Hard Drive Stops PC Booting

keane2097

If I have my external hard drive (a 500GB Western Digital) plugged in my computer (Dell Vostro desktop) doesn't start up - it gets to one of the boot screens and just gets stuck there for an indefinite amount of time.

Any ideas what I can do to fix this?

Overheal

Unplug it and try again?

Theres probably some setting in your BIOS gone awry. Sounds as if the Boot Order needs to be fixed, like its trying to boot from the USB device.

keane2097

Overheal wrote: »

Unplug it and try again?

Well yeah, it boots sine when the HD isn't plugged in, but I don't want to have to plug it out everytime I boot.

EDIT: I'll have a look at the boot order in the BIOS, but I think I fixed that before trying to remedy this so I don't think that's it. Any other ideas about what it could be?

allthedoyles

I have the same problem .

I just switch off the external HD every time at startup ( once a day )

It saves messing with BIOS

keane2097

allthedoyles wrote: »

I have the same problem .

I just switch off the external HD every time at startup ( once a day )

It saves messing with BIOS

That's not a suitable option for me as it means I have to set up network sharing permissions for files on my HD every time I restart my computer. This is obviously a pain.

Gonzovision

Disable the external hdd in the bios.

keane2097

ok im on my laptop now because something's gone badly wrong on my PC.

I went into the BIOS menu and disabled everything in the boot option except for Hard Drive. The only other thing that was enabled actually was CD drive but I disabled that anyway.

Then I tried to disable the HD in the boot menu but noticed that when I turn on the PC with the HD in the screen where it gives you the option of entering the Setup or Boot menu is completely frozen (can't enter the menus).

So I tried turning on the PC with the HD plugged out, then loading up the boot menu and then plugging in the HD to see if I could do anything that way. The screen froze immediately on plugging in the HD so I cut the power, unplugged the HD and tried to boot again.

Now it's getting stuck on the screen where it gives you the option of entering the Setup or Boot menu whether the HD is plugged in or not. It's not budging from that screen and I can't enter the Boot menu or the setup menu.

I've tried to reinstall the OS by entering the CD, but unsurprisingly that's having no effect either...

Any suggestions?

Overheal

chill winston.

Open up the case, and perform a CMOS reset.

http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-Your-BIOS

keane2097

Overheal wrote: »

chill winston.

Open up the case, and perform a CMOS reset.

http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-Your-BIOS

Will that wipe my internal HDs?

keane2097

Ok did the CMOS reset and it's sorted now - thanks a lot for your help.

Overheal

keane2097 wrote: »

Will that wipe my internal HDs?

for future reference: No