Second installed hard drive isn't seen by BIOS

[SFMChris]

I have an "AMD A8-5500 APU 3.2 GHz" computer - A8 Vision HP Pavilion

BIOS v.7.10

I installed a second SATA drive (a 3TB Seagate) and booted up the factory installed OS on the first SATA drive. The operating system has no problem seeing the drive, so I installed a second OS into a 700GB partition on the second SATA drive. However, when I booted the system to finish the OS installation, the BIOS couldn't see the second SATA drive. Booting into the OS on the first SATA drive, no problems, the OS can see the second SATA drive. So, the problem occurs at boot time. The BIOS won't see the second SATA drive.

However, if I interrupt the BIOS at boot, and go in to run a diagnostic (and I cancel that and not run the diagnostic), all of a sudden, the BIOS can see the 2nd SATA drive and I can boot off it. Interrupting the normal BIOS boot and entering the BIOS setup, and then canceling out, will 100% of the time cause the BIOS to see the second SATA drive. If I don't do this, the BIOS doesn't see the other SATA drive 100% of the time. This is a real annoyance.

I looked for an updated version of the BIOS (assuming this was an identified bug fixed with a later BIOS release), but can't seem to locate anything.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks,

SFMChris

[erico]

I would like to help you but really can't if you don't give me some complete ionformation about your desktop PC.

How about looking at the service tag on your desktop PC and posting everything there except the serial number.

How to identify your HP desktop PC

You statement "I have an "AMD A8-5500 APU 3.2 GHz" computer - A8 Vision HP Pavilion" does not identify your desktop PC. 

Post the installed operating system name(s) and types (32 or 64-bit)

[SFMChris]

Model #:         p7-1235

Product #:     H2M55AA#ABA

Mfg OS install:

Windows 7 (64-bit)

Testing Environment installs:

Windows 7 (32 & 64-bit) Enterprise Editions

Windows 8 (64-bit) Enterprise Edition

Windows 8.1 (64-bit) Enterprise Edition

Windows 2008 (32 & 64-bit)

Windows 2008 R2 (64-bit)

Windows 2012 (64-bit)

Windows 2012 R2 (64-bit)

Hyper-V Server 2012 (64-bit)

Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)

SFMChris

[erico]

A hard disk that is greater than 2.1 Terabytes is a special circumstance. Windows 8 usually has no issues with it, but you are using Windows 7.

Seagate does have downloads that provide workarounds to the BIOS and operating system issue you are facing. It would have been helpful if you had let me know which OS was installed on the 700 GB partition.

This web document at SeaGate has downloade and information that will help. Prepare your 3TB Seagate hard disk with Seagate diak wizard before installing an OS on it.

[SFMChris]

This does not appear to be a Seagate or large disk issue. This appears to be a BIOS issue. If I interrupt the BIOS and enter setup, and then exit without saving, I can select any one of the four volumes I created on the 2nd SATA drive and boot successfully. Sometimes this sticks and I can reboot and make the same volume selection and it works for a 2nd or sometimes a 3rd boot, but then appears broken again. There is no issue with booting either of the two OSes on the 1st SATA drive (Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium Edition or Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V role installed). I have included some additional disk information below (and please note that all volumes are 'Basic GPT').

DISKPART:

========

DISKPART> LIST DISK

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          931 GB  1024 KB        *
  Disk 1    Online         2794 GB  1024 KB        *
  Disk 2    No Media           0 B      0 B
  Disk 3    No Media           0 B      0 B
  Disk 4    No Media           0 B      0 B
  Disk 5    No Media           0 B      0 B

DISKPART> SELECT DISK 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> DETAIL DISK

ST31000524AS
Disk ID: {1CF93186-C041-4FC6-8474-66286A1A502A}
Type   : SATA
Status : Online
Path   : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1100)#ATA(C00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : No
Pagefile Disk  : No
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : No
Clustered Disk  : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 1     D   WIN7         NTFS   Partition    238 GB  Healthy
  Volume 2     C   2012 R2 SC   NTFS   Partition    676 GB  Healthy
  Volume 3     E   HP_RECOVERY  NTFS   Partition     16 GB  Healthy
  Volume 4         SYSTEM       FAT32  Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System

DISKPART> SELECT DISK 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> DETAIL DISK

ST3000DM001-1CH166
Disk ID: {2A324FFF-8352-4EF7-8F9B-91EDB10230B1}
Type   : SATA
Status : Online
Path   : 1
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1100)#ATA(C01T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only  : No
Boot Disk  : Yes
Pagefile Disk  : Yes
Hibernation File Disk  : No
Crashdump Disk  : Yes
Clustered Disk  : No

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 5     M   TEST1        NTFS   Partition    700 GB  Healthy
  Volume 6     N   TEST2        NTFS   Partition    700 GB  Healthy
  Volume 7     O   TEST3        NTFS   Partition    700 GB  Healthy    Boot
  Volume 8     P   TEST4        NTFS   Partition    694 GB  Healthy

DISKPART>

NOTE:

      TEST1 is Windows 2012 R2 with the Hyper-V role installed

      TEST2 is Windows 2012 R2 with the Hyper-V role installed

      TEST3 is Windows 2012 R2 with the Hyper-V role installed

      TEST4 is Windows Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 installed

BCDEDIT:

=======

O:\>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path                    \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {globalsettings}
default                 {default}
resumeobject            {1d29921e-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
displayorder            {default}
                        {current}
                        {1d299217-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
                        {1d299213-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
                        {1d299207-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
                        {e044b185-f212-11e1-a575-d1fd28852a20}
toolsdisplayorder       {memdiag}
timeout                 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {default}
device                  partition=P:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description             Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {1d299220-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=P:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {1d29921e-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
nx                      OptOut
hypervisorlaunchtype    Auto

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=O:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows 2012 R2 HOST: SC 2012 R2 TEST 3
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {1d29921c-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=O:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {1d29921a-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
nx                      OptOut
hypervisorlaunchtype    Auto

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {1d299217-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
device                  partition=N:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows 2012 R2 HOST: Multiple subnets
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {1d299218-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=N:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {1d299216-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
nx                      OptOut
hypervisorlaunchtype    Auto

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {1d299213-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
device                  partition=M:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description             Windows 2012 R2 HOST: Local SQL Installs
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {1d299214-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=M:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {1d299212-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
nx                      OptOut
hypervisorlaunchtype    Auto

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {1d299207-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description             SATA0: Windows 2012 R2 HOST: Shared SQL System Center Installs
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {1d299208-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
recoveryenabled         Yes
isolatedcontext         Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {1d299206-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
nx                      OptOut
hypervisorlaunchtype    Auto

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {e044b185-f212-11e1-a575-d1fd28852a20}
device                  partition=D:
path                    \windows\system32\winload.efi
description             SATA0: Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {1d2991f4-0cb6-11e2-a471-446d5756d17a}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=D:
systemroot              \windows
resumeobject            {e044b184-f212-11e1-a575-d1fd28852a20}
nx                      OptIn

O:\>

Thanks,

SFMChris

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

The boot loader path might be incorrect.  I would try winload.exe and not winload.efi.  This is how my boot loader path appears on the 2nd HD that I have four bootable OSs installed.  I have yet to see anyone post getting Windows 7 to boot in UEFI mode. R2 is a different animal.  I formatted my 2nd HD MBR (2GB) which is a bit different then formatting GPT.  It's something to consider but if you do then you will not have the entire HD space to work with but that really shouldn't be a problem.

[SFMChris · Accepted solution]

I do not think it has anything to do with the "Windows Boot Loader (Winload.exe or Winload.efi)". However, I did try it out and running a "bcdedit /set {GUID} path \windows\system32\winload.exe" produced a non-booting OS (even if I attempted to use my current workaround by interrupting the BIOS at boot).

Here is the current behavior I am seeing when I hit ESC to enter the BIOS setup (you have a window of less than 2 seconds to hit this key before the WIndows Boot Loader menu comes up). The following are the paths to settings in the BIOS menu, followed by the settings I am seeing:

       * Boot Menu

                - Shows only SATA0

       * Computer Setup > Storage > Device Configuration

               - Shows only SATA0

       * Computer Setup > Storage > Boot Order > Legacy Boot Sources

               - Shows only SATA0

       * Computer Setup > Storage > DPS Self-test

               - Shows both SATA0 and SATA1 ?!

UPDATE:

I just found the fix (HP devs will need to fix this bug though).

SOLUTION:

I made the following BIOS change:

      * Computer Setup > Storage > Advanced > Power-On Options

               - POST Delay (in seconds)            5

Settings a POST delay (from the default of nearly no delay to 5 seconds) fixes the problem. In fact, if I wait 3 - 4 seconds into the delay, and then hit the ESC key to enter the BIOS setup, everywhere I was seeing "Shows only SATA0" above before,  is now showing both SATA0 and SATA1. Everything is looking and working as I would expect it to. Problem solved.

Thank you to everyone who attempted to help out.

SFMChris

[Big_Dave]

Hi Chris,

Appearently there is a BIOS bug unless the hard drive has a very slow spin up time which is doubtful with modern hard drives.

[WildWillieHitch]

After three days of doing everything under the sun, this worked!  Thank you!!!!