Windows wouldn't boot up, but now does. What happened?

[Sam Saints]

Hi, I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit. This morning when turning on the computer, it would not boot up windows. There was power going to all parts. I could hear the hard drive turning on, all the fans worked. But the keyboard and mouse were not active because nothing would load, not even the BIOS. The monitor stayed black, but there was a signal going to the monitor. After trying a few things I decided to disconnect both physical Hard Drives from the MoBo. Finally when turning on the computer I got something on the monitor and was able to get into the BIOS. Didn;'t make any changes in the Bios, just happy I got something on the screen. So I turned off the system and hooked up just the Hard Drive that had Windows installed. Turned on the computer and now all of a sudden Windows loads and the message that the Driver for the Hard Drive is being loaded comes on. So what do you think happened? Why would the driver for the Hard Drive just be uninstalled, and even so, why did it not automatically reload the first time I turned on my computer? I didn't install any new software or hardware.
Running: Intel Duo Core 2 Duo 3GHz, 4GB Ram,

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[TimStitt]

Hi Sam Saints,

Welcome to the forum, lets see if we can help.

Perhaps an updated driver installed from MS update; perhaps loose or faulty cabling. Your Event log may give you a clue, have you taken a look there?

Is this issue a one-off? or is it reoccurring?

 

[Sam Saints]

Thanks for the quick response. This is not an on/off issue, no updates as I do them manually. Cables are all good. Unfortunately I think it's a bad hard drive. I hooked up the second hard drive and it won't boot up. I disconnect it and the system boots up. I tried different cables and still the same. So looks like it's a bad Hard Drive. What would have happened from the time I turned off the computer the night before to the the time I turned it on the next morning? This hard drive is only a few months old too.

 

[TimStitt]

Thanks for the quick response. This is not an on/off issue, no updates as I do them manually. Cables are all good. Unfortunately I think it's a bad hard drive. I hooked up the second hard drive and it won't boot up. I disconnect it and the system boots up. I tried different cables and still the same. So looks like it's a bad Hard Drive. What would have happened from the time I turned off the computer the night before to the the time I turned it on the next morning? This hard drive is only a few months old too.

Hmm.. I agree a faulty drive is a possibility especially given it boots a-ok without it; but let's try to narrow it down. I guess when you say that no other hardware was installed, you also include USB disks and thumbdrives?

I almost forgot about it; but I had a problem with one of my Sata disks on my 64bit install. It was intermittent and sometimes dropped off. Updating the disk device driver worked for me.
NOTE: The driver that windows gave me by default was the problem, the driver from the manufacturers website was the solution. You could try that. Also....
- Check for dust
- Check the HD in another PC (or OS if dual boot), just to confirm the bad-drive theory.
- Add up your Wattage and make sure that you have enough to run all of your hardware
- Check that it's not a RAM fault causing the Drive to Fail, this could also stop you accessing Bios.
- Lastly, if the drive that boots is the OS, check the event log. You never know.


That's all I can think of LOL. *fingers crossed*

 

[gregrocker]

If a hard drive doesn't quit, then it can often be repaired using the diagnostics from the manufacturer. THere should be a link on the Support Downloads page for the model on the HD manufacturer's website. Seagate has Seatools, WD has Lifeguard, etc.

I would start download the DOS CD and do full scan. It will report exactly what are the problems and fixes. Then do a chkdsk.

I've had a half dozen dying hard drives saved using this method, all still running.

Be certain.

 

[Sam Saints]

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't update the driver or scan the drive as windows will not boot if this drive is connected. If I have this drive as the only drive connected, I should get a message that says to insert boot disk, since windows is not on this drive. But the thing is, that message won't even come up when this drive is connected. If I have windows booted up and then went and connected the bad drive while windows was booted up, would I be risking shorting the mobo? Or maybe buy a Hard Drive caddy and hook it up via usb.

 

[gregrocker]

No, you want to download and burn to CD the DOS version of your HD manufacturer's diagnostics and repair utility. It is not run from Windows, but booted and scans the connected HD.

There are no system specs given in the link at the bottom right of the post, so what is your HD?

Find the maker, go to their website Support Downloads page for your model HD and download the Diagnostics.

If none are given, try Western Digital's Lifeguard as it works on most: WD Support > Downloads > EIDE (PATA) > WD Caviar Blue

 

[TimStitt]

No, you want to download and burn to CD the DOS version of your HD manufacturer's diagnostics and repair utility. It is not run from Windows, but booted and scans the connected HD.

There are no system specs given in the link at the bottom right of the post, so what is your HD?

Find the maker, go to their website Support Downloads page for your model HD and download the Diagnostics.

If none are given, try Western Digital's Lifeguard as it works on most: WD Support > Downloads > EIDE (PATA) > WD Caviar Blue

I'm also a fan of WD's lifeguard and it has saved me more than a few times too, it's good advice!

From my understanding though Sam is unable to boot even as far as bios with this disk in, so won't get as far as boot from CD.

@ Sam - In regards to the question 'will you fry your motherboard', perhaps. I would never connect IDE drives while the PC is on. But I have connected SATA drives this way (not the power cablem just the communication cable). As a rule though, I am not recommending this.

Some last thoughts (to try to save you the cost of an external case)
- Try the drive in another port. e.g. If sata 1, try sata 0, if IDE 1, try IDE 0
- Swap it with the cable and power connector from the working drive
(but be aware that if the cables are faulty and you use them on the good drive you may cause damage, so just plug the faulty drive in with the other cables and see if you can reach the bios, this should rule out faulty cables).

 

[gregrocker]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Lifeguard CD like Paragon or Acronis is self-booting. It just starts.

If not, put the problem drive in another PC and run it there.

 

[Sam Saints]

Ok so here's an update. I have 2 Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Black 7200RPM SATA II Drives.

So we'll say:

Drive 1 : Has windows installed and works.
Drive 2 : The bad drive

I decided to plug in the Sata cable from Drive 2 while windows is booted up. I then went into the device manager and scanned for new hardware. Drive 2 (the bad drive) gets recognized, drivers are installed and all is fine...so far. I even move over my important files to Drive 1. So now data loss is no longer an issue. So now I reboot, and no go. Doesn't reboot, and won't even go into bios.

So I disconnect Drive 2 and reboot with only Drive 1 connected, and all is good as expected. Connect Drive 2 while windows is loaded and scan for new hardware and both drives are back on again. This time I download lifeguard and run as administrator and do a Qucik Test and Extended Test on both drives. I get an error, "Cable Test:: Write Sector Error." Bottom of error message box says to check cable. I get this error on both drives. So I tried 6 other cables and all come up with the same error. Now I know I don't have 6 bad cables. I have also tried different ports with no success. BTW, SMART status for both Drives shows as a PASS. I'm really stumped now.

Really appreciate all the help.

 

[RogerR]

No help to you, but there does seem to be a rash of issues with 1TB drives.

 

[InternetLord]

No, you want to download and burn to CD the DOS version of your HD manufacturer's diagnostics and repair utility. It is not run from Windows, but booted and scans the connected HD.

There are no system specs given in the link at the bottom right of the post, so what is your HD?

Find the maker, go to their website Support Downloads page for your model HD and download the Diagnostics.

If none are given, try Western Digital's Lifeguard as it works on most: WD Support > Downloads > EIDE (PATA) > WD Caviar Blue

I'm also a fan of WD's lifeguard and it has saved me more than a few times too, it's good advice!

From my understanding though Sam is unable to boot even as far as bios with this disk in, so won't get as far as boot from CD.

@ Sam - In regards to the question 'will you fry your motherboard', perhaps. I would never connect IDE drives while the PC is on. But I have connected SATA drives this way (not the power cablem just the communication cable). As a rule though, I am not recommending this.

Some last thoughts (to try to save you the cost of an external case)
- Try the drive in another port. e.g. If sata 1, try sata 0, if IDE 1, try IDE 0
- Swap it with the cable and power connector from the working drive
(but be aware that if the cables are faulty and you use them on the good drive you may cause damage, so just plug the faulty drive in with the other cables and see if you can reach the bios, this should rule out faulty cables).

no it will not fry the mobo. it is that some mobo's for some reason will not allow you even into the bios with a bad hard drive. the first thing i would do if you are use to setting up your bois is to reset it to the default settings, shut down the system, hook the bad drive back up and restart to see if you can now at least get to the bios. if you can get into the bios do a restart before changing anything and see if you can boot into windows, or at this point try to run the wd tools. if you can get into windows and can see the drive and you have access to your data then i would restart go back into the bios and adjust the setting to what you had before, then do a restart to see if the system will still boot(sometimes a simple bios reset and resetup is all it takes). if you cannot see the drive once in windows then i would shut down change the data cable, swap the sata / ide port the drive is plugged into, or switch the power connector. if this fails then check you warranty.

EDIT:
please update all your system specs. we know what os you are running, but we know nothing about your mobo. it sounds like the mobo is the issue. even some of the newer mobo's need bios updates to handle that big of a drive. other mobo's require you to set the bios settings differently for 1tb and above than you do for anything under 1tb. i would trust that there is nothing wrong with the drive because it passed the SMART. SMART is rarely wrong.

 

[Sam Saints]

Ok, I am running:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Intel Core 2 Due 3GHz
4GB RAM
Asus P5Q MoBo
GeForce 9400 GT Video Card

What I don't understand is that this was all running fine for months and now it just all stops working. What settings are you referring to in the BIOS that requires changing for 1 TB drives?

 

[InternetLord]

you will have to refer to your manual to see if you have to adjust any bios setting for your drive.

 

[TimStitt]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Lifeguard CD like Paragon or Acronis is self-booting. It just starts.

If not, put the problem drive in another PC and run it there.

Hi-ya Gregrocker,

They are self booting! What I was trying to say is that I think the fail point was 'before' the boot from cd point.

 

[TimStitt]

The general consensus is hardware failure at some point, I'm leaning that way; but I'm not 100% convinced as yet. Did you check the drivers? Confirm that the latest sata and chipset drivers are installed from the manufacturers website (not MS update). It's probably worthwhile updating them all.)ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-

What wattage power supply are you using (lets rule this out too)?

If it's still a fail, look over the bios settings for any recommendeded configuration changes (as InternetLord suggested). NOTE: Disabling ahci in the bios should force the drives to reconfigure in legacy mode, this may be worth a try too, although I've never tested it FYI - (enabling RAID probably enables ahci by default)
Low on my list is a reformat (and chkdsk), given that data is recovered and the drive is now recognised.
Good Luck!

 

[Frostmourne]

Check the connections - did you use the SATA cables that came with your motherboard? THe one I used was L shaped and fits into the hard drive perfectly. As for settings, 2009 era motherboards should have no problems with detecting your hard drive - which channel does your report the hard drive is connected? You can then set the sectors, block size, LBA options etc manually or leave them to Auto (Default).

 

[patio]

Just re-read this post...

I decided to plug in the Sata cable from Drive 2 while windows is booted up.

I'm amazed either drive works right now after having done this...

 

[Sam Saints]

So I have updated sata and chipset drivers directly from Asus. Didn't do any good. I am running a 600W Power Supply. So if the hard drive is bad, why is it when I connect it while windows is fully booted up and I do a scan for new hardware it gets recognized and works. What is it about a hard drive that would stop a computer to even get to the POST. Especially when it is only a second drive and not the boot drive. I am sure all cables and connections are good. I was always under the impression if a BIOS routine doesn't even finish or begin (in my case), it is always hardware related.

 

[gregrocker]

Never plug cables while power is on, or power cord is connected.

It will catch up with ya quickly.