Z390-E won't boot when I add hard drives
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Thread: Z390-E won't boot when I add hard drives

  1. #1
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    Z390-E won't boot when I add hard drives

    The machine boots from an Intel SDD but as soon as I add a normal SATA hard drive it won't boot, it just churns forever.

    Disconnect the other drives and all is well. I've tried different cables but always the same result. Should I take the battery out?

    Thanks - rev

  2. #2
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    Can you get into the BIOS setup with the magnetic HDDs or other drives connected?

    If yes, what does the BIOS show for drives?

    Note: If the SSD is an M.2 card, it may take the place of one of the SATA cable ports on the motherboard. Post the make and model of the motherboard so we can check the specs.

  3. #3
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    Haven't looked in the BIOS yet. 850 watts is the PSU rating. It seems to be a common problem but no one seems to know why. Additional drives shouldn't affect the boot drives ability to boot which suggests the new drive is being perceived as the boot drive? Not finding an OS, it can't boot. I'll check what the BIOS is thinking when I get home.

  4. #4
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    If that is an ASUS board, SATA port 2 is shared with the M.2 slot. Other motherboards are likely similar. Try a different SATA port for the HDD.

  5. #5
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    i have two additional disks and a DVD drive, I moved both HDDs away from where I think port 2 is and the machine went to automatic startup repair - but failed to repair anything.

    It's an Asus Z390-E and the BIOS lists no new disks when they're attached.

    From all the reading I've done, the problem seems to be BIOS settings (CSM and Secure Boot) and whether or not the additional disks contain UEFI boot info or if they are the MBR type.
    Mine are MBR but not bootable and none of them contain an operating system.
    Last edited by Reverend; April 30th, 2020 at 08:01 PM.

  6. #6
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    Check the BIOS to make sure that all SATA ports are enabled and not set to some RAID configuration.

    The SATA ports should be numbered both on the board and in the user manual.

  7. #7
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    Now disks are showing up, here's the story:

    Advanced > PCH Storage Config
    SATA6G_1 Empty
    SATG6G_2 DVD Drive
    SATA6G_3 Western Digital Caviar 1 TB
    4 & 5 empty
    SATA6G_6 Western Digital Caviar 2TB
    (no SSD listing here)

    Boot
    CSM has turned itself on (Enabled)
    Secure Boot (Enabled)
    OS Type (Windows UEFI Mode)
    Boot Option 1: (Windows Boot Manager M.2_1)
    Boot Option 2: (DVD Drive)
    Boot Option 3: (Disabled)

    Hard Drive BBS Properties
    Boot Option 1: M.2_1
    Boot Option 2: Sata6G_3 Western Digital 1 TB
    Boot Option 3: Sata6G_6 Western Digital 2 TB

    I don't know what to make of all that except that there's no conflict between the SSD and something else - but I don't think CSM should be on.

    Another curiosity is that after I've changed the boot order and I choose Save and Exit, I get the message 'You have not changed anything' - how can that be? I would have thought changing the boot sequence is quite a major change.

    With the above settings the machine goes into Automatic Repair but there's nothing wrong, if I disconnect the other disks it boots just fine. I just have a black screen now, does that mean Repair is working on it?
    Last edited by Reverend; May 1st, 2020 at 12:36 AM.

  8. #8
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    I found the answer, I disabled driver signing enforcement. Now, how do I find out what the offending driver was?

  9. #9
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    There appears to be a tool for that:

    https://www.thewindowsclub.com/ident...gverif-windows

  10. #10
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    Excellent! It's a brand new machine and I don't want anything funky messing up the system.

    There is an argument for refusing to start if the driver is unsigned, but there's no reason we couldn't have an error message.

    It was nvcpl.dll which is part of the Nvidia Control Panel. I've always had trouble with nvidia drivers and this is the latest.

    Thanks for that!
    Last edited by Reverend; May 1st, 2020 at 07:48 PM.

  11. #11
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    This problem is back. If driver signing has turned itself on again, how would I know? How can I find the status of driver signing?

    Am I supposed to be pulling the battery out when I add a disk? To make the BIOS scan for new hardware?
    Last edited by Reverend; May 3rd, 2020 at 12:28 PM.

  12. #12
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  13. #13
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    That nailed the signing but same result, it won't boot. I have a ticket with Asus but I'm not expecting a reply for a while. When I did have two disks recognized I made a Restore point but Restore points don't included BIOS settings so I'm not sure how much good it would do me to Restore.

  14. #14
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    Booted this morning with one additional drive and everything was fine, the drive was recognized and I could see the data.

    So I tried adding the second of three disks, I got the message: 'Fixing (J Stage 2: 89% (147299 of 163590); Total 67% ETA: 0:08:40

    What's the cause? What is Stage 1, what is Stage 2? 89% of what? Is this a chkdsk scan?

    In the time it's taken me to write this, 89% has changed to 90% and 67% has changed to 72%.

  15. #15
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    It finally booted and all seemed well, but it wasn't long before I got 'Restart to fix drive errors.' I restarted and got a new variant of the same message:

    'Fixing (J: ) Stage 2: 89% (147299 of 163590); Total 67% ETA: 0:08:40 (some of the numbers were slightly different)

    So, the last fix didn't fix anything, or didn't fix everything, or what? The drive is backed up but if it wasn't I'd be going through the roof. There was nothing wrong with the drives! I took them out of the old machine when they were working. Now I'm afraid all this unnecessary fixing is going to damage the data.

    I still haven't found out what any of that message means, it looks like a type of chkdsk but there is no summary at the end so let me know if you find out anything. Thanks.

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