Windows Boot manager does not find the boot drive

[CJW72]

Hi,

Have a new computer with freshly installed W7 on a SSD drive. The computer boots properly unless external HD are connected. If I have external HDs connected (USB 3) it fails to find windows. I've been into the BIOS and there Windows Boot Manager is set as first choice and I have disabled booting from external drives.

Why is WBM unable to find the installation on the SSD? Can I manually change the settings in WBM to select the SSD?

Going nuts on this so any suggestion is appreciated.

Christoffer

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello and welcome Christoffer - mate what if anything does removing the external drives make to the boot?

 

[CJW72]

Hi,

Not sure I understand the question.

If the external drives are connected, the BIOS looks the same as when they are not. The computer does not boot if they are connected, and I do not know what it does to the WBM (I do not know how to access it at that point). If I plug the drives in after booting with them disconnected, everything looks normal.

Cheers,

Christoffer

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Chris I meant that if you remove the externals it will boot? because it sounds like the machine is trying to boot from one of them for some reason.

Now I see that you have done that so I am just puzzled as to why those drives are not being seen in the BIOS. Are they listed in Device Manager? ie Computer > Manage > Disk Management?? I am not trying to be funny just curious as to why that BIOS is like it is.

 

[Layback Bear]

Try this.

Boot the computer and then hook up the external drive.

Then complete this tutorial by Golden so we can have a look.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Then complete this tutorial by Golden so we can have a look.

Yes Jack sorta what I was trying to get at and the tut is better as it shows how to show the drive/s clearly.

The BIOS bit is what has me thinking why??

 

[Layback Bear]

It could be a combination of boot order and which partitions have the system flag.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

It could be a combination of boot order and which partitions have the system flag.

Ok mate sorta understand that so am I right in thinking that one of the other drives has some sort of priority "hit" for booting?

 

[CJW72]

Hi again,

Here is an image of the drives from the computer manager.

I don't think the issue is in the BIOS, but rather in the windows boot manager. Regardless if the drives are connected or not, the BIOS setup looks the same, where I have WBM as first choice and then only the DVD drive. I've switched off booting from any other source. So as far as I can see the computer tries to boot using WBM and then fails if the external drives are connected.

Christoffer

 

[CJW72]

WBM fix?

Hi again,

Anyone with a suggestion for a solution? Or a tip on how to manually fix/check the WBM to make sure it looks for windows in the right place?

Regards,

Christoffer

 

[DavidE]

In BIOS can you set the SSD as the first boot device ?
I have Legacy BIOS, not UEFI, so my choices are different than yours.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Now Christoffer mate if you have the OS on a SSD then that disk 0 is indeed a very large one so what are disks 1 2 3?? spinners.

I am asking because Windows installs as I am sure you know to a drive it designates as C: drive.
, and most folks install a small SSD as the boot drive to save money and keep larger drives for data.

I would like to see a pic of the BIOS components and also the boot order screen.

Also just what is on those external drives??

 

[CNA]

I would advise you to connect your external HDD only after your PC Completes booting .

 

[CJW72]

Thanks for the tips. However, I cannot switch to legacy booting, since the BIOS does not have that option. I need to be able to reboot remotely, which means I need to be able to boot with the external drives connected.

Regarding the drive setup. It is a computer used for scientific processing of huge uncompressed video files, hence the big disks.

Cheers,

Christoffer

 

[CJW72]

Odd thing. If I turn off the USB legacy support in the BIOS the computer boots correctly even with the external drives connected.