Question Can’t boot windows with multiple connected drives

Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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Please keep it to 1 thread.
* The whole title and text has been changed and updated now so it might differ from some conversations or replies. What’s written here is the current issue that I’m experiencing.

Gonna make this short and quick so that it’s easy and quick to read. I’ve sorted everything by date. I am very pleased with any help given. Thank you so much!


Yesterday:

I installed Windows on Drive 2, with Drive 1 connected to the computer. Seemed like everything worked but I don’t remember restarting the PC, etc.

I’m stuck at the motherboard screen after connecting Drive 3 & 4.


Today:

I’m currently stuck at the motherboard screen and have all drives connected to it.

I removed Drive 3, still stuck at the motherboard screen.

I removed Drive 4, still stuck at the motherboard screen.

At this point I have Drive 1 and 2 connected to the motherboard and I’m still stuck at the motherboard screen.


Today:

I Installed Windows on Drive 1 without any other drives connected to the computer, restarted the computer, etc. Everything seems to work great.

I’m stuck at the motherboard screen after connecting Drive 2, 3, & 4.


Now:

I am really interested in knowing what this could be all about and have been researching this whole day without success. How do I solve this and get my new build finished?


Specs:

CPU - I7-11700K

GPU - Asus RTX 3060 ROG STRIX OC

RAM - G.SKILL 4X32GB Balistix (128GB)

PSU - Corsair RM850X 850W

MB - Gigabyte Z590 UD AC

Drive 1 - WD SN850 500GB (M.2)

Drive 2 - Crucial P5 250GB (M.2)

Drive 3 - Crucial P5 500GB (M.2)

Drive 4 - Samsung QVO 1TB (SSD)


Thanks again in advance. I do really appreciate any kind of help that can be given!
 
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Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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Return to previous drive configuration, that worked.
Then add additional drives one by one and find, which one breaks it.

What model motherboard are you using?
So right after I installed windows I shut everything down and never powered the computer back on with just the two drives that I had connected at that time. What I did after installing windows was to shut down the computer, remove the USB, plug in the other drives, and power the computer back on, making sure that everything looked correctly in the bios before entering windows once more.
I got stuck at the motherboard screen after the bios at this point.
Here’s the thing, when I power on the computer right now after hitting a setting like reset back to defaults and enable XMP profile 1 I get no connection to the monitor, mouse and keyboard. I’m unable to do anything or get to the bios and I’ve tried unplugging the PSU power cable and holding down the power button for 30 seconds but that did not really do anything. The fans are also spinning at full speed. By removing some drives will this actually solve all of this? Also, the red light at or indicating “BIOS” on the motherboard is still shining red like it did for me before all of this happened and before I installed windows with only two drives connected, and one drive that’s half connected (without being connected to the sata port on the motherboard). I don’t think this light was shining once I had windows installed but I’m not sure. I’m using a Gigabyte Z590 UD AC.
 
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Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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Obviously.
If you can't get into BIOS, then you have to reset BIOS settings.
I’ve removed the battery and put it back in now. When turning on the computer the fans were very loud like last time and there was no display nor connection with the keyboard and mouse but then it restarted / turned off automatically and turned back on and that’s when I got back into the bios. I believe removing the battery and putting it back in solved the issue with the ram that couldn’t run the xmp profile but now I’m stuck at the motherboard screen like before where it says “Gigabyte” & “Insist on Ultra Durable”
 
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Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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Obviously.
If you can't get into BIOS, then you have to reset BIOS settings.

Removed the easiest drive for me to remove and install back on which was the crucial drive with 500Gb. The issue still presists. Is it worth removing the sata ssd drive too or could this possibly be related to something else?

My drives:
M.2: wd sn850 500gb (this was connected when installing windows)
M.2: crucial p5 250gb (this is where windows was installed to)
M.2: crucial p5 500gb
SSD: samsung qvo 1tb
 
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Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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Enabling CSM Support showed all of the other drives in the boot sequence but did not solve this issue. Also, when booting the red light seems to switch between VGA and BOOT
 
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Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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try booting without all ssd/hdd that don't have windows installed.
Return to previous drive configuration, that worked.
Then add additional drives one by one and find, which one breaks it.

What model motherboard are you using?

I’ve now removed the two other drives that wasn’t connected when I installed Windows 10 through the USB stick that came with the license. I still have nowhere to go after reaching this part. What should I do next? Also, I truly appreciate the help as I’ve been wanting to get this computer finished for many days and I’ve spent this whole day researching and trying to boot into Windows 10, sadly without any success.. View: https://imgur.com/a/k5BWbp3
 

Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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try booting without all ssd/hdd that don't have windows installed.
Obviously.
If you can't get into BIOS, then you have to reset BIOS settings.

The heatsink from the motherboard is already taped onto the WD SN850 so I’m not totally sure how I’m gonna get that one removed but I removed the Crucial P5 250GB drive where Windows 10 is installed at. This time when booting I come into the bios, and hitting “Save & Exit” takes me to the motherboard screen that then transfers me back to the bios. I’m not sure what sign this gives but I hope this information is useful somehow. I would do anything to get this to work so please let me know if I should remove the WD SN850 drive too or if there’s anything else that I could try to solve this! Thanks.
 

Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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now with just this drive connect. do a fresh os install. and see if that boot up by itself
Okay. I will try this! I do have a question tho. Is my Windows license bond to the drive where I installed Windows 10 to on the Crucial drive? I was wondering what I could do incase something was wrong with that Crucial drive and I have to get a new one and install windows on the new drive.
 

Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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now with just this drive connect. do a fresh os install. and see if that boot up by itself
I installed windows on the wd sn850 drive and then shut down and powered back on. Everything seems to be working on this drive and I’m getting into windows. Now, this is not where I want to have windows installed at. I think it would be really interesting if the Crucial drive doesn’t work and I actually don’t understand how this would be. Is it that Windows 10 somehow has gotten corrupted or something on the Crucial drive or what do you think could be the issue here?
 

Fl1cks

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Jun 19, 2021
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instead of adding drive 2,3,4 at the same time. try 1 at a time
I had all drives connected today and what I did was to remove one drive at a time while still keeping the same drive (Drive 2) prioritized for boot in the bios. I removed drive 3 at first, having three drives connected to the computer here and then I removed drive 4 and was having only two drives connected to the computer. It was when I removed Drive 2 that I could boot into windows with drive 1. Drive 1 has a heatsink taped or sticked to it from the motherboard and that’s why I don’t really want to remove that one
 
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Probably one of your drives (or multiple) has corrupted file system or corrupted partition table.
That's why bootup process hangs.
By having all drives connected and removing them one by one, you can't find single problematic drive. Problematic can be either last removed or all removed drives.

That's why you have to test by adding drives (not removing them).
Add one drive, if system boots, then the drive is fine.
Add next until you find a problem.

Also - I'd suggest disabling secure boot in bios.
 

Fl1cks

BANNED
Jun 19, 2021
77
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Probably one of your drives (or multiple) has corrupted file system or corrupted partition table.
That's why bootup process hangs.
By having all drives connected and removing them one by one, you can't find single problematic drive. Problematic can be either last removed or all removed drives.

That's why you have to test by adding drives (not removing them).
Add one drive, if system boots, then the drive is fine.
Add next until you find a problem.

Also - I'd suggest disabling secure boot in bios.


I’m back with updates, sadly with nothing that I know what to do about.

I want to point out that the graphics card has been removed as it’s in the way of installing & removing the drives so I’m using the internal graphics right now. Also, the main drive I want to boot into later is Drive 2 but as Drive 1 has a heatsink attached to it and the only way to remove this drive is to remove the heatsink taped to it I’ve chosen to keep Drive 1 connected.

Test 1:
All of the drives are removed except the M.2 NVMe Drive 1. I boot into Windows without issues on Drive 1.

Test 2:
When connecting the SATA SSD Drive 4, having Drive 1 & 4 connected to the MB, I’m stuck at the motherboard screen when booting into Drive 1.

Test 3:
When connecting the NVMe M.2 Drive 3, having Drive 1 & 3 connected to the MB, I’m stuck at the motherboard screen when booting into Drive 1.

Test 4:
When connecting the NVMe M.2 Drive 2, having Drive 1 & 2 connected to the MB, I’m stuck at the motherboard screen when booting into Drive 1.

Test 5:
Having Drive 1 & 2 connected to the MB, I’m stuck at the motherboard screen when booting into Drive 2.

Non Secure Boot Test:
Having Drive 1 & 2 connected to the MB and Secure Boot set to Disabled, I’m stuck at the motherboard screen when booting into both drives.

The four drives:
Drive 1 - WD SN850 500GB (M.2)
Drive 2 - Crucial P5 250GB (M.2)
Drive 3 - Crucial P5 500GB (M.2)
Drive 4 - Samsung QVO 1TB (SSD)