Resolved PC Will Not Boot After HDDs Re-Arranged

Hello,

Earlier today I was doing some work on my Windows 7 PC and I messed it up so now it does not boot. This is a custom built PC that uses a CoolerMaster HAF-XM case. This case has room for 6 internal hard drives and two X-Dock slots for hot swappable removable HDDs. My configuration that was working this morning was as follows:

B: Blue Ray drive
C: internal Crucial 128 GB SSD (my W7 boot drive)
D: internal Western Digital (WD) Black 1.5TB HDD (this drive died and is scheduled to be returned to the manufacturer)
E: another internal WD Black 1.5 TB drive
F: second internal 128GB Crucial SSD (identical SSD model as C)
H: internal 2TB Seagate HDD
J: new internal WD Black 1.5 TB that will replace failed D drive
Z drive: 1 TB WD Black drive in X-dock #1

I have an ASUS P8Z77-V LK motherboard running their UEFI Bios utility Bios version 0210.

Earlier today I opened the case to remove the failed D drive. At that time I got it in my head to move around some of the other drives. I wanted to move my two working 1.5 TB WD Black drives into my X-docks. These drives are being used to backup photos and videos from a NAS device and I liked the idea of being able to easily pull them out and swap them.

I did NOT move or touch either of the two SSD drives (including the C boot drive). I did move all of the HDD drives into their desired places. When I booted the computer the BIOS would load then I would get a black screen with the following error message:

Reboot and select proper boot device
or
Insert boot media in selected boot device and press any key.​

I have since rebooted a number of times into the BIOS to try and find the problem. I have changed the Boot Priority in EZ Mode and Advanced Mode - I still get the same problem.

Under EZ Mode:
Boot 1 disk was shown as P0 M4-CT128M4SSD2
Boot 2 disk was disabled in BBS Order***

*** After my problem I set the CD/DVD Drive BBS Priorities to disabled to try and force the issue with the SSD - no luck.

Under HD Priority it gives me 4 options and it shows all the 4 drives installed - the two SSDs and two HDs (the two HDDs in the X-dock are not connected and do not show).

The other SSD shows as S0 M4-CT128M4SSD2. I can't tell if S0 or P0 is the true Boot drive, so I tried setting S0 as first priority then P0, it did not work.

I did notice that under Advanced Mode SATA Configuration only one of the SSD drives shows up. All the drives that do show are listed as Hot Plug Disabled. (I wonder if this was enabled if the problem would have been avoided).​

Since then I have used Ubuntu 14 to clearly identify which of the two SSD drives is the boot drive. I also confirmed that the boot drive has the following installed on it:
- hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys on the root
- a folder called Windows/Boot
- a folder called Windows/System32/Boot
- Bootmgr located here: Windows/Boot/PCAT/Bootmgr
- multiple other files with Boot or Bootmgr in their names, all located on this SSD

How can I get my PC to boot to Windows again and recognize the drives in their new location? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Hi Mr. Chip, Have tried unplugging ALL peripherals and just connecting your OS Hard drive on its own? Neil.

 

Hi Neil,
Thanks for helping. Yes, I tried doing this last night and got the same error.

 

Hi PeteC,

I am thrilled that you are available to help me out with this. See below.

I am not sure what type of DVD I have. I think it was an OEM version because I built the PC from scratch (my first time). I will look into this and let you know. Assuming I have a retail version, should I do this with all the drives connected or just my SSD boot? I want to be really careful to not corrupt/lose data on the other drives.

I was thinking about trying this. I know where the drives go and am pretty sure about the cable connections. Should I try this first before doing anything with the Windows Installation DVD?

 

Hi PeteC,

I found a Windows 7 Professional DVD where the case says "For distribution only with a PC ". The MS License code sticker is still on the case. I did not put a sticker on my PC, so there is a good chance this is the one. I have upgraded a PC to W7 as well, but don't think this is the disk.

I am going to try and recreate the original setup. That will take 10-15 minutes and I will post my results.

The ASUS MOBO has some feature in it to diagnose/reset configuration. I cannot recall exactly what it is but can look into it. If my above attempt does not work, would you suggest trying the Windows Repair option or having the Mobo try to resolve the issue?

 

Hi PeteC,

Some progress. I have been busy trying all kinds of cabling combinations. I still cannot get the computer to boot. However, I noticed in the BIOS that one of the two Intel SATA6 ports on the MOBO read as empty on each boot, even though it was plugged into an HDD. One of the SSDs was never listed - the non boot SSD.

After much trial and error I discovered that the non-boot SSD was plugged into the add-on SATA card while one of the WD was plugged into the MOBO. I plugged both SSDs into the Intel SATA6 ports on the MOBO and now all my 7 devices (6 drives and BluRay) show up in the BIOS. Some progress.

I am going to see what I can learn about the MOBO utility and will be back in touch soon for your advice. I want to get your opinion before trying something like this. I hope to have info posted in 20-30 minutes. Are you around for the next few hours?

 

UPDATE:
Pete, while reading the MOBO user manual I discovered a feature that let's me force the computer to boot from whatever drive I chose. The feature listed all 6 hard drives and the BluRay drive - a good sign. I know my OS is on one of the SSDs. I tried forcing the boot from each one of the SSDs. Both times I got the same error message. For kicks I tried the BluRay and one of the WD drives - and got the same error message.

Still looking to see what the MOBO s/w has to offer in this case....

 

Hopefully it won't take that long. After much digging I found the ASUS tech support phone number and my serial number. I am on hold with them. I want to get their advice and will post it here. I hope they will talk to me even though my MOBO is 12-18 months old...

 

Pete,

Reached a tech support rep. Based on what we tried, he suspects it is a corrupt boot file on the boot drive. I could reset the MOBO, but he highly doubts that will do anything. He suggested I re-install Windows. I prefer trying to repair it first.

Should I boot into Ubuntu and copy all the SSD files to an HDD before attempting repair?

 

Hi Pete,

I am in the process of copying the whole SSD to a HDD. I know you can't copy Windows this way, but figured if I click on the drive and select All in Ubuntu I should not miss anything. I have another 10 minutes or so before it is done.

Pete, I was so desperate yesterday that I asked someone else for help prior to posting this thread. That person wants me to do more diagnosis before trying any change. I know this is unusual, but I thought I would run his ideas past you. Have you ever used Diskpart.exe? He said I should go to repair mode like you suggest, then go to command line and run Diskpart.exe. I should get a list of the drives and see which of them has active partition. Then if I find an active partition exists I should check if that partition has a Boot folder and Bootmgr file on its root directory. I should browse all of the partitions to see which one(s) have these files.

 

Hi Pete,

How much longer do I have before you sign off for the night? I am reading the info on what you sent me.

 

OK I am about ready to start the windows repair to see what kinds of partitions I find. Do you think I should have my hard drives plugged in the way they used to be? Or should I go ahead and plug them in the way I want them to be?

My thinking is if I need to repair the installation, maybe I should repair it in the configuration I want to end up with...