PC won't boot with external hard drive connected

sirmarcou

New Member
Hello everyone,
i can't seem to boot up my computer with an external hard drive connected. You will probably say I should change the boot order in the BIOS menu, but thrust me, I have tried that. I am using a Dell Inspiron 530, and have updated my BIOS (a Phoenix BIOS) to 1.0.18. Can someone please help me, I have spend hours trying to fix this problem, and nothing seems to work...
Can someone please help me...
 
Hello everyone,
i can't seem to boot up my computer with an external hard drive connected. You will probably say I should change the boot order in the BIOS menu, but thrust me, I have tried that. I am using a Dell Inspiron 530, and have updated my BIOS (a Phoenix BIOS) to 1.0.18. Can someone please help me, I have spend hours trying to fix this problem, and nothing seems to work...
Can someone please help me...

Do you need the Harddrive to boot? Or is it just for storage.

Look for an option that says USB boot in the bios and turn it off...otherwise, go into bios and look at the boot order, see if it is on it at all. Otherwise, try unplugging it when you boot.
 

sirmarcou

New Member
It is just for storage, but it is so annoying that I have to unplug it every time I boot, and when I forget, I have to reboot all over again, disconnecting the power and all... The only thing I can find in the boot order is this:
1st Boot Device: Hard Disk
2th Boot Device: CDROM
3th Boot Device: Disabled
Other Boot Device: Disabled
The options are hard disk, removable, CDROM or disabled.
The only option with USB is the USB host controller interface, which I can disable, but I don't know what that does...
 
It is just for storage, but it is so annoying that I have to unplug it every time I boot, and when I forget, I have to reboot all over again, disconnecting the power and all... The only thing I can find in the boot order is this:
1st Boot Device: Hard Disk
2th Boot Device: CDROM
3th Boot Device: Disabled
Other Boot Device: Disabled
The options are hard disk, removable, CDROM or disabled.
The only option with USB is the USB host controller interface, which I can disable, but I don't know what that does...

I think that is your USB all together, so dont touch that... apart from that, if they are the only options, then it may mean you will have to unplug it, it looks like the bios is searching for HDDs first, but searching external devices, is there an option for ZIP drive or something?
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Just check your boot device priority and be sure Internal HDD is first. Also check HDD Boot Priority and be sure the internal drive is the primary.
 

sirmarcou

New Member
The only options I have is hard disk, removable, CDROM and disable. And I already put hard disk first, CDROM second and the other two disabled, so no removable selected... I can't change any other priorities or positions...
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
So the computer acts okay after bootup and you connect the external? On some models usb boot doesn't appear until a usb device has been attached to the system. So connect the drive and then boot to the bios and see what is listed for boot order.
 

sirmarcou

New Member
If the external is connected, it stalls at the Dell start screen and I can't even hit the F2 key, cause everything is stuck... so I can't get in the BIOS while it is connected...
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Have you tried this drive in another system? Could either be an issue with the drive or usb cable.
 

sirmarcou

New Member
Yes I did, I tried both the front and the rear USB ports. Also, the same problem appears when there is a common USB stick connected in one of the ports, or a memory card in one of the slots. So it is definitly a memory problem, cause there is no issue when there is a joystick/mouse/keyboard connected...
 

StrangleHold

Moderator
Staff member
Look all through the bios again and make sure you dont have a setting for boot to USB devices. If its enabled it will try to boot from USB no matter what you have the boot order set as.
 
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