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Resolved Question

Secondary HDD prevents windows from booting

by Mar 3, 2014 8:37AM PST

To start off i have a built fairly new computer, i run windows 7 off of an SSD and store everything else on a 1tb seagate hard drive everything has been running smoothly until today, i powered it up and the normally fast booting and desktop load never happened, instead the windows logo and loading windows remained on the screen, i decided to wait it out and see what happened and after nearly half an hour the screen went black, then slowly the taskbar loaded at the bottom of the screen and eventually the background wallpaper appeared but without and icons on the desktop, nor could i access anything, so i shutdown the system, disconnected the HDD and windows loaded without a problem with its usual quickness. How can i fix this? I've read a lot about SATA cables being replaced but i have a fairly good SATA cable, if need be i'll try to get another, but i was wondering if it's something wrong with the drive itself and if so is it repairable or should i just buy a new drive?

Discussion is locked

Xcelhunter has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
17 Posts
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Clarification Request
Try
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 3, 2014 8:42AM PST

1. A shiny new SATA CABLE.

2. Booting up some UBCD (see google) and see what the HDD diagnostics (SMART readings) report.

3. What is this fairly good SATA cable? I demand "perfection."

Hope there's good findings to be found.
Bob

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ab
by Xcelhunter Mar 3, 2014 8:52AM PST

to be quite honest i'm not sure what brand the SATA cable is, but it is nearly brand new as is everything else... so the SATA cable could be an issue... as of now i can't run the computer with the drive connected but i have google chrome on my SSD which is how i'm on here, so i'm not sure what good trying to run a diagnostic tool would do at the moment.

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Did you try UBCD?
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 3, 2014 8:54AM PST
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yep
by Xcelhunter Mar 3, 2014 9:01AM PST

Yes i did google it, that's how i knew it was a diagnostic tool Silly but i can't run a diagnostic on the drive because it's quite unwilling to cooperate with the computer, just a moment i'm going to find my sabrent external sata to usb and see if that allows me access to the drive

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I see the move to other SATA ports is noted.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 3, 2014 9:05AM PST

Also, in some BIOS I can degrade the SATA speed to lower speeds. I take it the SATA cable is now shiny and perfect.

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unformatted?
by Xcelhunter Mar 3, 2014 9:15AM PST

Yes i could set i tried setting it to IDE and it still wasn't readable, I found my sata to usb and plugged it in, it took a few attempts but after it was read the computer immediately said that the drive had to be formatted

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Typical if there is some damage.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 3, 2014 9:54AM PST

Did you try other OS's like a live Linux CD?
Bob

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Bought new HDD
by Xcelhunter Mar 3, 2014 10:13AM PST

After repeated failed attempts to reformat the drive i went to the store and bought a new drive and the computer is running without issue now, guess the old drive is shot but thankfully i didn't have any important data on it

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Thanks!
by Xcelhunter Mar 3, 2014 2:23PM PST

Thanks for trying to help me out though! I do appreciate it!

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Bob, I have some questions about this version of UBCD
by wpgwpg Mar 3, 2014 10:20AM PST

I went to your link and downloaded UBCD 5.28. The first thing I noticed was that it wanted to install Conduit. I opted out and the download continued. Being cautious, I ran MalwareBytes & it identified the UBCD528.ISO file as being a PUP. Is this thing really safe? One more question I have is what OS does it use? It appears to be Linux based, is that the case? The last UBCD I downloaded a couple of years ago was based on XP, so I take it they've changed?

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Where did you get UBCD?
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 3, 2014 11:27PM PST

I've never found a .ISO that was more than an image of a CD but let's hear where this came from.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=virus+on+ultimate+boot+cd does not find anyone reporting it has a virus or pup but since it has antivirus tools, antimalware it is possilble that the signatures to detect the bad stuff is on the CD. I know that's an advanced topic so I'll stop here for your answer.
Bob

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Here's where I went
by wpgwpg Mar 3, 2014 11:54PM PST
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Never used a UBCD based on XP
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 3, 2014 11:59PM PST

It's it own world of apps and OSes. You hit the right download sites so I'm going with false positive.
Bob

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I downloaded it
by itsdigger Mar 4, 2014 12:10AM PST

from one of the official mirrors -> http://www.oldergeeks.com/downloads/file.php?id=242 with no Douchware.

As a matter of fact here's what the site say's ->

Please read this before downloading below:
We refuse to host deceptive software to make a quick buck but the side-effect is
that we are becoming very popular and our bandwidth costs are NUTS!
Please click the secure donate button if you can help us. Thanks so much, you're awesome!

Sincerely, The OlderGeeks.com Staff (of two, no kidding).

Digger

Best Answer

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I'd have to say
by Mar 3, 2014 8:43AM PST

I'd have to say it's unlikely that the SATA cable is bad. Granted it only costs a few dollars to test, so by all means do so, and you can always try connecting it to any other free SATA ports you have on your motherboard to see if there's any change in the symptoms, but I'd have to say this says to me that your HDD is on its way out.

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unfortunate
by Xcelhunter Mar 3, 2014 8:53AM PST

unfortunately that seems like a very real possibility... thankfully since it's still rather new i don't have very much on it

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Yep
by Xcelhunter Mar 3, 2014 10:14AM PST

Bought a new drive and it's working

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