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Stuck at BIOS Logo with WD 1.5TB HD installed to Maximus 6 Formula

jqpdev
Level 7
Hello all,

This is quite strange. I rebuilt the partitions the way I want them on my Western Digital 1.5TB hard drive and copied the data to the new partitions. After all of the data was copied I wanted to reboot clean. However, my Maximus VI Formula PC (M6F PC) would not move beyond the BIOS RoG logo screen even after getting the successful POST chirp from the PC speaker. The PC consistently stops at Q-Code A2. I've tested the drive in 2 other PCs (socket 775 core2duo chipsets). The drive is recognized by the other 2 PCs and I can read/write to it without any errors/problems. CHKDSK shows that there are no errors on any of the drives. Next I tried all permutations of SATA data/power cables in the M6F PC using each of the SATA ports. When ever the Western Digital drive is connected the M6F motherboard (and has power), the PC will not go beyond the BIOS RoG logo. I have already tried clearing the CMOS and reflashing the BIOS with version 1203. I did all of the data copying and partition modifications from within Windows 7 64bit on the M6F PC.

Here is a link to my parts list --> http://pcpartpicker.com/b/JZn
I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit with all of the latest Windows Updates, and all drivers are up to date.
In addition to the list above I have:
- a Seagate 1.0 TB SATA HD (from an older system, no problems)
- a Seagate 2.0 TB SATA HD (purchased with the mobo, no problems)
- LiteOn SATA DVD burner (puchased with the mobo, no problems)
- Sony SATA DVD burner (from an older system, no problems)

The SSD was purchased a few days ago and is the last item added to the system. The Seagate 2.0TB HD currently is the boot device. However, I can boot up with the SSD selected as the boot device provided that the Western Digital drive isn't connected to the motherboard and has power. I did a clean install of Windows 7 64bit on the SSD with just the SSD connected. A clean install of Windows 7 64bit was performed on the Seagate 2.0 TB (with just 2.0 TB connected) prior to purchasing the SSD.

Here are the hard drive ID strings:
- Western Digital ID string = WDC WD15EARS-00MVWB0 (green label)
- SSD ID string = OCZ-VERTEX450
- Seagate 1.0 TB ID string = ST31000528AS
- Seagate 2.0 TB ID string = ST2000DM001-1CH164

The Western Digital drive was working before and after I setup the SSD. I'm using stock speeds (no overclocking). Each of the hard drives have multiple partitions. All of the drivers were working properly between reboots, shutdowns, cold boots, and even switching the boot device in BIOS. So after a random reboot I'm stuck.

Is there something I missed or are there issues between Western Digital hard drives and the M6F motherboard?

Thanks in advance.
11,800 Views
23 REPLIES 23

Nate152
Moderator
Hi jpqdev, Wow I had to read this about 3 times before getting it all. So as I understand you can boot fine with your ssd and Seagate but when the WD drive is plugged in it doesn't boot? It sounds like there is some conflicting going on with your drives but I have no idea what is causing it. You could try reformatting the WD drive.

kkn
Level 14
ssd intel and hdds in asmedia.
is there a old win partition on the hdd?
if so it need to be formated.
you can try and force boot up on main os disk in bios.

Thanks for the suggestion KKN. I will have to give that a try. Is the Intel controller known to not play well with HDDs or HDD + SDD combinations?

Oh and the western digital drive had all partitions wiped and new partitions (different sizes) were created in Win-7U x64 while booted on the M6F mobo.

jqpdev
Level 7
I apologize if my text-wall is a bit overwhelming. I figured it would be best to brain dump all of the info. quickly so that I don't forget or omit anything. There were no BIOS/hardware/partition changes for more than 3 boots/reboots and suddenly it would not boot beyond the RoG logo. My data, the wife's data, and work data for both of us is on the Western Digital drive. I guess I'm lucky because the other 2 PCs can make use of the Western Digital drive without any trouble. Even stranger is that I can't even get into BIOS with only the Western Digital drive connected.

I haven't changed anything yet...

The HDDs, SSD, and DVD Burners are on the Intel SATA ports. Only the chassis' top mounted hot-swappable SATA port is connected to the ASMedia. Also, I went through the long process of:
- copy Western Digital data (old partitions) ---> Seagate 2.0 TB (temp partition)
- wipe all Western Digital partitions
- create new Western Digital partitions
- copy Seagate temp partition data (old data) ---> new Western Digital partitions

The above was completed and working before I had any trouble. The drive to controller setup listed above was how I had the connections when it was working and when the trouble began.

Nate152
Moderator
If your work data is on the WD drive you can't hardly format it. I think I would use it in your other pc or copy it to another drive then format the WD drive and see if it still gives you the problem. The asmedia ports don't seem to work very well with ssd's.

jqpdev
Level 7
Ok here are the results...

WD 1.5TB connected to Asmedia Port-1 (all other drives disconnected PC) = Stuck @ RoG Logo
WD 1.5TB connected to Asmedia Port-3 (all other drives disconnected PC) = Stuck @ RoG Logo

WD 1.5TB connected to Asmedia Port-1 and DVD Burners on Intel Ports-5/6 = Stuck @ RoG Logo

Asmedia Port-1 --> WD 1.5TB, Asmedia Port-3 --> Seagate 1.0TB, Asmedia Port-4 --> Seagate 2.0TB = Stuck @ RoG Logo

Asmedia Port-1 --> WD 1.5TB, Intel Port-3 --> SSD = Stuck @ RoG Logo

So the mobo really does not like the Western Digital drive. I found that if I'm fast enough I can trigger the CTRL+ALT+DEL sequence just as the RoG logo appears, but after about 2 or 3 seconds BIOS does not respond to the 3-fingered salute.

This boot-time behavior seems similar to a bad overclock, but I haven't specified an overclock. Is there a utility that will collect BIOS settings data to a text file thus allowing me to post it to this thread. Maybe there is something wrong settings wise.

kkn
Level 14
is there enny w7 ( or w8 ) os at all on that hdd??
if so the os on both drives will crash in to each other and make trouble.
if not. use the drive on another pc and acces it tru network.
if the hdd is fat32 that can have conflict whit the ahci on the intel controller whit out saying for shure.
i alays had the hdd on the asmedia ports as long as i have used ssd's.
before that i had the good old ide cables.

jqpdev
Level 7
No OSes on the Western digital drive. All partitions on all drives are NTFS. 3 of the partitions on the western digital are primary partitions, but none are marked as active. No bootable partitions either.