PC hangs at post screen when external HDD is attached

[Saltgrass]

OK, tell us about the drive. When it was GPT, how did you convert it to GPT?

Have you tried the drive with another system or different ports?

My external drive is already configured as MBR, but it would mess up boot from either a cold or warm boot, I can't remember, but I will be testing during the next hour.

I assume your external drive is not a Seagate, and it is an OEM version, or did you get an enclosure and put the drive in yourself?

 

[erkme73]

The problem is neither drive nor port (USB 2 or 3) specific. Initially I was using a 4TB HGST Touro (WD) external drive. I then tried a Seagate external 4TB drive. Both were GST right out of the box. I then tried a 2TB Seagate. All of these are USB3, btw.

The only one that wouldn't hang was the 2TB Seagate - which was MBR.

I then deleted the partitions on the HGST, and while it showed unallocated space in the Disk Manager, I converted the GST to MBR. I ended up with two "volumes" of unallocated space. I formatted the first with NTFS. It too hung on a restart (warm). But on a cold boot, it came back up once.

All the enclosures came with the drives. For grins, I cracked open the 4TB HGST enclosure, and swapped it with the 2TB Seagate drive. I put the 4TB HGST drive into the Samsung enclosure - leaving it as GST - thinking perhaps it's a hardware issue with the controllers in the enclosure - but that too didn't work.

Remember, my dad has the same PC, with a clean W8 install (just yesterday) and it too hangs so long as he has any external drive connected.

 

[Saltgrass]

All the enclosures came with the drives. For grins, I cracked open the 4TB HGST enclosure, and swapped it with the 2TB Seagate drive. I put the 4TB HGST drive into the Samsung enclosure - leaving it as GST - thinking perhaps it's a hardware issue with the controllers in the enclosure - but that too didn't work.

So all configurations cause the problem?

Does the original enclosure have some type of "in use" light?

Some Bios utilities have options to control specific ports. If you had a way to turn off one of the USB ports until after the boot, it might work.

My Dell system seems to be able to cold and warm boot with the external drive selected.

Trouble shooting page mentions to not use USB ports which are on a powered hub or some type of monitor or keyboard port.

Does the drive have an optional connector?

From what I am reading it appears a Bios compatibility issue may be involved.

 

[erkme73]

I'm beginning to think this may be an Acer BIOS-specific issue. I will give them a call on Monday to see what their position is. I will post back.