Can OS Temporarily corrupt bios?

[RoboticusJiang]

Hi everyone,

I just installed windows 7 on a 1 tb HDD. I think the copy I got off dreamspark at school might have been corrupted during the download. This isn't the first time I've had to reinstall windows. The thing I'm wondering is, can a corrupted OS mildly mess up the bios? Before I installed windows 7 on the HDD, everything in the bios looked fine. When I don't have the HDD plugged into the motherboard, everything works and looks fine. When I plug the HDD in, I get only a small portion of the bios to display on my screen. When I try to save my changes in the bios, it freezes and I have to restart.

Any information would be helpful, thanks!

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, RoboticusJiang!

It sounds like this HDD of yours might be damaged in some way. I'd recommend you to run a diagnostic test on it using another computer (if you are unable to boot into Windows from yours) or use a DOS version of the HDD's brand-specific utility. If you can't find such a software on the manufacturer's website, you can use the WD's one as well, it will let you run the tests without booting into any OS. http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ZR336b

I'd also suggest you to try swapping the SATA cables and even the SATA port on the motherboard and see if that will improve things.

Keep me posted with the results!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[RoboticusJiang]

I've actually tried installing windows 7 on two different WD green HDDs. Getting the same issue from both.

Maybe I wasn't clear in my post, I bread boarded my computer. With the HDD plugged in but without windows 7 installed, the bios looked fine. It was after I installed windows that everything looked weird.

Are you saying that maybe the HDD would be damaged, but it doesn't show unless something's on it?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there again, RoboticusJiang!

I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing this with the WD Green drives. However, they are not really designed to be used as operating system HDDs. 🙁
The WD Greens' purpose is to be used as secondary storage drives for your massive data (media files - video, photo, music, etc.). They are reliable but they use IntelliPower RPM which basically makes them spin down regularly when not accessed and could cause pretty slow boot ups (when used as primary/OS drives). These features are exactly what makes the drives power-efficient, because that RPM makes them consume less power, than regular desktop drives.
I'd recommend you to take a look at the WD Blue, for example, because it's for everyday computing suitable for primary storage with its 7200 RPM. Here you can check more details about it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=7qprJ1

Either way, I'd suggest you to try using different SATA cables and make sure that your SATA/chipset drivers are up to date (from your motherboard manufacturer's website).

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting though.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[RoboticusJiang]

Hey there again, RoboticusJiang!

I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing this with the WD Green drives. However, they are not really designed to be used as operating system HDDs. 🙁
The WD Greens' purpose is to be used as secondary storage drives for your massive data (media files - video, photo, music, etc.). They are reliable but they use IntelliPower RPM which basically makes them spin down regularly when not accessed and could cause pretty slow boot ups (when used as primary/OS drives). These features are exactly what makes the drives power-efficient, because that RPM makes them consume less power, than regular desktop drives.
I'd recommend you to take a look at the WD Blue, for example, because it's for everyday computing suitable for primary storage with its 7200 RPM. Here you can check more details about it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=7qprJ1

Either way, I'd suggest you to try using different SATA cables and make sure that your SATA/chipset drivers are up to date (from your motherboard manufacturer's website).

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting though.
SuperSoph_WD

Switching to a WD Blue and using a different Windows 7 install disc seemed to do the trick.

I've used WD Blue HDDs before and they've always been great. I thought I'd experiment with WD Greens this time around since Amazon said they were more energy efficient. I didn't know that they weren't suited for primary boot drives. Thanks for the help!