PC boot doesn't complete with external Maxtor USB drive

[deepinsight]

Hi,

I'm running an Intel P4 3.2Ghz PC under XP Pro SP3 with 3Gb RAM.

I have an external Maxtor OneTouch 1Tb drive attached via USB (direct to one of the USB [2.0] connections at the back of the PC).

The BIOS is set to boot from the internal HDD or CD drive only.

Most of the time when booting the system the Intel splash/info screen is displayed, memory is detected along with keyboard and mouse then it proceeds to blank the screen (normal) and then, after a few seconds, the Windows XP splash screen is displayed and continues ( after c10 seconds) to offer me the login prompt screen.

However, sometimes after the first blank screen the Maxtor external drive light stays illuminated ( it normally just flashes a few times) and the system just sits there an never completes the boot.

Any ideas what is happening and how to resolve this issue?

 

[TriplexDread]

Have you checked in the BIOS that "boot other device" "boot from USB" is disabled or anything similar?

It seems your system is just looping and constantly looking at the USB drive for an OS
Has the external drive got a OS on it?

Could be other issues obviosly but have a look at those above first then come back to us

 

[deepinsight]

I've checked the BIOS settings (its an intel D875PBZ) and USB Boot is disabled with the boot priority being (1) Master HDD (2) DVD and (3) Floppy.

The external drive does not have an OS on it.