System will not start with USB external harddrive turned on.

[Eddie E]

I just purchased a new Gateway system a couple of days ago that came loaded
with Vista Ultimate. I connected a WD external USB hard drive that I used as
a backup drive on my old system to the Gateway. I transferred my backed-up
data from the external drive to the new system with no problem. The next
time I booted my system just before when Windows would normally start to
load, my system would lock-up with nothing showing but a black screen. After
trying a million different things I found out that the system wouldn't boot
while the external hard drive was turned on. Once the system booted I could
turn the hard drive on and it works fine. I had Vista Home Premium installed
on my old system and I did not have this problem so I do not understand why
it's happening with Vista Ultimate. Anyone have a clue what's going on?
Thanks

~eddie

 

[Adam Albright]

I just purchased a new Gateway system a couple of days ago that came loaded
with Vista Ultimate. I connected a WD external USB hard drive that I used as
a backup drive on my old system to the Gateway. I transferred my backed-up
data from the external drive to the new system with no problem. The next
time I booted my system just before when Windows would normally start to
load, my system would lock-up with nothing showing but a black screen. After
trying a million different things I found out that the system wouldn't boot
while the external hard drive was turned on. Once the system booted I could
turn the hard drive on and it works fine. I had Vista Home Premium installed
on my old system and I did not have this problem so I do not understand why
it's happening with Vista Ultimate. Anyone have a clue what's going on?
Thanks

~eddie

The short answer is you're doing it backwards. You should boot up the
system FIRST then turn on and mount any external drive. You actually
are putting your data on the external drive at RISK by turning on your
external first. I also hope you shutdown your external by unmounting
correctly by clicking on the dismount button of the Task tray at the
lower right of your desktop.

 

[Richard Urban]

That is a hardware condition caused either by the M/B design or settings in
the bios.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User

 

[Boris]

I just purchased a new Gateway system a couple of days ago that came loaded
with Vista Ultimate. I connected a WD external USB hard drive that I used as
a backup drive on my old system to the Gateway. I transferred my backed-up
data from the external drive to the new system with no problem. The next
time I booted my system just before when Windows would normally start to
load, my system would lock-up with nothing showing but a black screen. After
trying a million different things I found out that the system wouldn't boot
while the external hard drive was turned on. Once the system booted I could
turn the hard drive on and it works fine. I had Vista Home Premium installed
on my old system and I did not have this problem so I do not understand why
it's happening with Vista Ultimate. Anyone have a clue what's going on?
Thanks

~eddie

Try enabling USB Legacy Support in your BIOS. I had this same black
screen problem with my XP machine, and this fixed it. Still, it's a
good idea to keep your USB external hard drive turned off until your
machine boots up.

 

[BobS]

Check the BIOS settings to see if your system isn't setup to boot from the
USB drive first.

Bob S.

 

[Eddie E]

Thanks everyone for the replies I tried the suggestions but nothing matters.
I have been using external drives for backups for years. This is my 3rd one.
The other 2 drives still work perfectly and I stopped using them because
their capacity is now too small. I keep my external hard drive on always
along with my system because backups are done automatically early in the
morning. I must have booted my system a thousand times with the external
drive on and never had a problem. Oh well I just have to remember to shut
down the external drive before I reboot the system. Thanks again.

~eddie

 

[Eddie E]

I found the solution if anyone is interested. Boris mentioned to check and
see if USB Legacy was enabled in the bios. I check and it was enabled so I
thought that was OK. A couple of days ago I tried disabling the USB Legacy
and it resolved the problem. The system no longer locks up when booting
while the external drive is on. I'm not worried about booting up with the
external drive while it's on. I have been doing it for years and never once
had a problem. Thanks again for the advice.

~eddie

remove "-no_spam" for direct replies.

 

[Eddie E]

I found the solution if anyone is interested. Boris mentioned to check and
see if USB Legacy was enabled in the bios. I check and it was enabled so I
thought that was OK. A couple of days ago I tried disabling the USB Legacy
and it resolved the problem. The system no longer locks up when booting
while the external drive is on. I'm not worried about booting up with the
external drive while it's on. I have been doing it for years and never once
had a problem. Thanks again for the advice.

~eddie

remove "-no_spam" for direct replies.

 

[Boris]

I found the solution if anyone is interested. Boris mentioned to check and
see if USB Legacy was enabled in the bios. I check and it was enabled so I
thought that was OK. A couple of days ago I tried disabling the USB Legacy
and it resolved the problem. The system no longer locks up when booting
while the external drive is on. I'm not worried about booting up with the
external drive while it's on. I have been doing it for years and never once
had a problem. Thanks again for the advice.

~eddie

remove "-no_spam" for direct replies.

That IS weird. I'm going to have think that one through. But I'm
glad it worked!

B.