Computer won't boot with both hard drives

D

DReborn

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
364
Ok..so weird problem:

I was using my computer and everything was great (been using Win7 RC for a few months now and it's been superb). Then had the hardest crash i've ever seen. Just pure lock up. Cursor working (moving) but couldn't click on anything, no blue screen, just hanging there. Turned off the computer manually and tried to reboot.

Hung on the win 7 logo for more than an hour. Didn't budge. Just hung.

tried to boot into safe mode. No dice, hung.

i then tried to boot into Win 7 dvd...hung on logo as well.

Finally i unplugged my main hard drive (150gb raptor) and bam, booted into the dvd. so i'm thinking my main drive failed but on the off chance something else weird was going on i unplugged my 2nd drive (2tb WD) and bam, booted into win 7 dvd.

so now i was officially confused.

i kept the WD 2tb drive unplugged and tried to boot into windows and bam, booted just fine.

so what's the deal? My culprits are PS, then maybe the WD 2tb drive, and finally the mobo.

help!! =)

help!! =)
 
SATA hard drives are hot plug and play, so once in Windows, hot plug the other drive and check to see what is wrong.
ie monitor the event log, note any issues, run the manufacturers diagnostics.

Monitor the PSU voltages before and after plugging in both drives.
 
never plugged in drive while windows was running before...i guess not much can happen except it just crashes again.

how can i monitor the psu voltage if it crashes?

thanks for the tip...
 
Get a voltmeter and monitor black to yellow (12V) and black to red (5V) on the drives power connector or another connector on the same PSU wire.
They should be well within 5% of rated voltage but 'can' still function at +/- 10% if the voltage is stable and there is no overheating. If its lower than -5%, I suspect that the PSU is struggling.
So especially watch out for fluctuating voltage and low voltage.
Note that there are many PSU faults a voltmeter cant capture but this is a start and will help catch the most common issues.
 
Hotswap functionality is only supported if the controllers are in AHCI mode, and this typically must be enabled prior to the OS installation.

If you run drive fitness tests on each drive individually, and both pass, I'd suspect a SW problem unless its a PSU problem. Though, the Seasonic 600W is more than enough, how old is it?
 
ya not sure if ahci was enabled pre install.

i don't think it's software related because the computer won't boot, even in safe mode with both drives plugged in. seems like a hardware problem. and it's not a bootloader prob or something like that because when i just plug in my main drive the computer boots up snappy and works great.

I downloaded the WD diag cd but it won't load. even with only one hard drive plugged in. just says, "loading cd" and then goes to a black screen for forever. never boots into it. i dunno. just makes the problem more confusing.
 
my seasonic is about 2 years old. definitely enough power just maybe it's failin...

seems odd though since i can play games and stress the heck out of my system...why would one little caviar green hard drive bring it to it's knees?
 
From what I've read, the system boots, just not into windows... hence, still could be a software problem, since you haven't tried any other OS.

If the system boots with your raptor and not your 2TB, then something may be wrong with your 2TB. Try a live CD, like UBCD or BartPE, and see if your system boots to those without your Raptor plugged in.
 
sorry if i was unclear...

if BOTH drives are plugged in, it hangs on the win 7 logo during bootup.

if i JUST PLUG MY MAIN DRIVE IN then it boots into windows perfectly and i have a fast, stable, able to play games, etc computer

what confused me though was when i tried to boot into the win7 dvd with both drives plugged in, it would not work. when i tried to boot into the win7 dvd with just the 2tb drive plugged in it booted into the dvd. it also booted into the dvd when i just had my main drive in.

so it worked when each drive was plugged in separately. i wish it just didn't work when i had the 2tb in so i would KNOW that was the culprit.
 
try a live cd with both drives plugged in. if it doesnt work, try it with one drive, each drive, and report results.
 
so little update:

live cd's do not work when both drives plugged in.

i took out the 2tb drive and hooked it into an external enclosure and transferred all the data off it via usb. nary a hitch. also ran WD diag in windows and it passed with flying colors...

seems like Mobo, PSU, cable, or....i dunno
 
I can't imagine it's not the drive but I don't know why or how.

Sure sounds like it failed in some way.
 
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