HP Elitedesk Wont Boot While USB HDD Connected

[s4mmi]

Hi can i please get some help with getting my pc to boot up while usb hdd is connected.

With my hp elitedesk 800 g6 mini I am unable to boot int any OS windows linuxs etc while I have my ext hdd connected. 

I have checked online and others that had this issue, some were able to solve this by updating their bios, I have tried updating bios and all other firmware drivers and I have also disabled secure boot and also disable usb boot and and disabled usb from boot order but I still can not get my hp to boot up when usb storage connect. 

if i connect the usb storage after i have booted up os, there there is no issue, it shows up and is accessible, also i have tested it in other pc's and they boot up fine. i have also tried switching usb ports to no avail. i still can not boot into os when usb storage connected. 

[TheOldMan]

It might be as simple as the USB option in the boot menu is selected and the BIOS is then trying to use the external HDD as the boot choice.  Check i n the BIOS F9 to see what is selected for first boot choice.

 If you are having difficulty seeing that menu, try this method

Start tapping the Esc key BEFORE starting the PC and then press the start button.
Keep tapping the Esc key until a popup menu shows. Then pickF9 to see the boot choice.  Change it to the regular hard drive.  It may list the OS Boot Manager- Windows Boot Manager and then the hard drive.  Pick that one.  Press F10 to save and exit.

[s4mmi]

hi thanks for the reply but that is not the problem. I already disabled boot from usb in bios fr boot menu settings. But i did try and usb is not an option when i hit esc then f9, I only have my windows os, my 2nd hdd and then booting from ipv4 and ipv6, which is network boot i believe.

[TheOldMan]

There is another method to try fixing the Boot manger, as it might be still looking at the connected external drive.

When it fails to boot with the external drive connected, do you get any warning or blue screen?

[s4mmi]

no i didnt get any warnings at all. 

I think it has to do with maybe hp sure start or something like that, a security in bios/ startup

[TheOldMan]

I suggest trying a repair of the bootloader. Since the PC will not boot with the external drive connected, leave it connected as you do this.  First step is to use the startup repair.  The installation disk might help with this, noted in the guide.

Use Startup Repair to fix problems that keep Windows from loading

If those do not fix it, the next step is to try the bootloader repair tools

Repair the EFI Bootloader or the MBR (Master Boot Record) for Windows

[s4mmi]

this is happening no matter which OS I have installed.. I am running proxmox on my hp mini atm and still the same.

originally the problem was with proxmox and i couldnt get it to install. I then had installed windows so i could do a bios update as i find it easier to update bios and other firmware via windows and after i updated, i then tested the usb storage with windows. and like proxmox its recognized when i have already booted into os and then connect the storage. but if i try reboot i just get a black screen and it wont boot into os.

ive tried searching online for a solution and no luck there.

[TheOldMan]

Assuming the external was connected at some time when an OS was installed, then it must have a hidden line of code somewhere to interfere with the boot process.

I had a drive that did what you are experiencing but I was not as knowledgeable then,   I ended up connecting it thru a powered USB Hub, so as to not wear out the USB ports on the PC.  Then that was over 25 years ago.

Doing the boot loader repair will do no harm but if you are not going to do that, then I cannot continue, as I am out of ideas.

[s4mmi]

It wasnt connected while doing a OS install, but i will attempt to do a bootloader repair and will post back the outcome. Thanks.

I tried looking online for how to do a bootloader repair on the hp elitedesk 800 g6 mini but each one is for specific purposes, such as boot loop or device not found. do you know how i would do this on a linux debian or proxmox system OS by any chance?

[TheOldMan]

The boot loader repair needs to be done while the external is connected, so it will detect the issue and correct it.(possibly).  Linux uses a different bootloader, usually called GRUB, I believe.  It could be the different OS's have confused boot loader process.  I do not know what ProMax uses.

If those three OS's are still installed together, then the Windows boot loader repair will definitely break that.

If the external drive has one of these OS's installed on it, that is probably where the problem began.

In order to sort this out and still have Windows working, start by fixing the Windows boot loader and then do a GRUB repair after Windows works correctly by itself.  This will get Windows and Linux to work together.  I have no idea on the ProMax OS.

BTW:  I looked what ProMax is and it seems that is a server OS.  IDK