios for boot disk priority and the correct disk (the SSD) was listed as the top priority with a dvd rom drive just below it. The WD wasn't listed. From the bios i disabled the WD drive, but on startup the same issue persisted. This drive needs only be connected physically to cause this issue. The sata cable connections haven't changed from the previous install, the locations are just as they were before.

I reset the CMOS, which aside from resetting the bios made no change in the bootup problem. At this point im stuck and don't know where to go next.

Thank you.
 
Sounds like you may need to boot from the Windows disk. Install the drive but boot from your 7 disk and run the repair console.
 
It sounds as though the necessary bootup files are on the new SSD.

What files did you copy over to the new SSD?
 
@reghakr I didn't move any files over initially when this occurred. i did a custom install by formatting the drive first then installing W7

@Kemical yes i did a new install on the SSD. the SSD previous didn't have an OS on it, just game files. I can try the re-install, but honestly I dont want to. lol

i swear something goes wrong every time i do a re-install or change hardware.
 
@reghakr I didn't move any files over initially when this occurred. i did a custom install by formatting the drive first then installing W7

@Kemical yes i did a new install on the SSD. the SSD previous didn't have an OS on it, just game files. I can try the re-install, but honestly I dont want to. lol

i swear something goes wrong every time i do a re-install or change hardware.

I think if you re-install with the old drive attached you'll be good to go. Can you check the bios again and see how the drive is listed?
 
You might also want to go to Start > Run and type in diskmgmt.msc and locate the drive letter that is listed as the boot drive.
 
The correct disk (SSD) is set as the bootup. One item i may of left out is that when it goes to this cursor screen, it blinks for about 1-2 minutes before booting into the OS on the SSD.
 
Hmm... What do you have listed in the boot order? Is it HDD or SSD?

Also is the SSD running with the latest firmware?

Link Removed due to 404 Error
 
Last edited:
SSD is the first listing in the boot order. then a DVD drive. Those are the only two items in the boot order. After following the link provided i determined that the firmware on the SSD is up to date.
 
As reghakr mentions, the disk management window can provide quite a bit of information. Taking a picture using the snipping tool and attaching using the paperclip might help explain the situation.

But is does sound like Windows is having to deal with the WD drive prior to completing the boot. Is the drive formatted normally or do you have some special software/formatting involved since it is your "Media" drive? Is the drive involved in a media streaming or sharing network? Are there any drive letters that have been assigned or mapped that might be involved?

If you disconnect the eSATA, does it make any difference? That drive can be plugged in at any time so it might be good to remove it from the problem.
 
I have started the PC with the eSata unplugged, there was no change. Attached is my disk management.
 

Attachments

  • Untitled.jpg
    Untitled.jpg
    169.4 KB · Views: 410
Is drive 6 shown in the picture the WD drive? Is or was it hidden in some way or have hidden partitions?

What is drive 2?

It seems you have been using a third party partition manager, any insight into this?
 
I've only used windows disk management, no third party partition managers.

Disk 0 is the WD problem drive. I'm not sure what you mean by drive 6, only 5 are listed. There aren't any hidden partitions that I'm aware of. The second drive on the list is my OS drive (the SSD).
 
If you could take another snapshot showing Disk 0 (the C: drive), so we could see the partitions on that drive it might be helpful.

I do see that the C: drive is listed as the Boot drive.
 
I'm a bit confused. Disk 1 is the C: drive and Disk 0 only has one partition. I've attached another snippet per your request
 

Attachments

  • Capture2.JPG
    Capture2.JPG
    32.2 KB · Views: 396
Thanks for the update.

Two things:

1. I'm a little surprized there is no SYSTEM RESERVED partition

2. If I recall, it seems to me that Disk 0 was always the Boot partition so it may be a cabling issue.
 

Attachments

  • diskmgmt.jpg
    diskmgmt.jpg
    243.3 KB · Views: 412
That system reserved partition is confusing. I don't have one on mine. The PC had Vista with HP recovery partition. I partitioned it for data storage before I installed Windows 7. I didn't delete the Vista recovery immediately either I simply installed 7 on C where Vista had been. I believe I read if the drive was partitioned then it did not create a system reserved partition. If it will help what is in the system reserved that I could search for and see where it is.
Joe
 
In your first attachment, Disk 0 and 1 are not shown, but are in the second attachment. Beyond that, in your first attachment you show 5 disks (2-6).

Some points:

You only need one active partition on a system, and that would be the SSD in your case, and it does show as such.

The 9 MB unallocated space has always seemed to be related to a third party partitioning software, or maybe XP if the drive were formatted or some partitions has been rearranged. There could be a situation where the drive had been set up a particular way and had not been cleaned so as to remove the odd unallocated space. I used to see this while testing dual booting situations with Windows 7 and XP and I was using the drives for multiple tests.

You say you only have 5 hard drives. But Disk Managment seems to show 7 (0-6). The only time I have seen a physical hard drive divided into separate disks in Disk Management was when the drive had been used in conjuction with a raid setup.

There is also, I might assume, the possibility if a drive is not being read correctly, it might mess up how Disk Management reads the configuration.
 
Back
Top Bottom