Z77 DS3H Cannot boot W7 with old XP drive attached

[liamjf]

Hello, hopefully someone can help!
I have a new system that I have just built with a GB GA-Z77-DS3H motherboard and a brand new Vertex 3 SSD. I have installed W7 64bit from dvd and all seems well.
However, when I attached the old HD (samsung 1TB partition into 2 drives) it always attempts to boot from the old xp install on the samsung drive and I get an error and it won't boot
I can boot without the samsung HD attached and then plug it in afterwards and read/write no problem. I have deleted the old XP partition (drive F) and reformatted it under W7 but that hasn't helped. I need to keep the second partition (Drive G) as it contains all my data (photos etc.)
I have finally got it to boot with the F drive attached but only if I delete the volume, creating a new simple volume creates the same problem
I assume its something to do with the bios and Windows Boot Manager -
In the BIOS Windows Boot Manager is the boot preference and in fact it won't boot from drive C (the vertex SSD with W7 on) if I select it directly, only from WBM
I have tried various options in the bios - disabling CSM support and booting in UEFI mode only but I really don't understand these options and I have only managed to get it to not boot at all.
This is how it is set atm:
BOOT OPTION #1: WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER
 (This is the only option there is currently other than Disabled)

CSM SUPPORT: ALWAYS
BOOT MODE SELECTION: UEFI ONLY
PXE BOOT OPTION: DISABLED
STORAGE BOOT OPTION CONTROL: UEFI ONLY
DISPLAY BOOT OPTION CONTROL: UEFI ONLY

OTHER PCI DEVICE ROM PRIORITY: UEFI OPROM.

Note, I don't know what any of these mean- in fact none of these options are listed in the manual!

How do I format my F drive so that the Bios doesn't think that there is an OS on it (which there isn't anymore) or how do I alter my BIOS so that it will only boot from my SSD?

I am happy to reinstall windows if anyone thinks that will help (or if I did something wrong). Just selected ACHI in the bios and boot from DVD initially.
Could also install new BIOS if that would help (Currently F9)

Many thanks, Liam.

[dmdilks]

Your have to go into the Hard Drive BBS Priorities and set your SSD to be first and your other drive 2nd.

When you hookup a new drive the mother boards always see as a new drive and will try to boot to it.

You can hit F12 at the start and than choose any drive you want to boot from.

Plus if you want to have both OS installed. You have to do XP first and than Win 7.

But you will have to leave all the drive hookup when you do that. Win 7 should install a boot loader manager.

[liamjf]

Hi, thanks for your reply but please read my post carefully;

I cannot go into Hard Drive BBS Priorities as I have no suitable devices present: As I said before WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER is listed as the only bootable hard drive (My dvd drive is also listed)
I cannot select the drive I wish to boot from (as I said). If I try F12 and select my W7 boot drive (Vertex) I get a cannot boot from this drive error.
I have managed to get the other hard drives listed in HD BBS Priorities (I assume from selecting CSM support to UEFI & Legacy) and can change the order all I like; but it will not boot from any HD (or my W7 Vertex SSD) unless WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER is NOT DISABLED.

Again, this all works fine if my old XP HD is not attached.
I DO NOT wish to dual boot, merely use the Samsung HD as a data disk (All data is now erased from it, copied to another HD and now I have deleted ALL volumes on it and trying to create a single new volume to see if that works)

I checked, F9 is the current Bios (excepting Betas) and I have revision 1.1

Cheers, Liam.

[dmdilks]

Which conrtollers do you have your drives connected too. The SSD should be the only one connected to the white ports.

Everything else should be connected to the blue ports. If you have the other hard drive connected to the white port it will work.

But you will not gain any thing from it if it is a sata 2 drive those are sata 3 ports. If you have everything connected to the blue ports.

Maybe that is why you can't see them in the Hard Dive BBS. What I would do is if the hard drive is sata 3. Then I would start all over again.

Connect your SSD to 0 & HD to 1 on the whites ports. Connect the DVD to the blue ports. Then set it to AHCI and re-install windows.   

[liamjf]

Hi, my SSD is connected to the white port (SATA 3/0) same as it always has been
Currently my problem HD is in SATA 3/1. I moved it there from SATA 2/1 to try and solve the issue. It didn't make any difference.
Which ports they are in is nothing to do with viewing them in the Hard Drive BBS. I can make them visible (as stated before) just cannot boot from them (ie my SSD, I don't wish to boot from anything else. As I have stated I can see all of my drives in the ATA drive view, in any port SATA3 ot 2, just not visible as a bootable drive

Liam

[dmdilks]

All you can do at this point is update the bios to F10f or like I said in my last post is to start over with everything connected and in the AHCI mode.

I have built a lot of computers and have never ran into this problem with hard drives.

[liamjf]

I have now deleted both volumes (F and G) on my 1TB hard drive and made a new simple volume and done a complete reformat (not quick) to make a new F drive.
This works and I can now boot with this drive attached and access all of it (just need to copy all the data back from where it was)
This doesn't alter the fundamental issue however - why is Windows Boot Manager the only thing I can boot from and what do all these Bios options mean?
I know that UEFI is involved but has no one installing win7/8 come across this? Does anyone actually know what all this is about or just blindly carrying on with the "well it installed fine for me"?

Cheers, Liam.

[dmdilks]

I know what you are talking about. I have a friend on the west coast and he was having the same kind of problem with the boot manager.

I had it on my x79-up4 board boot manager,once I updated the bios. Now I have no boot manager but I have to boot from the UEFI SSD drive.

If I try and boot from the SSD it will not boot saying there is no boot manager. They are the same drive