# [SOLVED] Freeze at ASUS Splash Screen when HDD attached



## andyg88 (Nov 26, 2011)

Just built my new system (below) and can't seem to get it working... 

AMD Phenom II X4 965 CPU 
Asus M5A99X Evo MOBO 
2 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM 
Asus ATI Radeon 6450 HD Graphics 
Corsair CX500 V2 Builder Series PSU 
1TB Western Digital Caviar Black 64MB HDD 

When I switch it on the Asus splash screen appears, there is a beep and it quickly disappears and reappears again. This seems normal. However, it just seems to freeze on the Asus splash screen the second time it is shown. I can not proceed any further, nor enter the BIOS. I have also tried entering the BIOS by holding DEL on power on and also pressing it before splash screens appear - I just can not access it. 

So I went through the usual checks; 
- Reseated RAM modules and Graphics card 
- Ran without additional chassis fans, front USB hub or DVD-RW drives, in case the 500W wasn't providing enough power (although I think 500W should be sufficient for this system? Please correct me if I'm wrong.) 
- Ran without RAM to check MOBO recognised no RAM and sure enough I got the correct beep codes. 
- Ran with each of the RAM modules induvidually 
- Clearing CMOS (Power off, battery out for 10 mins, change jumper while battery out and then replace, replace battery, power on) 

My final check was to run without the Hard Disk connected and I was then able to enter the BIOS. 

Since it seemed to be the Hard Disk causing problems, I borrowed my brother's 500GB Seagate Barracuda HDD with Windows Vista installed on it. It ran to the Starting Windows screen, the progress bar cycled through a couple of times and then the system just reboots. I entered the BIOS after this had happened several times and configured the SATA drives as IDE rather than AHCI. On doing this, Windows Vista boots but the neither the USB keyboard nor the PS2 keyboard nor the USB mouse are recognised and I can not log in. The same thing happens when booting in Safe Mode. 

Continuing my investigation, I installed my WD HDD in my brother's computer to see if it prevents his computer from entering BIOS. It doesn't. His computer (Dell Studio) recognises the disk, but there is nothing on there to boot from. I tried to install the Windows 7 Home 64-bit that I'd bought, using his computer, however it loads the Windows files, then just freezes on the Windows logo page. I have left it for 30mins and it is not proceeding any further. 

I also tried both HDDs in my computer and I get the same freezing issue at Asus splash page (definitely seems to be related to the WD HDD) 

And I tried both HDDs in my brother's Dell. It tries to boot Windows Vista but just gets stuck on Windows loading screen. 

So my questions are: 
- Do you think the WD HDD is faulty? 
- Why does the WD HDD prevent me from entering my BIOS? 
- Why does Windows Vista not recognise my devices? 
- Could this be a faulty motherboard? 
- Am I just being stupid and not selecting a correct BIOS setting? 

I tried running Ubuntu and ArtistX live CDs with the hard disk unplugged and they run fine. This is my main reason for thinking that all other hardware is OK, and the hard disk is the problem. Is it possible it could be a faulty motherboard?

I have built a number of systems in the past and never really had any problems. I can't think of anything I've done wrong, so I'm inclined to think it's a faulty piece of hardware. I'd really appreciate some advice as I can't think of anything else to try.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

*Re: Freeze at ASUS Splash Screen when HDD attached*

different computers, different hardware drivers. Another comptuers harddrive will not work most of the time - unless it has the same hardware. that could be why the drives from dell would not work on your computer. 

two things you did not mention - what happens if you try to install win7 on your computer. You only mentioned your brothers.

what happens when you try to boot to ubuntu with the drive plugged in.


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## andyg88 (Nov 26, 2011)

*Re: Freeze at ASUS Splash Screen when HDD attached*

Thanks for your reply sobeit.

I'm not too worried that my brother's Vista doesn't work on my computer, I only mentioned it to demonstrate that it seems that the other hardware components are working. Shows that it seems to be my Western Digital causing the freezing at splash screen.

Unfortunately I can not try to install Windows 7 on my computer since the only spare Hard Drive I have is the WD, and since when it is plugged in the freezing occurs, I can't get to a point to start the install.

The same goes for Ubuntu. I can not get to a point to try and install it while the WD is plugged in.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

*Re: Freeze at ASUS Splash Screen when HDD attached*

you can get a wd drive diagnostic utility to check your drive from the following...

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.


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## andyg88 (Nov 26, 2011)

*Re: Freeze at ASUS Splash Screen when HDD attached*

Couldn't try this on my system as I can't get far enough to choose to boot from CD. Put the Hard Disk in the Dell once more and tried it, but it failed to load 

Also had a go at running GParted Live on the Dell, just to see if I could get something to format the disk or something but I get a "Kernel panic - not syncing: Out of memory" error. I'm sure that has enough memory to run something like that.

Dell has a "Boot to Utility Partition" option in boot options. I had a look in there and it definitely recognises the Western Digital Disk. I was able to do some memory tests from there and found no errors.


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## andyg88 (Nov 26, 2011)

*Re: Freeze at ASUS Splash Screen when HDD attached*

After hours of searching I came across Ultimate Boot CD (Ultimate Boot CD - Overview) and have run it with my WD HDD on the Dell. I did some of the HDD checks and discovered no errors, and managed to use the Ranish Partition Manager to format the drive. This seems to have done the trick! My new system now boots past Asus splash screen and I am currently waiting for Win 7 to install. Hasn't completed yet but the installation processes seem to be running so finger crossed! Will hopefully have it running with Ubuntu soon 

Thanks sobeit for your suggestions, really appreciate the help.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Freeze at ASUS Splash Screen when HDD attached*

Glad you are making progress.


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