Windows 7 would only boot if I had my external HDD plugged in!

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Y

YAOMTC

This makes no sense to me at all, but the one time I had my 500 GB external USB HDD plugged into my Eee PC rather than my desktop, Windows 7 (RC) would not boot. openSUSE had no trouble, but if I tried to choose Windows from the bootloader, I got this error:

Code:
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem: 
[[windows installation disc repair instructions]]

    File: \Boot\BCD
    Status: 0xc0000001
    Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration 
          data.
I thought, Oh great! I just fixed /boot/menu.lst, and now this is happening! But then I noticed... the one thing that had changed, hardware-wise. No way could it be that stupid, that simple... or so I thought.

Shut down my desktop, plugged in the external... and Windows booted fine.

Friggin' Windows.




So, have any of you had any stupid problems or stupid solutions lately?
 
Y

YAOMTC

Nope.

EDIT: Not that I mind leaving it plugged in all the time. It already is, with one exception being this morning. Just rather stupid that this happened.
 
Y

YAOMTC

what happens if you unplug it while you're running windows?
Nothing at all, provided nothing is using it. Well, Windows always claims something is using it when I try to unmount it, but I can't figure out what.:noidea:
 
K

Kitty Sinatra

dawwww, that's so sweet. Windows is in love with your drive :wub:
 
It sounds like you somehow got your boot files on your removable drive. I can't think of any other reason it would do that.
 
K

Kitty Sinatra

It might be something like the recycle bin for that drive is making Windows think it's in use (and for some reason thinks it requires at startup)
 
I had the opposite problem with Win7. The one time I tried to boot up with the external HDD plugged in and on, it would give me a boot error. I tried it again with it off (still plugged in) and it worked like a charm.
 
Your computer may be set to boot from your USB first, it may see it and want to boot from your external drive. Check the boot order in your bios.
 
Y

YAOMTC

It sounds like you somehow got your boot files on your removable drive. I can't think of any other reason it would do that.
I've looked around on the drive and there's nothing there that has to do with booting...

Really though, this is hardly an inconvenience for me, I normally have it plugged in anyway. I was just complaining about how stupid it is that this would happen.

I had the opposite problem with Win7. The one time I tried to boot up with the external HDD plugged in and on, it would give me a boot error. I tried it again with it off (still plugged in) and it worked like a charm.
Heh, good to know I'm not the only one with this sort of thing going on! Though yours is a bit more inconvenient.
 
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