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Weird BIOS change out of nowhere?

Cory__
By Cory__
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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Apologies if this isn't the right place to put this, I didn't want to put it in the tech support forum because I technically solved it myself already.

 

I went to turn on my computer yesterday afternoon and it wouldn't boot. It would freeze on the motherboard logo screen and would not let me enter Windows or the BIOS settings.

 

I shorted the CMOS jumper and was able to enter the BIOS settings, and for some reason one of my secondary drives was labeled as "Windows boot manager" and apparently my computer was trying to boot off of it, even though Windows is currently installed on a completely different drive. Windows used to be on that drive, but I've had it on a newer SSD for years now.

 

I manually set the correct drive to be first in the boot order, and it seems to be working fine now.

 

I'm extremely confused, what in the world could have caused this? A virus? A glitch? A Windows update gone wrong? A cosmic ray from outer space hitting my CMOS chip and flipping my boot order?

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4 minutes ago, Benji said:

It appears as though you've never formatted the other drive that was once used as the boot drive, thus still being listed as the boot device. You need to format it, I'd say.

Why would it just suddenly be a problem though? Windows has been on the new drive since 2017 and it's always found and booted it. I haven't changed any BIOS settings lately.

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8 minutes ago, Cory__ said:

Apologies if this isn't the right place to put this, I didn't want to put it in the tech support forum because I technically solved it myself already.

 

I went to turn on my computer yesterday afternoon and it wouldn't boot. It would freeze on the motherboard logo screen and would not let me enter Windows or the BIOS settings.

I shorted the CMOS jumper and was able to enter the BIOS settings, and for some reason one of my secondary drives was labeled as "Windows boot manager" and apparently my computer was trying to boot off of it, even though Windows is currently installed on a completely different drive. Windows used to be on that drive, but I've had it on a newer SSD for years now.

 

I manually set the correct drive to be first in the boot order, and it seems to be working fine now.

 

I'm extremely confused, what in the world could have caused this? A virus? A glitch? A Windows update gone wrong? A cosmic ray from outer space hitting my CMOS chip and flipping my boot order?

Most logical i can think of is that the SSD had an issue and the BIOS reverted to the only other boot option.


You most likely don't have to format it completely altho that is recommendable.
But if you know howto work disk manager you can maybe delete its boot partition.

When i ask for more specs, don't expect me to know the answer!
I'm just helping YOU to help YOURSELF!
(The more info you give the easier it is for others to help you out!)

Not willing to capitulate to the ignorance of the masses!

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Huh, you're right. That old hard drive has some small leftover Windows system and recovery partitions. I guess my current Windows install is set up in a really screwy way, LOL. Not going to delete them in case they're supporting the main drive in some way.

 

CrystalDiskInfo doesn't list any SMART errors on my SSD, so I'm not sure what went wrong with it.

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I'm going to assume it's due to a Windows Update because I just had this happen to me. I have my old Windows install on another drive and after a recent reboot, it booted into that install.

 

I've been meaning to pull off the rest of the old files and reformat the drive for use as a storage drive. I just haven't gotten around to it... For well over a month...

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And this is why its bad to Clone drives.

Slayerking92

<Type something witty here>
<Link to some pcpartpicker fantasy build and claim as my own>

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15 minutes ago, Slayerking92 said:

And this is why its bad to Clone drives.

I've done it many times and never had a problem because of it.
Would at least like to know why you'd say that.

"If you ever need anything please don't hesitate to ask someone else first"..... Nirvana
"Whadda ya mean I ain't kind? Just not your kind"..... Megadeth
Speaking of things being "All Inclusive", Hell itself is too.
 

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8 hours ago, Slayerking92 said:

And this is why its bad to Clone drives.

I didn't clone it, as far as I remember I just made a brand new Windows installation on the SSD and cleared the data partition from the original HDD. I should have formatted the whole thing instead of just deleting the visible files. Quite an obvious mistake in retrospect, it was 2017 and I had only had my PC for about a year at that point and was still a novice.

 

Also, cloning is very useful for upgrading drives in computers with only one drive slot, like laptops and all-in-ones.

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20 hours ago, Slayerking92 said:

And this is why its bad to Clone drives.

I'm sorry but thats a useless statement, and next time if you wont clarify dont say it at all.
It's just gonna confuse people, and also a very INCORRECT statement.

Third no one ever talked about cloned drives.
You can have multiple boot partition just by installing Windows on a new drive after an upgrade.

 

 

Can i advise anyone and everyone to ignore that faulty and misinformed statement.

When i ask for more specs, don't expect me to know the answer!
I'm just helping YOU to help YOURSELF!
(The more info you give the easier it is for others to help you out!)

Not willing to capitulate to the ignorance of the masses!

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On 9/13/2021 at 1:21 PM, Cory__ said:

cosmic ray from outer space hitting my CMOS chip and flipping my boot order?

Well, actually. 

 

 

 

The direction tells you... the direction. 

-Scott Manley, 2021

 

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