Win 7 not booting up with external HDD connected and on

[buckedthead]

Just installed Win7 Business 64-bit the other day. One problem that I have be having is that if I have an external HDD connected and turned on during a reboot or power on Win7 freezes at the "starting" screen, HDD in laptop just does not work anymore. This happens before the windows graphic/logo loads - in order to get it going again it is a battery pull and then it will boot up fine if I restart without the external HDD connected.

Any ideas??

 

[joshdw]

Check your BIOS settings to see if HDD is turned on.
I am no pc expert but that is my opinion

 

[buckedthead]

Yea that was my first thought as well. Should have mentioned I checked the BIOS and the internal HDD is first listed - so it should find Win 7 and load from there. At least how I understand boot up, and I am no expert either.

 

[karlsnooks]

Just installed Win7 Business 64-bit the other day. One problem that I have be having is that if I have an external HDD connected and turned on during a reboot or power on Win7 freezes at the "starting" screen, HDD in laptop just does not work anymore. This happens before the windows graphic/logo loads - in order to get it going again it is a battery pull and then it will boot up fine if I restart without the external HDD connected.Any ideas??

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[buckedthead]

Updated System Specs

 

[karlsnooks]

Thanks.

Do you have the latest bios installed?

Do you have AHCI enabled in the bios?

The manufacturer of your external usb drive is?

 

[buckedthead]

Thanks.

Do you have the latest bios installed?

Yes

Do you have AHCI enabled in the bios?

AHCI? I have not made any changes to the bios from when I was running Vista - only thing I did was boot from DVD to install Win 7

The manufacturer of your external usb drive is?

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - This is enclosed in a external USB enclosure (Rosewill)

If I plug in the external HDD after boot up it works perfectly - only problem is during boot up.

 

[sygnus21]

What kind of "external" hard drive is this? And what connection are you using?

Example, I've had this issue at times with my Western Digital notebook (EX HD) which is hooked up via USB. On the other hand, I seem to have no issue with hooking up an external HD via SATA cable.

 

[buckedthead]

What kind of "external" hard drive is this? And what connection are you using?

Example, I've had this issue at times with my Western Digital notebook (EX HD) which is hooked up via USB. On the other hand, I seem to have no issue with hooking up an external HD via SATA cable.

WD 3.5" in a external enclosure. Using USB for connection.

 

[sygnus21]

I see we posted at the same time so you answered my question about the type of HD.

I believe it's the fact that the drive is using a USB connection. As I said, I've seen this when leaving my external drive kooked up using a USB cable. Do you have a sata connection to hook it up to?

Also, Why do you need the external HD hooked up during a reboot?

 

[karlsnooks]

The problem is that you have an internal unit in an external enclosure and Win 7 is seeing the unit as an internal unit, consequently causing boot up problems.

Perhaps you can, via a registry edit, fool the system, otherwise, I'd say contact the hd manufacturer for suggestions.

Here's an article that gives registry editing info.
Internal and External SATA Port Configuration
On the right-hand side of the resulting web page, there is a link to download eSata.docx which is the file you want.

 

[buckedthead]

I see we posted at the same time so you answered my question about the type of HD.

I believe it's the fact that the drive is using a USB connection. As I said, I've seen this when leaving my external drive kooked up using a USB cable. Do you have a sata connection to hook it up to?

Also, Why do you need the external HD hooked up during a reboot?

I do have a eSATA. but enclosure is only USB.

I do not need the external HD hooked up at all, but there are times that I forgot/will forget I had it hooked up and power on my computer. These are the times I would like to solve the problem for.

 

[buckedthead]

The problem is that you have an internal unit in an external enclosure and Win 7 is seeing the unit as an internal unit, consequently causing boot up problems.

Perhaps you can, via a registry edit, fool the system, otherwise, I'd say contact the hd manufacturer for suggestions.

Here's an article that gives registry editing info.
Internal and External SATA Port Configuration
On the right-hand side of the resulting web page, there is a link to download eSata.docx which is the file you want.

Ahh that makes sense - did not even think about it being internal vs. external drive. Just assumed that Win 7 would see it as external since it is hooked up through USB.

 

[karlsnooks]

Ah yes, here's another link which may be of interest to you at some point in time.
You experience a long startup time on a Windows 7-based computer that has an unused external SATA port

 

[buckedthead]

Ah yes, here's another link which may be of interest to you at some point in time.
You experience a long startup time on a Windows 7-based computer that has an unused external SATA port

Thanks for the link. So far boot up seems quicker than Vista so not sure I am having thei problem. Think I should just apply the hotfix anyways as a incase?

 

[karlsnooks]

No. Hotfiexes should never be applied unless absolutely needed. They are quick releases to fix problems and hopefully not cause others as they have not been thoroughly tested when released.

 

[sygnus21]

Notice It says SATA port. Again, since you are using a USB port, that seems to be the problem. Regardless of wheter the drive is SATA or not, you're still usg the USB port to connect to the computer. That's the issue.

Note that that hotfix is for SATA connections. You can give it a shot, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't fix a thing.

My two cents.

 

[karlsnooks]

The document is an interesting read. A word to the wise.