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    No post can't boot with external hard drive connected

    Discussion in 'Sager and Clevo' started by SnowDrifter, Jul 19, 2017.

  1. SnowDrifter

    SnowDrifter Notebook Geek

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    Sager NP9377sma
    Pema Bios
    I recently purchased an external drive for backups - WD MyBook 4TB

    System will not post with my external HDD connected. Will sit indefinitely with a blank screen and keyboard backlight on

    Unplug the drive, it boots and restarts normally

    Enter bios with drive unplugged, plug it in, the bios screens freeze

    Cold boot / restart via windows makes no difference. Result is the same. Display of black screen, computer never displays post screen, never enters windows

    Once in windows, I can plug in the drive and use as normal. It's only on boot that it gives me issue. I can't say I've experienced anything like this.
     
    SnowDrifter, Jul 19, 2017
    #1
  2. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

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    Really odd issue. You can try disable USB legacy mode in BIOS if you don't need to use it outside of Windows or to boot from it.
     
    namaiki, Jul 20, 2017
    #2
  3. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Does it do this on all ports?
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jul 20, 2017
    #3
  4. SnowDrifter

    SnowDrifter Notebook Geek

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    No change when disabling legacy mode

    The problem occurs on all ports
     
    SnowDrifter, Jul 24, 2017
    #4
  5. AZHIGHWAYZ

    AZHIGHWAYZ Notebook Enthusiast

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    Is there a boot order conflict in your bios? Check the boot order in your bios and disable or remove any boot source except your windows drive.
     
    AZHIGHWAYZ, Jul 26, 2017
    #5
  6. Falkentyne

    Falkentyne Notebook Prophet

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    This is almost 100% certain to be an issue with the absolutely horrendous SATA to USB adapter that Western Digital uses for its mybooks.
    It uses some really bad proprietary protocol that is EXTREMELY slow and only designed to work in windows.

    The only way to make it work the way you want it to work, is to remove the drive from the enclosure, unscrew and remove the adapter, and then buy a Startech SATA to USB3 adapter. This should make the drive work, although I cannot promise that it will work in the Bios.

    I've used this adapter successfully on both a 2.5" Hitachi 750GB and an Intel 80GB 320 series SSD.
     
    Falkentyne, Jul 27, 2017
    #6