Peculiar dual-boot issue

GalaxyTraveler · March 7, 2019

Hello folks,

So earlier today, after attempting to boot from Windows 7, which is on my secondary SSD, it restarted the system and became stuck on the POST screen, without the ability to even enter BIOS. I turned the system off, disconnected power cable, reconnected it, which resulted in the same outcome. The motherboard (Maximus VII Hero) 'Boot Device LED' was activated and displaying Q code A2 ('IDE Detect'). I could not get anywhere passed the POST screen, so i cleared the CMOS and took out the battery for 5 minutes... still the same result.

Tried disconnecting all the SATA devices, which then allowed me into BIOS, but after reconnecting the cables, it would just send me in a 'boot loop', so it wasn't able to boot, and just kept restarting. The POST screen would display, followed by a blinking cursor, restart and do it all over again. I then tried flashing the BIOS to latest version, and that finally allowed me back into Windows 10.

At this point, I am more curious about what this was all about, however i still cannot get into the other SDD when i manually select it in the BIOS, it just restarts and boots into Win 10. Apparently, the drive is healthy according to PassMark DiskCheckup as well as the chkdsk / command. The only other thing i did prior to all of this happening, was use EasyBCD to change boot drive to C:\ (main default drive with Win 10) instead of it being assigned to one of my storage drives. I did this because i was having some issues with chkdsk happening every time i attempted to load into that same drive with Win 7, but again, it appears to be healthy, and this automatic chkdsk procedure was happening every time i booted into the secondary drive and began happening after installing Win 10 on my new SSD.

I generally figure this stuff out myself, but this one has me stumped. maybe i am just missing something and changing the drive the MBR is stored on will screw things up?