New SATA 6GB/s drive causes PC to endlessly reboot

[smithore]

Hello all. I recently purchased a Hitachi Deskstar 5k3000 SATA 6GB/s drive. Ultimately, I need it running in my HTPC, which is an old Alienware. (specs below) I tried the drive out in my desktop PC, and it works great. After copying a bunch of media to the drive, I installed it in my HTPC. When my HTPC boots, I see the Windows 7 loading animation, and after a few seconds, the computer reboots. Windows then tries to load into recovery mode, but I'm not able to get any further.

Here are the specs on my HTPC:
Alienware Aurora 5500
Abit AV8a motherboard w/ AMD Athlon 4000+
Primary SATA: 250GB with Windows 7
Secondary SATA: 2TB Hitachi Deskstar

If I detach the 2TB drive, the PC boots with no problems. As soon as I attach the 2TB drive, the PC goes into the reboot cycle I describe above.

Is SATA 6GB/s backwards compatible with a motherboard from 2005?
Are there any other reasons my HTPC wouldn't be able to boot with this drive attached? (it works fine in my desktop PC)

 

[itserenity]

Did you format and install this drive in your Desktop PC?

If yes.. then that is your Problem. You must install it in your HTPC and install the OS in it...

The core of every PC is the chipset. Your Desktop PC has a different chipset than your HTPC.

So now the OS that was on a different chipset is trying to load that chipset's driver for the new chipset that it now sits on.

Will never work.

Very simple fix. Format and re-install your OS.

Best Wishes And Good Luck.

 

[smithore]

Thanks. I should add that the new 2TB drive is NOT the bootable drive with the OS on it. I bought it to be a D: drive in the HTPC. I am still booting the HTPC from the same 250GB drive running Windows 7 that was there before I bought the new drive. When I boot with the 2TB drive disconnected, it boots into Windows 7 just fine. When I attach the 2TB drive as the secondary D: drive, the PC won't boot completely from the 250GB drive.

Does that change your reply? Thanks!

 

[itserenity]

then this is easy....

change the order of you drives boot sequence...

seems that when you connect the 2TB the system is trying to boot from it...

Go into bios settings and change the boot order of your hard drives..

 

[dalauder]

^+1. That's it. It's easy.

 

[smithore]

The boot order is not the problem. When I connect the second drive (the new one - the new D: drive), the computer still attempts to boot into Windows on the C: drive. It displays the Windows loading splash screen, and then reboots after a few seconds.

 

[dalauder]

So you press F12 or F8 or whatever it is to choose your boot device, pick the old drive, and it still has the problem? Because what you're describing sounds like a boot order issue. If you can confirm with details that it is not, we will move on to more complicated and harder to diagnose issues.

If you connect your 2TB drive after Windows boots, does the drive show up and function properly?

 

[smithore]

So you press F12 or F8 or whatever it is to choose your boot device, pick the old drive, and it still has the problem? Because what you're describing sounds like a boot order issue. If you can confirm with details that it is not, we will move on to more complicated and harder to diagnose issues.

As I mentioned in the first post, my PC is booting from the C: drive correctly. I see the initial Windows splash screen with the loading bar, so I know it's booting from the correct C: drive. My new 2TB D: drive doesn't have Windows installed, so the PC is correctly attempting to boot from the C: drive. However, it gets a few seconds into the loading screen and then reboots.

If you connect your 2TB drive after Windows boots, does the drive show up and function properly?

I'm not sure what you mean by "connect your 2TB drive after Windows boots". This is an internal drive - I've never connected an internal drive after Windows boots. Is that even possible?

Here's my basic question: Do I need a newer HDD controller to run a SATA 6Gb/s drive? Or will that drive work fine on a SATA 1.5Gb/s controller on my 2005 motherboard?

 

[itserenity]

You can connect a drive after the machine had booted. I would suggest that you already have the power connector connected when you power up... then once booted, connect the data cable to your 2TB sata drive.

The system will mount it if everything is good.

If you need to, pull the drive from the cage, if you need easier access to plug the cable in without having to wiggle it in place, the cable needs to slide straight into the port.

 

[smithore]

Just to update this case for anyone finding it much later, I was never able to use my 6GB/s 2TB drive. I tried doing what the above poster recommended - connecting the drive after Windows had booted. Even doing this, the drive was never able to be mounted. I looked in Windows Disk Management and the drive never showed up. When connecting the SATA cable, the mouse cursor in Windows would change to an hourglass and lock up for a few seconds - then change back to a normal cursor, but no disk would show up in Explorer or Disk Management. I tried various combinations and nothing ever worked. (and to reiterate - there is nothing wrong with the drive. I connected it to another PC that is also running Windows 7 with a SATA 6GB/s controller and was able to see the drive just fine)

I just purchased a 2TB SATA 3GB/s drive and will try that drive when it arrives. I'm hoping the step down from SATA 3GB/s --> SATA 1.5GB/s isn't as much of a problem for the motherboard. I'll report back here when I receive the drive, in case anyone is curious.

 

[RetiredChief]

Does your BIOS support 2 TB drives, if not you will probably have the same problem.

Some general comments.
SATA III HDDs are a marketing tool as the only improvement is in burst speed, other performance is no better than a SATA II HDD on a SATA II controller - save the cost difference and buy a 6-pac.
Most sata III HDDs are backwards compatable to SATA II and some provide a jumper to force drive to SATA II mode. Sata II drives are backwards compatable with SATA I.

For Video playback SATA I is fine as Video playback (using a Blu-ray file) from a DVD or even a USB2 Thumbdrive plays fine - These devices are much slower than Sata I HDD. Of Coarse editing of a large Video file is MUCH better on a SATA II HDD.