Windows 7 wont boot without external DVD drive attached

[Emma2302]

I have an Acer Revo and installed my free Windows 7 upgrade disc one week ago with an external DVD drive. The install went swimmingly and no problems were apparent.

I removed my Samsung external DVD drive when finished and all was well. However, when I turned on the Revo the next day, Windows 7 would only get as far as the splash screen and then hung with a blank screen.

If I space bar, the cursor works, I get a blue windows screen (at a diff aspect ratio to the screen) and right click works which gives me some options (but nothing that allows me to kick start the process). There are no user options and no desktop items. I have checked that view is set correctly etc.

I have tried Ctrl Alt Del which just kills the blue screen and mouse/cursor movement.

My only option at this point is to hard shutdown.

HOWEVER, if I plug in the external DVD drive, it will boot normally and work fine.

I have entered te BIOS and changed the order of boot, to no avail.

It will also revert to this dormant screen if it goes into sleep mode.

My work around has been to set sleep to NEVER and keep the external plugged in, but that defeats the object of buying the REVO.

I have searched the internet for a solution, but so far, no luck.

I tried updating the NVIDIA driver but that would not install properly.

Any ideas anyone? Please???

 

[motc7]

*Have you thought of disabling the drive in the BIOS?

 

[Emma2302]

*Have you thought of disabling the drive in the BIOS?

I've thought of it! But I'm wary of messing around in the BIOS too much lest I bugger things up completely! I'll do it if someone can say categorically it would work!

 

[Thorsen]

Yes I would not do that yet either, it probably is the fix you need, but better safe than sorry.

First post back with the BIOS boot sequence this will say, as Motc7 is saying, what is booted first. It is probably recognizing the D: as the first boot location. You can move the C: to the first boot location instead of disabling the external D:, but post the list here first. Also, can you fill in the system specs and when in the BIOS look for the BIOS make and version and post that here as well.

 

[Emma2302]

Yes I would not do that yet either, it probably is the fix you need, but better safe than sorry.

First post back with the BIOS boot sequence this will say, as Motc7 is saying, what is booted first. It is probably recognizing the D: as the first boot location. You can move the C: to the first boot location instead of disabling the external D:, but post the list here first. Also, can you fill in the system specs and when in the BIOS look for the BIOS make and version and post that here as well.

Thank for your reply. Originally the boot order was 1) HD 2) DVD drive 3) USB device. I changed the order to 1) HD 2) USB device 3) DVD drive. This didn't help *weep*. The name of the drive i.e. C: or D: etc wasn't apparent. If this is separate to what I have changed could you let me know. Can I only find the BIOS make/model in set up mode?

Hold on, I have the box. It is an Acer Revo R3600, BIOS P01-A2. IS that any help?

 

[Emma2302]

Yes I would not do that yet either, it probably is the fix you need, but better safe than sorry.

First post back with the BIOS boot sequence this will say, as Motc7 is saying, what is booted first. It is probably recognizing the D: as the first boot location. You can move the C: to the first boot location instead of disabling the external D:, but post the list here first. Also, can you fill in the system specs and when in the BIOS look for the BIOS make and version and post that here as well.

Thank for your reply. Originally the boot order was 1) HD 2) DVD drive 3) USB device. I changed the order to 1) HD 2) USB device 3) DVD drive. This didn't help *weep*. The name of the drive i.e. C: or D: etc wasn't apparent. If this is separate to what I have changed could you let me know. Can I only find the BIOS make/model in set up mode?

Hold on, I have the box. It is an Acer Revo R3600, BIOS P01-A2. IS that any help?

I have updated my spec to the best of my knowledge. Thanks

 

[karlsnooks]

Emma,
Use MSINFO32 for information about your computer.
I've attached a copy of the startup display page from my laptop.

 

[Thorsen]

I will look for an answer that might help. until then I hope someone else joins in.

Is the external DVD going in through USB?


Edit: looking for correct answer

 

[Thorsen]

You might want to look into this tutorial and see if you can do this:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[Emma2302]

I will look for an answer that might help. until then I hope someone else joins in.

Is the external DVD going in through USB?


Edit: looking for correct answer

Yes, external DVD via USB. Thanks!

 

[Emma2302]

Emma,
Use MSINFO32 for information about your computer.
I've attached a copy of the startup display page from my laptop.

OK thanks, how do I reach that info. Sorry to be a dummy!

 

[Emma2302]

Emma,
Use MSINFO32 for information about your computer.
I've attached a copy of the startup display page from my laptop.

OK thanks, how do I reach that info. Sorry to be a dummy!

OK, found it. But not sure how to recreate a screen print here.

 

[Thorsen]

Use the snipping tool or do a print screen and paste into Paint. here is a tut on posting screenshots on sevenforums: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

First step is also a link to another tutorial for taking the screenshot

 

[Emma2302]

Emma,
Use MSINFO32 for information about your computer.
I've attached a copy of the startup display page from my laptop.

OK thanks, how do I reach that info. Sorry to be a dummy!

OK, found it. But not sure how to recreate a screen print here.

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name FAMILY
System Manufacturer Acer
System Model Aspire R3600
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU 230 @ 1.60GHz, 1600 Mhz, 1 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. P01-A2, 30/04/2009
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United Kingdom
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
User Name Family\Emma
Time Zone GMT Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 1.75 GB
Available Physical Memory 870 MB
Total Virtual Memory 3.50 GB


Will that do???

 

[Thorsen]

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2 I think this should say Volume1

I had posted something earlier about the Boot Record, but I deleted it as I dont know if this might be the cause.

Can someone advise?

 

[Jonathan_King]

One user had his finger on it when he said Startup Repair.

First, unplug the USB drive, then mark your Windows partition as active.

Then run a startup repair.

That should do the trick.

 

[karlsnooks]

Thorsen,

I've not had this particular problem (oh yes, your are correct -that points to the wrong drive and is the source of the problem), however,


CREATE A SYSTEM REPAIR DISK
START | type System Repair | Enter key | Create Disk button


After making the system repair disk, then a boot from the system repair disk and choosing the system repair option should get there. I don't have my repair disk with me right now the go thru the step-by-step.



Fixing the problem may require repeating the repair several times.

 

[karlsnooks]

Jonathan,
Thanks. Forgot to mention marking the partition as active.

 

[Thorsen]

it seems we are all on the right track I just dont know enough yet to say full-speed ahead. thanks for adding in guys

 

[Thorsen]

I think part of the problem on this case is that this is a net-top and has no internal DVD drive. so when 7 was installed it said the external drive was the boot device I guess.