Windows 7 - HDD swapping and removing

Hi everyone.

Recently I have installed Windows 7 RC edition on a 320 gig SATA 2 hdd. After installation I realised that I didn't need my old IDE hdd which I had 2 of together on my motherboard. So I remove them and just keep the rest I need in.

Problem is BIOS won't detect Windows 7 on any of my hdd when the IDE hdd are removed. I can only boot into Windows 7 with them plugged in which is really frustrating. Although one of the IDE's has an XP partition, it shouldn't interfere. Btw my friend has had the same problem and he only has the one partition of windows on his pc so I don't think it is that.

Any suggestions? Much appriciated.

First off, welcome to Seven Forums.

If you could fill out your system specs a bit more it would help me in assisting you.

It should be in the my specs section but ok:

Phenom II 720 black edition
Gigabyte motherboard with HDMI onboard Radeon 3200
4 gig OCZ platinum edition
Radeon 4850 video card (currently being repaired)
320gig hdd SATA WD 16meg cache
320gig hdd SATA Samsung 16meg cache
1 tb hdd SATA Samsung 32meg cache

You people and your Phenoms wish I had one.

So does your motherboard not detect the drive itself or just the OS on it?

EDIT: Your specs were not there when I first checked, my bad.

haha yea they are a good cpu anyway it is just Windows 7 not being detected. HDD's are being detected fine.

Really? I plan to get the Phenom II X4 @ 3.0Ghz when I build my first Desktop.

Have you tried reformatting the drive?

if you mean the IDE's no, that would be a good idea. Of course you do that's the source of my problem really, I'll get back to you in a bit. Thanks

Odd thought I responded..

Anyways I am referring to the drives that your Computer is not detecting Windows 7 on, try reformatting those.

oh right. Well basically Windows 7 will only be detetced at all on my 320gig if the IDE's are plugged in and if the SATA drives are in the same connecters on board as well. So yea if I do any kind of removing hdd, it seems that BIOS cannot find it and refers me to the xp partition automatically that is on one of my IDE drives.

Sorry I just realised this now from memory and should of said so at the start. Is there anything else I could try?

Make sure you have the latest firmware loaded for your motherboard, and that your BIOS is set to boot from a SATA drive and not an IDE.