Unable to boot into BIOS when external HDD connected

[elysion]

Hi all

I am having a weird issue, as the title says, I am unable to boot into BIOS when I have the external HDD connected via USB 3.0.

when i want to start it up and boot into windows it starts to load the windows installer which you would find like on a win 7 install disk but then stops.

- the external HDD is not loaded with any win 7 and is not setup as a bootable image, its just data
- the HDD is a Buffalo Drive Station 3 TB with USB 3.0

my current setup looks like this below, i suspect that something went wrong during the OS install despite not using this HDD for any installation but another USB dongle which was slip-streamed with the USB and Samsung nvme drivers necessary for install.

On my asus laptop i did not have this issue before just with this new built i just did.

i have to unplug the HDD so i can boot into bios and windows normally.

i cant see the boot order in BIOS as the drive is not live and visible even if i connect it in bios once unplugged previously.

any help appreciated or if more info is needed, thanks much
cheers
stephan

 

[AddRAM]

Is the 3 TB a Primary Partition, maybe it could be made into a Logical ?

Can you give us a shot of Disk Management with the 3 TB plugged in please.

Paragon doesn`t show the vital info we need.

And why is it MBR ? It should be GPT.

 

[cyanna]

What boot priorities do to you have in BIOS? (with the drive not attached)

 

[AddRAM]

Really, just disable boot from usb in the bios.

There must be something on it, even though you think it doesn`t.

 

[elysion]

thanks all

here it is attached

the boot order is windows boot manager partition, then samsung 950 pro.
when the hdd is plugged in i cant boot into bios thus not see the boot order

so should i change it to logical instead of primary?

 

[elysion]

Is the 3 TB a Primary Partition, maybe it could be made into a Logical ?

Can you give us a shot of Disk Management with the 3 TB plugged in please.

Paragon doesn`t show the vital info we need.

And why is it MBR ? It should be GPT.

I dont know, i have formatted this drive ages ago. what should I do?

my new rig is GPT partition table, hope thats ok...

 

[elysion]

ok now i can boot into BIOS with the HDD plugged in.

boot order still the same
- (windows boot manager) samsung 950 pro
- samsung 950 Pro

now next issue, if now exit bios and boot into windows as normal it shows me the windows is loading installer (the one you see when you install win 7 on install DVD).
then it fails and goes back into bios...

thanks

 

[AddRAM]

Disk 2 should be moved to the #1 sata port on the motherboard and should be 2nd in the boot list after your dvd drive.

Did you try disabling usb boot yet ?

It should boot straight to windows.

But it`s a 950 Pro, which does not use a conventional sata port.

 

[elysion]

Disk 2 should be moved to the #1 sata port on the motherboard and should be 2nd in the boot list after your dvd drive.

Did you try disabling usb boot yet ?

It should boot straight to windows.

Disk 2 is the Samsung 950 Pro on an M.2 slot, not on a sata mobo port
how do i disable usb boot in bios?
i dont have a DVD drive connected

thanks much

 

[AddRAM]

You go into the bios to the boot tab, there you can enable or disable boot items.

Disable everything else but the 950 in the bios.

What happens if you bring up the boot menu with the external plugged in and choose the 950 ?

Does it go to windows ok ?

Just my opinion, but after you get this sorted you should not keep the external plugged in all the time, only when you need to use it.

 

[elysion]

So just the (windows boot manager) Samsung 950 Pro or just the Samsung 950 Pro?

 

[AddRAM]

Enable the 950, that`s it.

I don`t know what this Windows Boot Manager thing is you`re talking about.

What happens when you use the one time boot menu (not the bios) and choose the 950 ? Does it boot windows ok ?


You did not answer......

 

[elysion]

I will send a screenshot from bios soon.

I believe it's automatically created during windows install on the 100mb reserved disk before the windows primary like on the first screenshot I attached but I'm not certain.

The overall OS install was not smooth with win 7 and a nvme drive lol

 

[AddRAM]

You didn`t have any other drives plugged in when you installed Windows on the 950 did you ?

What about when you bring up the 1 time boot menu, usually F9, and then choose the 950 from the list, does it boot into windows ok ?

You still have not answered.

 

[elysion]

That's correct yes.
I only had the 950 pro in the m.2 slot nothing else except the bootable slipstreamed win 7 usb stick.

I had to use the mobo DVD to install the drivers in one go though, not step by step which is strange.
Normally I install the intel chipset drivers first but I immediately got a hard lock once installed so it always failed, but when I installed it off the DVD with the asus setup in one go for all drivers it worked,
Not sure that's a problem

 

[AddRAM]

why do you have all these items on the 3 TB if it`s just a data drive ?

These are not normal things you would see on a data drive.

You need to go over that drive item by item.

 

[elysion]

Enable the 950, that`s it.

I don`t know what this Windows Boot Manager thing is you`re talking about.

What happens when you use the one time boot menu (not the bios) and choose the 950 ? Does it boot windows ok ?


You did not answer......

just tried, it does not boot into windows, only if the windows boot manager drive is first in boot order

 

[elysion]

why do you have all these items on the 3 TB if it`s just a data drive ?

These are not normal things you would see on a data drive.

You need to go over that drive item by item.

i removed those files, to no avail, still starting with "windows is loading files" and the progress bar then crash to bios....

maybe change it to logical?

 

[elysion]

You didn`t have any other drives plugged in when you installed Windows on the 950 did you ?

What about when you bring up the 1 time boot menu, usually F9, and then choose the 950 from the list, does it boot into windows ok ?

You still have not answered.

just tried that too, still the same issue
thanks pal

 

[elysion]

Bump
Thanks