Solved Won't boot if 2nd hard drive installed

[Rayman2702]

I have a dell Vostro 200 slim tower with 250 gb hard drive, running win7 ultimate 32 bit. I've just put in a 1tb western digital drive. It won't boot past the dell screen. However, if I unplug the keyboard then plug it in, so I get the keyboard error message, plug the keyboard in and press f2 (to get into bios), the drive is shown correctly. In the bios, all the settings appear correct ie boot sequence etc. if I press f1 instead of f2, the pc boots properly and the drive is shown in my computer / disc manager etc.

I have updated the bios but still it won't go past the dell screen. I have re-formatted the drive so it is completely empty but still it won't go past the dell screen.

Any ideas?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I have a dell Vostro 200 slim tower with 250 gb hard drive, running win7 ultimate 32 bit. I've just put in a 1tb western digital drive. It won't boot past the dell screen. However, if I unplug the keyboard then plug it in, so I get the keyboard error message, plug the keyboard in and press f2 (to get into bios), the drive is shown correctly. In the bios, all the settings appear correct ie boot sequence etc. if I press f1 instead of f2, the pc boots properly and the drive is shown in my computer / disc manager etc.

I have updated the bios but still it won't go past the dell screen. I have re-formatted the drive so it is completely empty but still it won't go past the dell screen.

Any ideas?

Clarification needed:

Was everything OK until you got the 1 TB drive? Why do you mention it?

Are you trying to install on the 250 GB or the 1 TB?

When did the PC last operate OK and what have you done to it since that time?

I assume you have some type of installation disc. Is it OEM, retail, borrowed, burned, or what?

 

[Rayman2702]

The 1tb drive is new. The os is on the original 250 fb drive, which is still in the same position.
It worked fine without the new drive but I do not understand how it can stop the pc booting when it has no files on it and was not a boot drive.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Does your PC still work fine if the new 1 TB drive is disconnected?

Please fill in your system specs. We know nothing about your hardware. The specs say 64 bit and your post says 32 bit.

The new 1 TB is brand new and never had any files of any type on it?

 

[gregrocker]

Plug in both HD's, boot computer and enter BIOS setup, set the WIn7 HD first to boot, Save settings and Exit. Reboot.

If this fails to solve the problem, boot into Elevated Command Prompt to run Diskpart Clean Command on the 1tb to clear the boot sector which must be interfering somehow.

 

[Rayman2702]

My apologies for not replying but it was my daughter's birthday over the weekend.
I am currently running the clean all command for the 1tb drive.

What I do not understand is this:
Over the weekend, the pc booted and ran properly and the drive was shown not problems.
Today, I booted and it hung on the dell screen but after about 10 mins, it re-booted itself and started (very slowly). When it got to the desktop, the mouse was very jerky and everything was very slow but the 1 tb drive was shown properly again.

Will doing a clean install of win7 help?
Is there a driver conflict between keyboard, drive etc?

My system is 32 bit (x86?), it is win7 ultimate and was an upgrade from vista, which was the original os.
I have 4 gb memory (4x 1 gb)

The 1 tb drive has had my files on it, photos etc but they have been removed.
It was sold as new, but not in box.

I will let you know what happens after the clean disk thing.

 

[Rayman2702]

Done the clean thing and it now boots!

Thank you all