functioning win7 won't boot if an IDE is drive added

[MacGiola]

I have a functioning Windows 7 system booting normally from a Samsung 840 EVO SSD. I have two older IDE drives that I would like to pull some data from. My motherboard does not have a native IDE controller, and I intended to use a couple of IDE to SATA controllers.

Unfortunately, if either one of these hard drives is attached to the system, Windows hangs at the Starting Windows screen. That happens with either hard drive, and either one of the adapters, which are different makes and styles. I've tried booting into safe mode, last known good, and normal modes to no avail. What's stranger, is that the same thing happens trying to boot into the recovery environment from either the original Windows 7 disk or a rescue disk, UEFI or MBR.

The drive is recognized in the BIOS, but something about an IDE drive converted to SATA is causing the Windows startup process to halt. I have not a clue what it could be since the drives with the SATA converters worked well in an older computer also running win7.


System: Asus X99-E WS motherboard, i7 5830K processor, 32 GB DDR-4 RAM, Samsung 840 EVO SSD, WD 1 TB SATA hd, EVGA GTX 980ti, Corsair RM1000.

 

[ko888]

Try a USB 3.0 converter: https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-5-25-INCH-Converter-Activity-USB-DSC9/dp/B00DQJME7Y

 

[MacGiola]

I will, but any idea what's keeping windows from booting from an installation cd?

 

[ko888]

Is the AHCI device driver for the Intel X99 chipset's SATA controller integrated into your Windows 7 boot CD?

During the Windows install process where it asks you to press F6 if you want to add another storage controller device driver use the AHCI drivers in this .ZIP file:

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/26138/eng/RST_Win7_8.1_10_15.2.0.1020_f6flpy-x64.zip

 

[MacGiola]

I haven't gotten past the "Starting Windows" screen in any scenario with the IDE adapter connected, so loading files isn't an option.

In safe mode, the list of startup items scrolled down rapidly and halts after a particular.sys file. if I could capture that list using something like the DOS > (redirect) or "More" commands for the screen display, and compare it to a log of files that load when the drive isn't connected, perhaps a comparison would help identify the problem. If the Safe mode file list isn't an option. is there a Windows log which captures files loaded during the session manager phase of start up?

Before going much further, let me say that I understand the easiest way to get the files from my IDE drive is spending 25 bucks for an external case and transferring them over USB. But it bugs me that I haven't been able to figure out how to troubleshoot the offending file. When I was an undergraduate physics major, I asked aprofessor a question related to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. He smiled and said, "You need a license to fish in those waters, and you don't have one." if I've come to that point in this matter, I won't be offended in the least if you recommend I revisit the issue after I've gotten a license.

 

[ko888]

How to determine drivers that are loading on startup:

http://superuser.com/questions/612627/how-to-find-drivers-that-are-loading-on-startup

 

[MacGiola]

Since the halt occurs at the same point in the start sequence whether booting from a CD or the SSD, could that be an indication of a hardware initialization fault? Could the UEFI be loading a SATA driver right after POST that conflicts with what the boot loader is expecting? If it happens that early in the start process, the kernel hasn't even started loading drivers yet has it, or am I getting over my head into kernel mode debugging quicksand? No license at all.
At any rate, the offending IDE drive has been copied via USB and isn't needed anymore, so the issue is completely academic now. Thank you for your advice.

 

[ko888]

The UEFI BIOS has nothing to do with loading device drivers of any sort.

Once the POST routine has completed then control is passed to the OS' boot loader. It is up to the OS to load its own device drivers. Your compatibility problem lies strictly within the OS images that you are booting with. Either the correct device driver is missing or an incompatible device driver is being loaded.