"Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device," etc. Error - Just Sometimes

Yes,it is, until 5/9/2017. I'll keep you posted.

ESL said:

Yes,it is, until 5/9/2017. I'll keep you posted.

Since you've got no error codes for that HDD you've got some explaining to do (if they're not already aware of an incompatability). It might help to point them to this thread.

Curious, why did you swap the Seagate for a WD of the same size (according to the HP specs page for your model)? What feature did the WD have over the Seagate?

F5ing said:

ESL said:

Yes,it is, until 5/9/2017. I'll keep you posted.

Since you've got no error codes for that HDD you've got some explaining to do (if they're not already aware of an incompatability). It might help to point them to this thread.

Curious, why did you swap the Seagate for a WD of the same size (according to the HP specs page for your model)? What feature did the WD have over the Seagate?

When I found out my friend didn't have an external drive for doing backups, I stuck my original Seagate in an external enclosure and gave it to him. I wanted more storage space, anyway, so I bought a 2 TB WD20EARS (my current drive).

After that, I came to find out that my favourite backup program (EaseUS Todo Backup 1.1) wouldn't work with my 2 TB WD20EARS, and that it only supports up to a 1.5 TB hard drive. So, I then bought a 1.5 TB WD15EARS. That was misinformation from the backup software company. In reality, the program only supports drives under 1 TB. It was then that I bought the 750 GB WD Caviar Black drive rather than ask my friend for my original drive back. So, the fact that it was WD and it was the same size were the only two things I looked at when buying it.

I sent WD an email a couple of days ago regarding the incompatibility. They replied today and have agreed to issue me an RMA. Since it is likely that all Caviar Black 750 GB drives have this incompatibility, I'm not sure getting a replacement Caviar Black will really change anything.

I ordered a 500 GB Seagate from Newegg (ST500DM002) and it is a SATA 3 6.0Gb/s just like the problematic WD Caviar Black is. I want to see if I can reproduce the "select boot device" problem with this new Seagate. Regardless of whether it works or not, I will be returning it. I'll keep it long enough to do a clean install of Windows 7 and all updates and programs. If I get no error messages during reboot, I'll know Seagates are fine, and when I get my usual Christmas e-gift card from Newegg, I'll get another one.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Good to hear WD issued an RMA. It only took the single email to convince them?

How is WD going to reimburse you if you don't want an 'exact' replacement?

F5ing said:

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Good to hear WD issued an RMA. It only took the single email to convince them?

How is WD going to reimburse you if you don't want an 'exact' replacement?

Yes. In the email, I basically summarized the problems that I've mentioned here. They didn't tell me if it was a known issue or not, though. I've asked WD in another email if they would be willing to send me a WD7500AADS instead of another Caviar Black. The WD7500AADS is the 750 GB version of the 1.5 TB and 2 TB Caviar Green drives I have now.

ESL said:

Yes. In the email, I basically summarized the problems that I've mentioned here. They didn't tell me if it was a known issue or not, though. I've asked WD in another email if they would be willing to send me a WD7500AADS instead of another Caviar Black. The WD7500AADS is the 750 GB version of the 1.5 TB and 2 TB Caviar Green drives I have now.

Really appreciate your responses. Please let us know how it goes with WD (and hopefully, whether you can reliably boot your machine with another model HDD from WD).

F5ing said:

ESL said:

Yes. In the email, I basically summarized the problems that I've mentioned here. They didn't tell me if it was a known issue or not, though. I've asked WD in another email if they would be willing to send me a WD7500AADS instead of another Caviar Black. The WD7500AADS is the 750 GB version of the 1.5 TB and 2 TB Caviar Green drives I have now.

Really appreciate your responses. Please let us know how it goes with WD (and hopefully, whether you can reliably boot your machine with another model HDD from WD).

On a related note, the Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 SATA 3 6.0Gb/s (same specs as problematic WD Caviar Black) I ordered to test out arrived yesterday. I successfully loaded Windows 7 and all my programs onto it. No error messages. I then securely erased the drive with "clean all" and sent it back to Newegg.ca today. So, I have learned so far that Seagate SATA 3 drives work with my PC, but not WD SATA 3 drives, IDENTICAL to the experience of the gentleman on the HP forum.

I also heard back from WD regarding my request for a WD Caviar Green 750 GB WD7500AADS SATA 2 3.0GB/s drive to replace my Caviar Black 750 GB WD7502AAEX SATA 3 6.0GB/s drive. They said that normally, that wouldn't be a problem whatsoever, but that the WD7500AADS is end of life and no longer available. The replacement for that one is the WD7500AZRX, which is also a Caviar Green 750 GB model, but it is SATA 3 6.0GB/s. They said they could send me a WD7500AZRX, but I'm not sure it will work, considering it is SATA 3. In the end, however, I said okay to the offer of the WD7500AZRX. If I get it and I still get the error message, I can always use it as an external drive.

ESL said:

On a related note, the Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 SATA 3 6.0Gb/s (same specs as problematic WD Caviar Black) I ordered to test out arrived yesterday. I successfully loaded Windows 7 and all my programs onto it. No error messages. I then securely erased the drive with "clean all" and sent it back to Newegg.ca today. So, I have learned so far that Seagate SATA 3 drives work with my PC, but not WD SATA 3 drives, IDENTICAL to the experience of the gentleman on the HP forum.

I also heard back from WD regarding my request for a WD Caviar Green 750 GB WD7500AADS SATA 2 3.0GB/s drive to replace my Caviar Black 750 GB WD7502AAEX SATA 3 6.0GB/s drive. They said that normally, that wouldn't be a problem whatsoever, but that the WD7500AADS is end of life and no longer available. The replacement for that one is the WD7500AZRX, which is also a Caviar Green 750 GB model, but it is SATA 3 6.0GB/s. They said they could send me a WD7500AZRX, but I'm not sure it will work, considering it is SATA 3. In the end, however, I said okay to the offer of the WD7500AZRX. If I get it and I still get the error message, I can always use it as an external drive.

Hopefully it's not strictly an issue of being a SATA 3 from WD. May even have been an issue with a specific run of controller boards for the drives (yours and the other poster). Even boards for the exact same model of HDD can vary based on date produced and manufacturing location. Removing the board from one will not necessarily work on another of the same model number.

Ordering and returning a brand new Seagate was just for testing? Nothing more?

F5ing said:

ESL said:

On a related note, the Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 SATA 3 6.0Gb/s (same specs as problematic WD Caviar Black) I ordered to test out arrived yesterday. I successfully loaded Windows 7 and all my programs onto it. No error messages. I then securely erased the drive with "clean all" and sent it back to Newegg.ca today. So, I have learned so far that Seagate SATA 3 drives work with my PC, but not WD SATA 3 drives, IDENTICAL to the experience of the gentleman on the HP forum.

I also heard back from WD regarding my request for a WD Caviar Green 750 GB WD7500AADS SATA 2 3.0GB/s drive to replace my Caviar Black 750 GB WD7502AAEX SATA 3 6.0GB/s drive. They said that normally, that wouldn't be a problem whatsoever, but that the WD7500AADS is end of life and no longer available. The replacement for that one is the WD7500AZRX, which is also a Caviar Green 750 GB model, but it is SATA 3 6.0GB/s. They said they could send me a WD7500AZRX, but I'm not sure it will work, considering it is SATA 3. In the end, however, I said okay to the offer of the WD7500AZRX. If I get it and I still get the error message, I can always use it as an external drive.

Hopefully it's not strictly an issue of being a SATA 3 from WD. May even have been an issue with a specific run of controller boards for the drives (yours and the other poster). Even boards for the exact same model of HDD can vary based on date produced and manufacturing location. Removing the board from one will not necessarily work on another of the same model number.

Ordering and returning a brand new Seagate was just for testing? Nothing more?

Yes. Just testing. I needed to know that Seagate will work for me in the future.

ESL said:

F5ing said:

ESL said:

On a related note, the Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 SATA 3 6.0Gb/s (same specs as problematic WD Caviar Black) I ordered to test out arrived yesterday. I successfully loaded Windows 7 and all my programs onto it. No error messages. I then securely erased the drive with "clean all" and sent it back to Newegg.ca today. So, I have learned so far that Seagate SATA 3 drives work with my PC, but not WD SATA 3 drives, IDENTICAL to the experience of the gentleman on the HP forum.

I also heard back from WD regarding my request for a WD Caviar Green 750 GB WD7500AADS SATA 2 3.0GB/s drive to replace my Caviar Black 750 GB WD7502AAEX SATA 3 6.0GB/s drive. They said that normally, that wouldn't be a problem whatsoever, but that the WD7500AADS is end of life and no longer available. The replacement for that one is the WD7500AZRX, which is also a Caviar Green 750 GB model, but it is SATA 3 6.0GB/s. They said they could send me a WD7500AZRX, but I'm not sure it will work, considering it is SATA 3. In the end, however, I said okay to the offer of the WD7500AZRX. If I get it and I still get the error message, I can always use it as an external drive.

Hopefully it's not strictly an issue of being a SATA 3 from WD. May even have been an issue with a specific run of controller boards for the drives (yours and the other poster). Even boards for the exact same model of HDD can vary based on date produced and manufacturing location. Removing the board from one will not necessarily work on another of the same model number.

Ordering and returning a brand new Seagate was just for testing? Nothing more?

Yes. Just testing. I needed to know that Seagate will work for me in the future.

Oh.