New 2nd hdd not allowing me to boot but only 1 hdd allows me to boot

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Randomtinkerer07

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Jun 10, 2017
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I recently got a new 2nd ard drive. So i thought hey just plug it in. Btw its sata hdd. WD type. But to my surprise. I cant see in the boot priority but it spins. So i let go and proceeded to booting. And another surprise, im stuck on the "starting windows" screen without any progress. I disconnected the drive then restarted. I was able to reach my desktop. What should i do? Should i update the chipset drivers? or what? Any help will do. Thanks :)

Btw system specs

Asus a58m-k
Seagate 160gb 7200rpm hdd
Amd a4-6300
XFX R7 250 low profile core edition 1gb ddr5
Generic case w/600w psu(planning to upgrade the psu by the end of the year)
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
6Gb ddr3 Kingston low profile 1600mhz
 
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Randomtinkerer07

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Jun 10, 2017
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That's the thing, the older hdd was the boot priority. And the new one isn't. I can't even pick it as the boot drive as the old Seagate was the only one in the EZ mode. but it's listed then. Once i leave the bios, It hangs in the Starting Windows screen :(
 
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Randomtinkerer07

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Jun 10, 2017
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That's the thing, the older hdd was the boot priority. And the new one isn't. I can't even pick it as the boot drive as the old Seagate was the only one in the EZ mode. but it's listed then. Once i leave the bios, It hangs in the Starting Windows screen :(
 
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Droseofc

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Aug 6, 2016
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Do you have an external adapter to plug the new hdd in via usb while you have windows booted? You could use it to format the new harddrive. If u get that accomplished, shutdown, put new hdd in pc case, insure you are using correct sata ports according to motherboard manual, some are disabled if others are used and some need to be in certain ports for it to be considered the system drive, or at least recommends it. Make sure correct settings are chosen in bios such as ahci and making sure other related settings are the right way, such as raid off, if you can disable ide (should be if using ahci), boot order is correct, and boot mode is correct (uefi/legacy)
 
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Droseofc

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If it hangs at starting windows, hold power button until it powers off, or restart button if it is sticking at that screen. If done 3 times, windows should acknowledge this and prompt you for a recovery option or to continue booting. I'd let windows check for problems automatically, and it should fix it. Specifically startup repair
 
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Randomtinkerer07

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Jun 10, 2017
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unfortunately i do not have. i did try hot plugging that hard drive. it spins it gets recognized but hard drive sentinel becomes unresponsive, windows explorer gets unresponsive in times in fact. but i can use google chrome or other non-os applications. its only the system related processes hangs up.
when i shut it down also the shutting down screen gets stuck for how many minutes and the logo doesn't even spin. the only way i can power it down is when i would pull the power cable of my psu.
im certain boot is correct. and bios is running on default. didnt tweak anything as im not really needing anything other than basic system and light online gaming. no need for overclocking my shit apu and gpu. the problem is, the system doesnt see the hard drive in the boot priority order in the bios. and this hard drive im having problems with is empty, barely used. and i just plugged it last saturday.
is it hardware related? should i get an rma for this?
 
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Droseofc

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Aug 6, 2016
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I would try to check it on another system first. Do you know if the new hard drive partition table is GPT or MBR? If you have a Windows disc or are able to create one using the Windows Tool you could boot from it, such as if you were going to install Windows, but at the first screen or even at the screen where you pick the installation hard drive and press F10 which will bring up a command prompt. In that command prompt type in "diskpart" without "s. so...
diskpart
list disk
select disk (whatever number the new hard drive shows as) such as.... select disk 1
clean
convert mbr
exit
exit

and then reboot. Things to remember for absolutely sure are make sure you are selecting the right disk and whether you need MBR or GPT. If you are using UEFI you will likely need GPT. If you are not, then you likely will need MBR. When you enter list disk, it will have a column with asterisks marking which are GPT. If the system drive you have now shows as MBR or GPT, I would convert the new one to whichever the other one is.

If its GPT, then after you enter clean, enter convert gpt

If you enter clean on the system drive you currently have, it will erase your hard drive. Make sure you pick the right one, it will show size and what is used (supposed to) of each. The size will be the most reliable to go off of, unless they are the same size. Try a different SATA port, different SATA cable. Make sure bios settings are set to AHCI and not RAID or IDE. Are you able to pull up the task manager when both are connected? Press CTRL+Shift+ESC at same time and it should bring up task manager, then you could either find explorer.exe on the list and right click it and choose restart which will restart the explorer which is basically the entire desktop, file explorer, etc.

Or you could click file and then run new task. Type in explorer.exe and enter. May clear up the freezing of system apps. If your able to do that you could then get to disk management, by searching it from the magnifying glass bottom left, or through the control panel. Once in disk management check to see if it is listed, if so right click it and partition by formatting it, or creating a partition. It probably has no name or letter assigned, but should be there. Once started the format and partition it should walk you through on the size of partition and the letter to assign. If the system boots but freezes at Windows screen, this would indicate that the bios is booting the correct HDD, unless the new HDD has been used before and wasnt formatted. Also, try clearing the bios. There should be a clear cmos or bios option.

Sometimes if I add new hardware and have any types of issues, I clear the bios, not reset to default, but actually use the pins or mine has a little button that acts as the same. Taking the CMOS battery out for a few minutes could do the same. But, that may help. I'd first try the HDD in anything you can, a gaming system, another pc, laptop, whatever you can try to make sure before you spend too much time trying to figure out something that is not going to ever work..
 
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Randomtinkerer07

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Jun 10, 2017
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I'm sure it's MBR. I tried your diskpart but diskpart hangs. It doesnt show up. I've done the most basic stuff from changing SATA cables and Power Cables. Everything the system does when that HDD is connected. Just stops. This is sad since im running out of space :(
 
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Droseofc

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Aug 6, 2016
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Well, then if you don't have another device to try it on and exhausted attempts using windows, the other thing I could suggest is downloading gparted from here and the donwnload section and choose which i686 for 32bit (x86) or amd64 for 64bit windows depending upon whether your system is 64 or 32 bit version. The 64bit option is 273MB. If you can, burn it to a disc.

Otherwise, theres instructions on how to put it on a USB to boot from. This will be a live cd (boot into its own operation system linux) that you will be able to partition, format, create partition tables, etc. on storage devices. You should be able to see the hard drives when using Gparted, and you got to be sure you do not change anything with the hard drive that has the Windows on it.

If you are unable to see it in gparted and can not get it formatted then I'd most likely check into getting it replaced. Unless, you wanted to download something like a Windows PE disc and using the multiple tools they have that could try to diagnose the hdd. But, in Gparted, if you are able to see the new HDD,

I would first format it or delete the partitions (if any) on the NEW HDD. Then, on the top of the gparted window, theres a tab that has an option labeled something like, new partition table or create partition table. And it will ask if you are sure as it will format the hard drive.

Once verifying it is the new HDD, select yes, and choose MBR. Once that is done, you can create a partition in that new hdd and when it asks the size and type choose NTFS and size can be the whole thing unless you wanted to do separate partitions for your own reasons.

There is documentation and help under the help tab on gparted site I linked. It can walk you through anything you are unsure of with pictures usually to assist. If not, feel free to ask on here.

If you are fed up with it, there is a decent chance that this HDD is faulty and a smaller one of making it work so up to you. Here is an option that has just about everything you could possibly try to get it to work, and its windows based rather than linux. You'd just have to know how to either burn it to a disc (if you have one large enough) or create a bootable USB such as using Rufus (google will direct). Here is the link to a very handy tool.
 
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Droseofc

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Aug 6, 2016
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or heres some good and detailed instructions on how to use disk management to get windows to see it by initializing the hard drive. If you were able to get to a command prompt you should be able to get to the disk management. https://www.howtogeek.com/268901/why-your-new-hard-drive-isnt-showing-up-in-windows-and-how-to-fix-it/ also, try disabling autostartup with sentinel, maybe it is interfering, not positive but wont hurt. Some bios reset the boot order when a new device is plugged in, so I'd probably have both plugged in, boot into bios, change boot order and disabling the 2nd hard drive as a boot device if possible, then make sure you save, and exit or apply and exit. Once it starts to reboot I'd make sure I got right back into the bios to make sure anything didnt change and all is good, and then boot into windows.
 
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