sp3 will not re boot with a firewire external hard drive attached

  • Thread starter Thread starter paul
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paul

Please help.

I have 2 Identical computers. One which had the WD Firewire my book attached
and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re booting. The
other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation will not reboot
if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
 
paul said:
Please help.

I have 2 Identical computers. One which had the WD Firewire my book
attached
and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re booting.
The
other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation will not
reboot
if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and
re
installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
Click to expand...

This is known issue with XP (it isn't necessarily SP3 that is causing this).
The exact mechanism seems to be obscure because I am not aware of anyone who
has pinned it down with any certainty. It has been conjectured that the
nature of the problem suggests that XP is identifying the external disk as
bootable when it isn't and, of course, can't boot from it. There are other
more esoteric theories involving non compliant USB hubs - but that doesn't
explain why firewire drives are affected as well). What the mechanism is,
at present, is anyone's guess, because I have noticed this happening with
external disks that I know don't have (or ever have had) master boot records
on them. Yet other XP machines work quite happily even though they are
configured to boot from external drives.

The only workaround that I am aware of is to switch off the external drive
when you boot or reboot (It isn't necesary to disconnect it). It can be
switched on again as soon as the Windows XP boot screen appears (the one
with the blue progress indicator on).
 
paul said:
This is a sp3 issue it happened imediately after the sp3 install.
Click to expand...

It is an XP issue, but it is possible that somehow SP3 created the
conditions on your PC that cause this to happen. Oddly, someone I know who
has installed SP3 recently found to his surprise, that the same fault on his
PC has been cured by the installation of SP3.

The mystery remains.
 
paul said:
Please help.

I have 2 Identical computers. One which had the WD Firewire my book
attached
and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re booting.
The
other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation will not
reboot
if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and
re
installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
Click to expand...

Paul
If you feel that this is a prob caused by SP3, then research/ask in the
wondowsupdate group where there has been a huge response to SP3.
Also there has been much discussed in the windowsgeneral about SP3.

Antioch
 
Hi. This problem occurs because windows exposes a BIOS bug.

Some computer BIOS versions have the ability to boot from
external devices. What this means is you have the capability to
boot from an external USB or an external firewire disk-device
that is running at boot.

How this works is the BIOS assigns the external disk-device a
lower Drive Letter than the partitions on the internal disk. As a
result, when starting with the external disk or USB connected,
control is passed to the Boot Sector on the external device,
rather than the Boot Sector on the internal hard disk.

If the Boot Sector on the external device is not active (and it
should NOT be active for a non-OS partition), then the
machine will stall at that point because it cannot continue the
boot process unless an active partition is present.


There are three solutions to this problem:

1. Check to see if a BIOS update is available for your system.
Many times, the above is an oversight on the part of the
BIOS manufacturer. The BIOS logic should recognize the
external device has no boot loader available and set the
system so the internal device with the active boot partition
is used for the boot process.

2. Check to ensure your CMOS settings are correct for the
BIOS on your computer. Some BIOS versions allow you
to enable/disable the external USB/FW device boot feature
or modify the detection parameters for this process.

3. Ensure the firmware in your external USB or Firewire
device is up-to-date. The BIOS detection process for
boot/non-boot capability depends on a valid handshake
between the motherboard BIOS and the USB/FW
firmware. Bugs here can also be part of the problem.


Note: If none of the above solutions work, then your
computer motherboard manufacturer or your
USB/FW device manufacturer has decided
to ignore this problem. At that point, you have
to decide whether you are going to live with the
problem - or you are going to nuke the company
headquarters from orbit as the only valid response
to pissing you off. <grin>


Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill
 
Bill said:
Hi. This problem occurs because windows exposes a BIOS bug.

Some computer BIOS versions have the ability to boot from
external devices. What this means is you have the capability to
boot from an external USB or an external firewire disk-device
that is running at boot.

How this works is the BIOS assigns the external disk-device a
lower Drive Letter than the partitions on the internal disk. As a
result, when starting with the external disk or USB connected,
control is passed to the Boot Sector on the external device,
rather than the Boot Sector on the internal hard disk.

If the Boot Sector on the external device is not active (and it
should NOT be active for a non-OS partition), then the
machine will stall at that point because it cannot continue the
boot process unless an active partition is present.


There are three solutions to this problem:

1. Check to see if a BIOS update is available for your system.
Many times, the above is an oversight on the part of the
BIOS manufacturer. The BIOS logic should recognize the
external device has no boot loader available and set the
system so the internal device with the active boot partition
is used for the boot process.

2. Check to ensure your CMOS settings are correct for the
BIOS on your computer. Some BIOS versions allow you
to enable/disable the external USB/FW device boot feature
or modify the detection parameters for this process.

3. Ensure the firmware in your external USB or Firewire
device is up-to-date. The BIOS detection process for
boot/non-boot capability depends on a valid handshake
between the motherboard BIOS and the USB/FW
firmware. Bugs here can also be part of the problem.


Note: If none of the above solutions work, then your
computer motherboard manufacturer or your
USB/FW device manufacturer has decided
to ignore this problem. At that point, you have
to decide whether you are going to live with the
problem - or you are going to nuke the company
headquarters from orbit as the only valid response
to pissing you off. <grin>


Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill
Click to expand...
I have a similar problem in that my HP computer will hang during BiOS
loading if I have my camera SD card inserted. I can access the SD card
if I insert it after booting. Since I only view the card occasionally I
can easily live with this condition. I suppose I could look for a BiOS
update from HP, but it's just not worth the bother and/or risk.

Bill
 
I am sure it is not the bios, all was well before sp3. Both my computers are
identical with identical bios settings. One which had the WD Firewire my book
attached and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re
booting. The other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation
will not reboot
if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
 
Bill Drake said:
Hi. This problem occurs because windows exposes a BIOS bug.

Some computer BIOS versions have the ability to boot from
external devices. What this means is you have the capability to
boot from an external USB or an external firewire disk-device
that is running at boot.

How this works is the BIOS assigns the external disk-device a
lower Drive Letter than the partitions on the internal disk. As a
result, when starting with the external disk or USB connected,
control is passed to the Boot Sector on the external device,
rather than the Boot Sector on the internal hard disk.

If the Boot Sector on the external device is not active (and it
should NOT be active for a non-OS partition), then the
machine will stall at that point because it cannot continue the
boot process unless an active partition is present.


There are three solutions to this problem:

1. Check to see if a BIOS update is available for your system.
Many times, the above is an oversight on the part of the
BIOS manufacturer. The BIOS logic should recognize the
external device has no boot loader available and set the
system so the internal device with the active boot partition
is used for the boot process.

2. Check to ensure your CMOS settings are correct for the
BIOS on your computer. Some BIOS versions allow you
to enable/disable the external USB/FW device boot feature
or modify the detection parameters for this process.

3. Ensure the firmware in your external USB or Firewire
device is up-to-date. The BIOS detection process for
boot/non-boot capability depends on a valid handshake
between the motherboard BIOS and the USB/FW
firmware. Bugs here can also be part of the problem.


Note: If none of the above solutions work, then your
computer motherboard manufacturer or your
USB/FW device manufacturer has decided
to ignore this problem. At that point, you have
to decide whether you are going to live with the
problem - or you are going to nuke the company
headquarters from orbit as the only valid response
to pissing you off. <grin>


Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill
Click to expand...
I want to thank you, i went into my bios and turned off boot from usb
device, and I am up and running now, i do not have to unplug (or turn off my
external harddrive) to get my system to boot. again, thank you.
 
paul said:
I am sure it is not the bios, all was well before sp3. Both my computers are
identical with identical bios settings. One which had the WD Firewire my book
attached and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re
booting. The other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation
will not reboot
if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
Click to expand...

Paul try going into your bios and turning off boot from usb, and i believe
that this will solve your problems.
 
paul said:
Please help.

I have 2 Identical computers. One which had the WD Firewire my book attached
and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re booting. The
other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation will not reboot
if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
Click to expand...

I have found that if you go into your bios and turn off boot from usb, then
this problem will disappear, let me know how it works.
 
paul said:
I am sure it is not the bios, all was well before sp3. Both my computers are
identical with identical bios settings. One which had the WD Firewire my book
attached and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re
booting. The other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation
will not reboot
if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
Click to expand...

Go into your bios and turn off boot from usb device, and see what happens,
it works for me.
 
not sp3 issue said:
I have found that if you go into your bios and turn off boot from usb, then
this problem will disappear, let me know how it works.
Click to expand...


Above does not work. Firewire problem not a usb problem
 
paul said:
Above does not work. Firewire problem not a usb problem
Click to expand...


I may have found a solution. After upgrading to XP sp3 my computer would not
boot with my external firewire drive plugged in. So, after reading through
countless forums and knowledge bases I found the answer on Western digitals
site. The problem comes from sbp2port.sys, You have to revert to an older
version(5.1.2600.2180). I found this version in the uninstall directory on my
C drive. Just replace this version with the version SP3 installed and
everything works now. I can restart my computer now with my firewire drive
plugged in. I did this a few days ago and every thing seems to be working
fine. Good luck
 
"Just to add a data point: the PCs I have updated to SP3 have no difficulty
booting with Firewire disks attached, and allocating drive letters to them.
So this is not a consistent problem: there must be some other factor (apart
from the sbp2 driver) which triggers this issue."

I agree same with me. One computer no problem other identical computer
problem.
 
After SP3, not could I not boot up with an external drive plugged in, but Windows wouldn't even install them. Both firewire and USB, Windows gave errors installing the hardware and I could not access them.

A MB bios update cured both problems. I run a 1y old Intel board, apparently they have took the effort to work with SP3. I can now use my drives, and I can make it past Windows loading screen if I leave them plugged in. Do note, though, it takes about 2-3 times longer to start up if they are.

Although it's fixable and it's not Microsoft's responsibility, and even though firmware updates are becoming as easy as pushing next--most of Window's typical users aren't apt enough to even think about searching the web for their problems, much less knowing what firmware is and why they need it. They need it to work or not work. So, if Microsoft pushes a Service Pack and it makes things not work, which, although it's not their fault necessarily, *is* the black and white viewpoint that their users possess, then there is a problem. If MS would take the extra, yes extra, care and time (like their competitors) to address things like this that originally isn't their responsibility, they may actually impress some people. It's called being a good company.

And I'm anti-Mac.
 
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