external hard drive halts memory check on boot

[montyuk]

I have a buffalo drive station external hard drive (with own power supply) attached to my machine via a usb port,

my motherboard is a gigabyte ep45t-ds3r running a e8600 at 4ghz.

when i have the external drive turned on the system memory check at bootup fails (corsair ddr3 9-9-9-24 at 1333) and the system restarts until the backup bios kicks in and boots at standard speeds of 3.33ghz.

with the drive off the system will boot normally.

i am at a loss as to the reasons for the boot failure but it happens every time.

the only modifications i have made to the bios to facilitate the overclock are the change to the fsb (from 333 to 400) and a modification to the ram ratios to bring the timings back to 1333

any thoughts or suggestions as to what to try in order to stop this bizarre error?

 

[IH8U]

It happens to me as well, a quick fix is to unplug the USB cable before you power on. Then as it loads the OS, re-connect the USB.

 

[montyuk]

heh ye thats pretty much what i have been doing, making sure when i finish a session, turn them off before closing down, so i dont have to remember whats going on when i turn the system back on in the morning..

 

[huron]

That was going to be my suggestion as well. I know it's inconvenient, and doesn't solve the problem, but it will make it work.

Good luck in truly solving.

 

[MrLinux]

Try disabling legacy (DOS) USB support in the BIOS.

 

[montyuk]

^ just done that, so far so good!!!!

will see if it still works in the morning...cheers!