Laptop tries to start from HDD with no OS

[GtrCraft]

Hi,

I recently put an SSD in my laptop and having the HDD for data storage

Today I saw that my old recovery partition from Acer was still on the HDD so I removed it with Partition Wizard.

But when I rebooted it tried to boot from that HDD and gave me a beep and some weird characters.

I can't choose my SSD in bios as boot device but can choose in the seperate bootmanager.

But my Laptop keeps trying to boot into the OSless HDD (with the beep and characters)

Can someone help me?

[AnnoyedShelf]

Hi,

I recently put an SSD in my laptop and having the HDD for data storage

Today I saw that my old recovery partition from Acer was still on the HDD so I removed it with Partition Wizard.

But when I rebooted it tried to boot from that HDD and gave me a beep and some weird characters.

I can't choose my SSD in bios as boot device but can choose in the seperate bootmanager.

But my Laptop keeps trying to boot into the OSless HDD (with the beep and characters)

Can someone help me?

Did you check whether or not Acer's BIOS's are protected from changing components? I know Lenovo does this and it's annoying as fuck.

[GtrCraft]

Did you check whether or not Acer's BIOS's are protected from changing components? I know Lenovo does this and it's annoying as fuck.

I didn't but it worked perfectly for 2 weeks, but today it started doing this

[AnnoyedShelf]

I didn't but it worked perfectly for 2 weeks, but today it started doing this

Very strange.  What kind of SSD are you using?

[GtrCraft]

Very strange.  What kind of SSD are you using?

Samsung SSD EVO 840 120 GB, and the HDD is the one that came with the laptop when I bought it

[AnnoyedShelf]

Samsung SSD EVO 840 120 GB, and the HDD is the one that came with the laptop when I bought it

Have you tried switching the connectors.

[GtrCraft]

Have you tried switching the connectors.

Wel it's a laptop, I didn't try to switch the drives but I removed the hdd and then it works perfectly (until I put the HDD back in)

[AnnoyedShelf]

Wel it's a laptop, I didn't try to switch the drives but I removed the hdd and then it works perfectly (until I put the HDD back in)

Make sure you're selecting the right drive in the BIOS.

[FizzyFantom]

Was the HDD was still connected when you installed Windows (I'm assuming WIndows) on the SSD?

If you didn't disconnect the HDD when you installed the OS on the SSD it will have put the boot information for the new OS on the HDD with the old OS, meaning that neither OS could boot after you formatted the HDD because all the boot information was lost.

Did you format the whole drive, or just remove the "recovery" partition? Can you see a partition called "System reserved" on the HDD when connecting it to another PC?

[GtrCraft]

Make sure you're selecting the right drive in the BIOS.

That's the problem. When the HDD is in laptop also, my bios won't see the SSD in the boot priority menu

 

Was the HDD was still connected when you installed Windows (I'm assuming WIndows) on the SSD?

If you didn't disconnect the HDD when you installed the OS on the SSD it will have put the boot information for the new OS on the HDD with the old OS, meaning that neither OS could boot after you formatted the HDD because all the boot information was lost.

Did you format the whole drive, or just remove the "recovery" partition? Can you see a partition called "System reserved" on the HDD when connecting it to another PC?

The HDD was not in laptop when I installed Windows on the SSD. I formatted the whole HDD (except for the recovery partition) and there is no system reserved and OS on the HDD

I removed the recovery partition today with Partition wizard and after the reboot I had to do, it started doing weird

[FizzyFantom]

That's the problem. When the HDD is in laptop also, my bios won't see the SSD in the boot priority menu

 

The HDD was not in laptop when I installed Windows on the SSD. I formatted the whole HDD (except for the recovery partition) and there is no system reserved and OS on the HDD

I removed the recovery partition today with Partition wizard and after the reboot I had to do, it started doing weird

That's rather strange.

So when both the HDD and the SSD are in the laptop it doesn't show the SSD in the BIOS boot options? Does the SSD work without the HDD?  Are the SATA bays allocated as slave and master?

Edit: One solution would might be to reinstall Windows on the SSD, without the HDD installed then reconnect and format the HDD from within Windows, but you probably already considered it and it may not be practical.

You may be able to use a Windows 7 recovery disk to repair the Windows installation, but there is no guarentee it would work. Sounds like an issue with the BIOS boot settings though.

[GtrCraft]

That's rather strange.

So when both the HDD and the SSD are in the laptop it doesn't show the SSD in the BIOS boot options? Does the SSD work without the HDD?  Are the SATA bays allocated as slave and master?

Edit: One solution would might be to reinstall Windows on the SSD, without the HDD installed then reconnect and format the HDD from within Windows, but you probably already considered it and it may not be practical.

You may be able to use a Windows 7 recovery disk to repair the Windows installation, but there is no guarentee it would work. Sounds like an issue with the BIOS boot settings though.

Well I can still use the SSD's windows (I am using it right now) if I choose it in boot manager. But the BIOS and HDD are the problem. It worked for 2 weeks until I removed a recovery partition that had no use anymore. Or the BIOS or the HDD (most likely the HDD) is the problem. So I am gonna wipe it and see if it works

 

PS: how can I set master or slave on a Sata drive?

[AnnoyedShelf]

-snip-

PS: how can I set master or slave on a Sata drive?

What?

[FizzyFantom]

Well I can still use the SSD's windows (I am using it right now) if I choose it in boot manager. But the BIOS and HDD are the problem. It worked for 2 weeks until I removed a recovery partition that had no use anymore. Or the BIOS or the HDD (most likely the HDD) is the problem. So I am gonna wipe it and see if it works

 

PS: how can I set master or slave on a Sata drive?

Good idea, if you can format the HDD then do and see if it helps. You can't set any SATA devices to master or slave, I was simply suggesting that the laptop may be configured in a way so that one particular drive bay is always the primary boot drive, it's probably not a factor.

[GtrCraft]

Good idea, if you can format the HDD then do and see if it helps. You can't set any SATA devices to master or slave, I was simply suggesting that the laptop may be configured in a way so that one particular drive bay is always the primary boot drive, it's probably not a factor.

Well I formatted the drive and it still tries to boot but says ''bootmgr is missing press ctrl alt dlt to continue'' the ssd still starts windows without a problem