Windows 7 won't boot after installing new HD

[Puffnstuff]

I also check for a f/w update for the hd itself. It could also be that there's a unresolvable hardware conflict between the drive and the mb. You should also consider returning the samsung for another brand of drive if the problem persists.

 

[burnside]

Yeah, I may have to do that. I bought it from NewEgg.

 

[burnside]

You could switch mobo. or you can probably work around the issue by plugging the new drive to a cheap add on SATA card.
External enclosures suck and tend to kill drives very very rapidly. I would avoid them.

So would the SATA card fix this issue? I don't mind buying it, but don't want to go through the pains of returning the SATA card if I experience the same problems.

By the way, the HD already has the latest firmware. Dell tech support has tried to help, but nothing good has come out of it. I installed the latest updates to the onboard RAID controller. What's funny is that once I'm in the OS I can fire up the Intel Rapid Storage Technology window and look at the drives. Once I plug in the drive and rescan, I can set the drive to "Spare", restart the computer, and get to the Windows startup screen. If I change it from "Spare" to "Available" and restart the computer, I get stuck again after the Dell splash screens.

 

[taltamir]

So would the SATA card fix this issue? I don't mind buying it, but don't want to go through the pains of returning the SATA card if I experience the same problems.

It should. You could try buying it at a local frys electronics so that you can easily return it if it doesn't. But I am nearly certain it would work.

 

[burnside]

Well, Dell finally came to the realization that their onboard RAID Controller is the issue. You guys were right. Any recommendations on a SATA card from Newegg?

 

[Shmee]

hmm, sata cards can range from around 10 bucks to over a thousand, depending on what your looking for. Get something relatively cheap for this, maybe around $30-$50 but try to make sure it is sata 2 at least, and PCIe. pci will limit your bandwidth. PCIe x4 would be ideal, though PCIe x1 should be fine for your needs. Also, you may want to read reviews on reliability and performance.

 

[taltamir]

hmm, sata cards can range from around 10 bucks to over a thousand, depending on what your looking for. Get something relatively cheap for this, maybe around $30-$50 but try to make sure it is sata 2 at least, and PCIe. pci will limit your bandwidth. PCIe x4 would be ideal, though PCIe x1 should be fine for your needs. Also, you may want to read reviews on reliability and performance.

the over 1000$ ones are RAID cards meant for servers where performance demands, reliability demand, and money to purchase actually warrant such. Since he is connecting a single HDD in non RAID mode he can get a plain SATA non RAID card and this shouldn't be an issue.

I am honestly not sure which one to buy, and I really would get something like that locally in a brick and mortar store so you could easily return it if it does not work out for you, and try another model.

 

[burnside]

Thanks guys. I only have one PCIe x1 slot, so it will have to be that. Ordered a SATA 2 card from Amazon so if it doesn't work too good, then back it goes. Paid $26, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for all your help to make a frustrating experience bearable.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Still didn't work. I attached a screenshot of my RAID utility screen for more information.

Just a note -- The 1TB drive is showing up as a non-RAID disk, exactly what you want. When you set your SATA controller to RAID, then all drives connected will come up under the RAID listing because they can all potentially be used as RAID disks. You can see that the two 500GB drives are RAID array members, while the 1TB is non-raid.


As for your boot issue - it still sounds like a BIOS setting is incorrect. It sounds like the computer is trying to boot from the 1TB drive first. Did you go in the BIOS and make sure to set the RAID array as the first priority to boot from?

You can also try hitting "F8" when the computer boots (or F12, some BIOSES set this function to F12) to get a list of boot drives. Do this right when the BIOS screen comes up. When the list of drives comes up, select your 500GB drive/array. See if that works.

If it gets into Windows, then the 500GB array hasn't been selected properly in the BIOS as the boot drive(s), since it works when you force them to be the boot drives, but is probably defaulting to the 1TB drive otherwise.

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Another solution is to use the 1TB drive in a USB 2.0/3.0 or eSATA enclosure. Then you can connect or disconnect the drive whenever you want. USB 2.0 maxes out at about 20-30MB/s, so if performance is an issue then this solution isn't ideal.

 

[burnside]

Just a note -- The 1TB drive is showing up as a non-RAID disk, exactly what you want. When you set your SATA controller to RAID, then all drives connected will come up under the RAID listing because they can all potentially be used as RAID disks. You can see that the two 500GB drives are RAID array members, while the 1TB is non-raid.

Yeah, that's what I'm realizing.

As for your boot issue - it still sounds like a BIOS setting is incorrect. It sounds like the computer is trying to boot from the 1TB drive first. Did you go in the BIOS and make sure to set the RAID array as the first priority to boot from?

Yes, I made sure that the Array0 is first, then the DVD drive. I removed having the Samsung 1TB drive as a boot option, but still couldn't boot.

You can also try hitting "F8" when the computer boots (or F12, some BIOSES set this function to F12) to get a list of boot drives. Do this right when the BIOS screen comes up. When the list of drives comes up, select your 500GB drive/array. See if that works.

Tried that too, no luck.

Another solution is to use the 1TB drive in a USB 2.0/3.0 or eSATA enclosure. Then you can connect or disconnect the drive whenever you want. USB 2.0 maxes out at about 20-30MB/s, so if performance is an issue then this solution isn't ideal.

I did just get this SATA card in today: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002PXFZ2S

I hooked it up to the PCIe slot then connected my 1TB drive to it, but still same issue. Is there a way to connect my drive to the eSATA port and maybe that would get things working?

 

[Kenmitch]

I did just get this SATA card in today: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002PXFZ2S I hooked it up to the PCIe slot then connected my 1TB drive to it, but still same issue. Is there a way to connect my drive to the eSATA port and maybe that would get things working?

So you installed the add in card and drivers and windows will boot fine? You hook the drive up to the add in card and windows will not boot? Did you go back into bios after hooking it up and make sure it's not messing with the boot order? Is the 1tb drive a known good drive or is it new?

To conncect the 1tb to e-sata you'd need an enclosure and cable or at least a cable/adapter. I'm thinking it won't solve your problem tho.

 

[taltamir]

Thanks guys. I only have one PCIe x1 slot, so it will have to be that. Ordered a SATA 2 card from Amazon so if it doesn't work too good, then back it goes. Paid $26, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for all your help to make a frustrating experience bearable.

did it arrive yet? did it work?

 

[burnside]

So you installed the add in card and drivers and windows will boot fine? You hook the drive up to the add in card and windows will not boot? Did you go back into bios after hooking it up and make sure it's not messing with the boot order? Is the 1tb drive a known good drive or is it new?

To conncect the 1tb to e-sata you'd need an enclosure and cable or at least a cable/adapter. I'm thinking it won't solve your problem tho.

OK, so got things kind of working. With the SATA card, I can finally boot up to Windows except once in Windows, I can't see the drive. Good news is that if the computer goes into sleep the I awake it, the drive pops up. This is good enough for me.

I might dig into this a little more and see if I can one day get the drive to pop up from start up, but for now, at least I can use the drive.

Thanks for everyone's help. Couldn't have done it without you.

 

[taltamir]

OK, so got things kind of working. With the SATA card, I can finally boot up to Windows except once in Windows, I can't see the drive.

1. Check the drivers.
2. Does it do it every time or did it only do it once? (once is expected as windows installs drivers)