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G75 windows wont boot if 2nd HDD is on

X_Splinter
Level 7
So basicly Asus Recovery disk didn't work... After "restoring" the pc finds nothing to boot.

So I used another Windows 7 disk, it installed fine but when I go to the Bios to re-enable the 2nd HDD, when it's on Windows 7 wont boot (no even the repair) Claims that there was a hardware modification.

Is there something I need to install so it will boot with the 2nd drive on?
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Clintlgm
Level 14
Connect it to another computer with a adapter of some sort, Use Minitool Partition wizard and make it non active. Remember it is still bootable so you have a boot conflict?
Not likely but it is likely your boot sector is installed across both disk. So if you boot ok with out the 2nd hard drive in you also might try spamming the Esc key on boot up, that will bring up a boot menu and you would select the drive that has your new windows on it.
Then Use Minitool or some other partitioning program and make that old disk not active. And rename the windows folder on it to Window.old once you get all your data off that partition format it.
G752VY-DH72 Win 10 Pro
512 GB M.2 Samsung 960 Pro
1 TB Samsung 850 pro 2.5 format
980m GTX 4 GB
32GB DDR 4 Standard RAM

Z97 PRO WiFi I7 4790K
Windows 10 Pro
Z97 -A
Windows 10 Pro

Clintlgm wrote:
Connect it to another computer with a adapter of some sort, Use Minitool Partition wizard and make it non active. Remember it is still bootable so you have a boot conflict?
Not likely but it is likely your boot sector is installed across both disk. So if you boot ok with out the 2nd hard drive in you also might try spamming the Esc key on boot up, that will bring up a boot menu and you would select the drive that has your new windows on it.
Then Use Minitool or some other partitioning program and make that old disk not active. And rename the windows folder on it to Window.old once you get all your data off that partition format it.


This second hard disk (HDD) never had Windows 7 installed, it was justed used to store stuff. It has no Windows folder. My asus g75 came with SSD 256gb + HDD 750. The second hdd have 2 paritions Sdata1 and Sdata2. Sdata2 was formated to EXT4 (so Windows can't read that) and Sdata stays the same NTSF with my files and apps.

So Installed Ubuntu on a nother partition of the SSD (HDD 1) and check the hard drive in the partition manager. Says he following:

Partition type: Primary
State: Inactive

Here's what it has inside:

SDATA1/Apps
SDATA1/Downloads
SDATA1/Movies
SDATA1/Music
SDATA1/Pics
SDATA1/Program Files
SDATA1/Program Files (x86)
SDATA1/Programs
SDATA1/TV Shows
SDATA1/X Scene
SDATA1/kubuntu-14.04-desktop-amd64.iso

(SDATA1 is the name of the partition)


I can't find anyting that may prevent Windows and WIndows repair disk to boot when it's on.

Any thoughts? Should format it and leave it unlocated... This is so strange.

So I formated the 2nd drive and left it unpartitioned.

Windows Booted fine, under Windows I created a NTSF partion on it and all was working great... I was a happy man.

Now that I rebooted the computor... It wont boot again, same problem, goes to windows repair and loops back to the begging. Why can not boot with a NTSF partition on a second drive? I am getting desperate with this. ANy help will be usefull

Well I'll leave this to some of the others here that are dual booting Ubuntu. I can't help but to think, it has something to do with this problem.
will the Ubuntu boot up with the 2nd Hard drive installed?
G752VY-DH72 Win 10 Pro
512 GB M.2 Samsung 960 Pro
1 TB Samsung 850 pro 2.5 format
980m GTX 4 GB
32GB DDR 4 Standard RAM

Z97 PRO WiFi I7 4790K
Windows 10 Pro
Z97 -A
Windows 10 Pro

Clintlgm wrote:
Well I'll leave this to some of the others here that are dual booting Ubuntu. I can't help but to think, it has something to do with this problem.
will the Ubuntu boot up with the 2nd Hard drive installed?


Yes, with no problems at all. I can even mount the NTSF partition on it.

I don't understand why Windows fail to boot when it is formated by itself. There's got to be some boot problems that go beyond my knowledge. If I disable the 2nd drive on Bios it boots again... 😞

I am getting out of ideas... I could try re-install windows... It would great if Asus had a recovery app that wouldn't create recoveries that fail to boot

Hmm, backtracker seems to have worked for most?
My G75 had no issues with 2nd drive being either MBR or GPT with my Install UEFI, so I don't think that would be an issue?
G752VY-DH72 Win 10 Pro
512 GB M.2 Samsung 960 Pro
1 TB Samsung 850 pro 2.5 format
980m GTX 4 GB
32GB DDR 4 Standard RAM

Z97 PRO WiFi I7 4790K
Windows 10 Pro
Z97 -A
Windows 10 Pro

Clintlgm wrote:
Hmm, backtracker seems to have worked for most?
My G75 had no issues with 2nd drive being either MBR or GPT with my Install UEFI, so I don't think that would be an issue?


I didn't had any issue either with the factory Windows 7 install.

I tried to revert it to factory my the recovery dvds that I create were useless. So I had to use a regular WIndows 7 dvd... I installed all drivers and apps still can't boot.

My laptop has a minor hardware failure on the screen, I could sent it to warranty for that if knew they would format it... (I trying to think of way to get monster running again like it should)

rewben
Level 13
it's likely that the hdd is still having something on it that prevents the laptop from booting normally. most of us have a stock single disk setup, while yours is a dual disk setup (i saw it somewhere that the partition layouts were different between these setups)

have you tried to use the command-line diskpart to clean it up? just run command prompt as administrator (type the words in green followed by an enter key press):
1. type diskpart;
2. type list disk to show all the disks available; remember the disk number of your hdd;
3. type sel disk x where x is the disk number; triple check that you have selected the correct one because the next command will wipe it all clean;
4. type clean; this will remove all the configurations of your hdd, including all data!
5. type exit to go out of diskpart prompt.

with the above, you should have the hdd like a new, untouched one that should not have anything affecting the boot process (and you must use disk management to initialize it first before use). please do tell us the outcomes.

note: this is a destructive method. make sure you have backed up all your stuff before doing so.

Thank you very much :cool: It's work again.

So what I did was:
- Formated the NTSF partition again (so I could boot with WIndows)

- On Windows I follow these steps in the post above

- Lauched Partition Manager on WIndows - It ask to create partition table to the new HDD, I choose GPT since mine SSD is also GPT and my WIndows boots on EFI

- Created a new NTSF partiton (I unchecked quick format)

And that's it I installed stuff on it and I have rebooted several times with no problems.

Conclusion I am pretty the problem was with the partition table, factory install came with that problem.

Once again thanks rewben and Clintlgm for helping me