First - I am a self-taught amateur, so please excuse any sloppy use of technical terms.

I have a Dell brand computer (Vostro 400). I just installed Windows 7. In preparation for the install, I bought an Iomega Prestige 1TB external hard drive and made a disk image backup before the install. I also have a Maxtor One Touch external hard drive hooked up. I did the install. Updated all of the programs and re-started Windows numerous times during the install process. No problems. Restored my data from the Iomega external hard drive. Everything was working fine, and I shut down for the night.

Next morning, Windows would not start. I could get to the boot menu, and I made sure it was starting from hard drive. It would then go to Windows starting screen, and nothing would happen. I eventually have to turn the power off, since I am unable to change anything with the keyboard (ctrl,alt,del does nothing, none of the F buttons do anything, so I hold the power button until it shuts down).

So, I re-install Windows 7 (after once again reformatting). Hours later, same problem.

Long story short, I have now figured out that if the Iomega external hard drive is connected, Windows won't start. I can get to the boot menu and choose to start from the hard drive, no Windows start. I tried the recovery disk and told the boot menu to start from the CD. No dice - it won't run (and I separately tested the recovery disk before starting the install and I know it normally works). I unplugged the Iomega drive and restarted. Bingo - no problem. Windows starts up perfectly. Once Windows is up and running, I can re-connect the Iomega and use it and the information on it with no problem. I can even restart from Windows with the Iomega connected, so long as I don't do a complete shut down. As soon as I completely shut down, Iomega slams the computer and Windows will not open.

I should also mention that I can leave the Maxtor connected and Windows will start up perfectly from a complete shutdown. It is only when the Iomega is connected that I have a problem. And it renders the computer unusable until I disconnect it.

I did some digging (hours so far) on this site (I didn't find anything) and other internet sites, So far, nothing has solved the problem. At this point, I am simply disconnecting the Iomega after shutdown and reconnecting after Windows is fully loaded. That is a pain and makes it hard to deal with.

In my digging I found the following on the issue:

"Solution #1
posted on Sep 12, 2009
Not Rated)

Crankstart
Crankstart

Rank: Guru
Rating: 92%, 262 votes
Hi,

Assuming this is a windows machine it's likely one of two things, either the machine was re-installed/repaired while the drive was attached and the boot sector may have been moved to the external drive by accident. The other is that the Virtual memory file may have been moved to the external drive which would prevent windows from loading.

If you have repaired the machine lately you may need to re-repair it with the drive detached in order to solve the problem. If not right click on my computer, select properties. When the new window opens select advanced then click the settings button in the performance section. Again select the advanced tab, Click the change button on the Virtual Memory section and remove any reference to memory being used on the external drive. If it is the only drive listed as using memory, be sure to add at least 2GB(2048MB) to the C drive first.

Let me know how you make out,

Chris " (from http://www.fixya.com/support/t.....ernal_hard)

Does anyone have any ideas? What do you think of the ideas from "Chris" above?

Irv - thanks for the response.

I have checked the BIOS setup. The boot menu shows my internal hard drive (C:) as first, USB external hard drive (Maxtor) second, and USB external hard drive (Iomega) as third.

I tried the space bar before Windows starts. I got a screen that asked to specify operating system and that would allow testing, also a choice for advanced options at F8. Everything shows internal drive first.

I did not see a choice disabling USB boot choices, but I once again point out the the Maxtor stays connected and does not cause a boot problem.

Irv - again, thanks for the response. I am not at my office now, but will try your suggestions when I get back later today. I did find the Iomega FAQ after posting this querry.

From memory, I do not recall there being a choice of removing either the Maxtor or the Iomega from the Boot Order scheme. They are both detected as hard drives when connected, with the internal drive listed first, the externals on down the list. But I looked for, and do not recall seeing, a way to remove them from the boot list. Can you offer a suggestion on how to do that?

After finding the Iomega FAQ, I dug around the internet and found multiple discussions that indicated that the Dell bios's had an internal limitation of 137 gigs as the maximum size of a hard drive it could deal with. That makes no sense to me as an external drive that is not a boot drive, but again, I am by no means a computer expert. And it is mentioned by Iomega. But the one thing that really makes me question that is that my computer came from Dell with an internal 250 gig hard drive.

Do you know if there is any way to find the capacity of the BIOS? I tried to find that information on the Dell site. Might as well have asked someone off the street. It takes forever to get a nonresponsive response.

At any rate, your help is appreciated. I will let you know what I find when I return to my office this afternoon.

Irv - again, thanks. I looked at your references and then went to the Boot Device Configuration. I disabled all boot devices except the CD and the Hard Disk (the other devices listed were "Removable" and "Boot Other Device"). Same issue. With the Iomega connected, it gets past the Dell screen (which gives me the F2 setup and F12 Boot Menu screens), and puts the "Starting Windows" screen, but it never gets past there. I power down, disconnect the Iomega, re-start, and no problem. I should also point out the even though the "Removable" and "Other" are disabled, the One Touch and the Iomega still show up under the "Hard Disk Boot Priority" section - as USB HDD0 and USB HDD1. There is no way to remove or disable them on that screen. The Vostro manual says to use the space bar to disable, but that does nothing on my machine.

Regarding whether there is an MBR on the Iomega, I don't know how to tell that.

I opened the Windows Explorer screen for the Iomega and there is a "System Volume Information" folder and an "$AVG" (I have AVG antivirus installed, but I am not sure how that got onto the Iomega drive - I did not consciously put it there) and a "$Recycle Bin folder". Other than that are the Acronis image files that I created before the Windows 7 install. Nothing else. The System Volume Information file says it is not accessible and access is denied (no choice to open as Administrator (even though I am the Administrator). Could that contain the MBR? I made a quick google search for how to determine if an MBR exists, but I didn't find anything that made sense to me.

I looked at the One Touch directory, and it also has an $AVG and System Volume Information (also inaccessible) files.

I unfortunately have to travel for the next three days and will not be able to dig much further into this until next week.

I very much appreciate your help. If you have any other thoughts or suggestions, please let me know.

Should I re-set the Boot Device Configuration back to where it was originally since those changes didn't fix the problem?

Thanks again, Keno54.

Irv - last one for the night. I went back in to the Boot Device Configuration, and my BIOS is apparently different than most. When i get into the Hard Drive Disk Boot area, there is no way to remove or disable the two USB HDD drives - I tried "Enter" and even delete - I cannot get those two devices out of the listing, nor is there any choice to disable. I did everything but take an eraser to the screen. I can't change or delete them. So I did arrange the order as you suggested - removable is disabled, CD Rom is 1st, Hard Drive is 2nd (but there is no way to provide that C: is the only hard drive to consider - although it is listed first in the order). I moved the Iomega down to last in that order.

I do note that when I start the computer up, it goes to the Dell page (with the Setup F2 and Boot Menu F12 choices) and if I don't interrupt it and go into the setup or boot order menu (F12), I hear the Iomega disk spin up for a few seconds. Then the Windows Starting page comes up, then it hangs. Obviously, it is going to the Iomega to get instructions. Finding none, I guess it just sits.

This is aggravating beyond description.

At any rate, I once again sincerely thank you for you assistance and perseverance. I have three long travel days ahead, so I will have to leave it behind for now. Thanks for your patience, my friend.

Keno

Irv - just getting back in the saddle after a long weekend.

Regarding the BIOS, mine is 1.0.15. I tried the BIOS re-install, and my computer wouldn't let it happen - said something to the effect that program was already installed and operation was prevented. I will now try to investigate how to reload the BIOS even though it says not to.

I think fix #2 may be the way to go. I will need to brush up on how exactly to do that. My concern is that the Iomega drive contains my pre-7 drive image, my second one is on the Maxtor drive, and I do not trust the Maxtor drive. At any rate, once I get comfortable with everything, I think I will image this W7 setup, wipe the Iomega disk clean and then re-image back on the Iomega.

Probably the best option of all is simply to leave the Iomega off until I need it. It was my hope to establish a daily backup program with the Iomega (I work from home and my home office computer is the master), but that will be too much for my feeble mind to keep track of if I have to make sure to turn it on and off before booting up. It's just that little things like that drive me crazy. I know there is a way to fix it, and from time to time I will get hacked off and try it again.

At any rate, I have wasted about all the time even I can justify on this one. Once again, I truly appreciate all of your efforts to help me out.

A sincere thanks to you, Irv.

Keno

I toiled with the same problem all day yesterday and found the solution on this thread:

http://social.answers.microsof.....38676e0880

For me it was disabling USB legacy support in the bios that worked.

Best of luck