Vista Boot Hang w/ USB Drive Connected

I am having a problem with Vista Home Premium hanging at boot (for about 5 minutes) when my WD 1 Tb external USB drive is attached. It boots normally if the external drive is not attached.

WD advised to disable USB boot in the BIOS boot options, but I could not find where to do that. I contacted HP support and they gave me instructions on changing the boot order so that the internal hard drive was the first boot option, but that did not help.

HP then told me to disable USB legacy support in the BIOS, but I could not find an option to do so. When I advised them that I could not find an option to disable USB legacy support, a tech had me flash the BIOS to the most recent version, which I did. Still no joy.

The most recent HP tech told me that the problem was because my computer specs only allowed for a 5400 RPM drive, and not the 7200 RPM drive that is what is attached. The drive works fine, with the exception of the boot problem, so I asked them why I was still having the delay in boot, and the tech just kept saying it was because of the RPM. This doesn't make sense to me. It appears as if the system is trying to access the external drive before booting, even though I have changed the boot order so that the external USB drive is the last option.

Any help or insight you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

:eek WHAAAAA?!?!?!?! This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. A computers 'specs' have no control over whether or not a 7200rpm drive (or 10000rpm drive or 4000rpm drive) is compatible with a system. I have hooked up 7200rpm drives to ancient Pentium2 system w/o any problems. A motherboard's controller or BIOS has no bearing on the rotational speed of the drive and whether or not a certain rotational speed is 'compatible' or not. So, this HP "tech" was clueless and just looking for an explanation and he made it up. Anyway- I have also run into situations where a PC will not boot normally with a USB drive hooked up. I have only seen this 2 or 3 times in the past few years, so it's pretty rare, and as far as I know there's no real fix for it. If flashing the BIOS didn't help, and you don't have any of the settings that you were told to look for in the BIOS, then all you can do is connect the device after Windows loads up. I don't really see how this is an issue though.... you're not trying to boot to the drive, so why have it powered on and connected when the PC is booted up? Why not just wait for Windows to load, then connect the drive? Or hook it up while Windows is loading? You didn't provide the exact model of the HP computer, so it's impossible to really try to offer any other help....

 

Thanks for the reply, dlb.

I agree with you, it seemed a ridiculous answer to me. I even called him on it, but he just kept reiterating that the problem was due to the RPM's of the drive. I am not overly computer knowledgeable, but it seems to me it is either a problem with the BIOS or a problem with Vista.

The external drive is the type that will turn off and on when you turn off and on your computer system. It is for my son, who is going to be a college freshman in August, and has a program that will automatically backup any new or changed data, so should be attached most of the time. The only problem with waiting until Windows boots to connect it is that my son will have to remember to go thru the whole "Safely Remove Hardware" thing every time he shuts down the laptop. And then remember to connect it so his data will back up. The laptop is an HP g60t-200.

I have spent about a week searching online for an answer and have seen a lot of requests for help with this same problem (on both XP and Vista) and the only remedy that I have seen was to disable USB legacy support in the BIOS, however I do not see that option anywhere in my BIOS.

 

Hmm, How about if you buy a powered USB2 hub and connect the drive to that?

Sounds like the 'tech' was saying you should connect a PSU to power the external drive because a 7200rpm is likely to need more power to startup than a 5400 (some external drives have 2 USB connectors to get around this). USB specs dictate a max draw of 500mw per connection and some early USB device chips tried to pull more than that.

You don't need to go through the 'safe to remove hardware' thing - unplug the current setup when the PC is off (unless you go for the hub workaround, in which case, leave it connected full-time).

 

Thanks for the suggestions, satrow, however, I'm not really sure what a powered USB hub is. The USB drive has it's own power source - does that make a difference?

What's frustrating is that we have this exact same USB drive hooked up to my other son's HP Pavillion DV4000 laptop (XP), and have no problems at all.

Thanks for the tip about disconnecting the drive after shutting down the system.

 

LOL @ 'tech'. The drive's controller takes care of all housekeeping duties.

Have you tried booting the machine without the program installed? Maybe try a different program instead.

 

I don't believe the program is causing the problem, because the system boots normally if the USB drive is not attached.

And, I used the term "tech" loosely ~smile~

 

In that case you can disregard my second paragraph completely so yes, it makes a big difference.


EDIT - but maybe a USB hub would make a difference to the boot-time hang ...


The 'tech' is a complete n00b

 

My reasoning is something was/is confused on boot-up, maybe looking for a driver or maybe that's how long the program searches the drive for something to back up, and when it finds nothing it releases the boot sequence to normal. I have come across several on boot programs that really increased the boot time and therefore they are off my list.

 

Examples of USB hubs,
Non-powered (often called bus-powered) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152907
Powered (by a external adapter, aka 'wall wart') http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123771

 

My friends DV9ooo HP laptop was and still is the same way, did all of the above with no luck?????????????????. ed