Add a 3TB Storage (non-boot) Drive -> Windows Won't Load

[Mistwalker]

First, I am using a 256GB SSD drive as my boot drive. It was formatted MBR -> NTFS and been working great for a very long time now.

I recently added a pair of WD Green 3TB drives to replace my old 2TBs. They showed up in Windows, and I formatted them GPT-style, 3TB capacity shows up, backed up my data onto them, and everything ran fine. Been using this setup for about a month now, no problems.

Today, I restarted the PC and after the BIOS splash screen I get the following:

drive 0x80 (LBA): C/H/S = 31131/255/63, Sector Count/Size: 500115515/512

Options if your HDD is larger than 1TB:
*Move your boot files to a smaller partition
*Format the HDD and use Windows 7 to create a 100MB boot partition
*Shrink and move your partitions with Gparted

Unplugging BOTH 3TB drives allows me to boot into Windows, where my SSD and other 2TB drives show up fine. Either of the 3TB drives plugged in, I get that message after the BIOS flash screen. The BIOS itself sees the drives and their correct capacities.

I've re-arranged, enabled and disabled every possible boot order option I can think of, the system is trying to boot from the SSD fine but encounters that error.

I thought maybe the SSD needs to be reformatted as GPT so it "sees" the other drives...but then, it's booted fine before, so why would it have this problem now? They're just data drives, after all, not system drives. I've also tried changing which drive is plugged into which SATA port, same behavior.

In desperation I tried updating the motherboard BIOS from 0606 to 1101, no change. Anyone with experience/advice here? It's driving me crazy...

 

[FAUguy]

For 3TB drives, setting them up as GPT is really only needed if it is going to be one large 3TB partition. If you do it as MBR, Windows 7 will see it as a 2TB and 1TB drive (both of which can have multiple partitions). The SSD does not need to be set at GPT to see a 3TB GPT drive attached to the system. I assume that you have AHCI enabled in the BIOS and are using the latest Intel Rapid Storage drivers?
But since it was working fine for a month, it makes me think that there are now problems with the 3TB drives them self, as the older 2TB work fine when connected.

 

[Mistwalker]

I assume that you have AHCI enabled in the BIOS and are using the latest Intel Rapid Storage drivers?

Yep, all around.

But since it was working fine for a month, it makes me think that there are now problems with the 3TB drives them self, as the older 2TB work fine when connected.

That would make sense, but two drives failing at the same time? They're brand new...and yet, I don't have any better explanation.

More fun: I unplugged the 3TB drives but enabled "Hot Pluggable" in the BIOS for those two SATA ports. Boot into Windows, THEN connect the drives, Intel RST detects them and I can use them fine. I just can't boot with them connected.

 

[BFG10K]

This might be a long shot, but try scanning your system for viruses. Even better, scan the system from a rescue disc.

Also are you overclocking anything? Have you installed any new hardware or software?

 

[Mistwalker]

This might be a long shot, but try scanning your system for viruses. Even better, scan the system from a rescue disc.

Also are you overclocking anything? Have you installed any new hardware or software?

I try to be pretty careful about keeping my virus/malware scanners up to date, and run them weekly (running them now just in case). CPU is overclocked at 4.3, been that way since I installed it several months back and never a problem.

It's been a good 7-10 days since my last reboot but up until then everything started up with no errors, all drives detected and usable just fine. No new hardware or software since then.

 

[taltamir]

Today, I restarted the PC and after the BIOS splash screen I get the following:

drive 0x80 (LBA): C/H/S = 31131/255/63, Sector Count/Size: 500115515/512

You get it... in bios? in a blue screen when windows starts? what?

Also, did you make sure the mobo is set to boot from the SSD drive first?

From your description I think your bootloader went bad. Which suggests a virus as BFG10K said. You can try using this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

1. Make sure only the OS drive is plugged in when messing with boot sector stuff.
2. Make sure mobo is set to start from that drive when you plug the rest of them in.

 

[Mistwalker]

You get it... in bios? in a blue screen when windows starts? what?

Right after the BIOS splash screen ("Press DEL to enter setup") the display usually goes black for a moment, then to the Windows startup animation. Now, after the splash graphic the screen goes black with the text I mentioned above.

Also, did you make sure the mobo is set to boot from the SSD drive first?

I did indeed, and when that didn't resolve it I tried disabling all the other drives from the "boot priority" menu, to no avail.

From your description I think your bootloader went bad. Which suggests a virus as BFG10K said. You can try using this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

1. Make sure only the OS drive is plugged in when messing with boot sector stuff.
2. Make sure mobo is set to start from that drive when you plug the rest of them in.

That tool looks exactly like what I need, thank you!! Will give it a try, hopefully my MBR can be restored without any data loss.

Virus scan came up clean, so the cause is still a mystery...but hopefully I now have the tools to resolve it, thank you all kindly for the suggestions. Will report back if it doesn't work.