windows will not boot with new external hard drive VGC-3S

[chissers]

I cannot get Windows to boot up with my external hard drive connected.
I have looked at BIOS but there is not the option to disable this in BIOS.

Any thoughts?

[Blencogo]

Hi chissers and welcome.

I'm not quite sure what you mean.

Is the Windows operating system on the external drive? Are you trying to boot from the external drive?
Or are you trying to boot normally from the internal HDD but it will not boot when the USB cable is connected?

[chissers]

Thanks.
I am trying to boot normally from the internal HDD but it will not boot when the USB cable from the external harddrive is connected.Instead I have to unplug the external hard drive each time I boot up(if I remember).
Chisser

[Blencogo]

That is odd - I can only guess that it is recognising it as a bootable drive.

What boot order is shown in the BIOS?

[chissers]

without the hard drive attached it says WDC WD 2550BB first which I guess is the PC's hard drive then second is the DVD/CD drive


with the external hard drive attached a different screen appears but with the same order

Thanks

[Blencogo]

The boot order in the BIOS would normally be: -

1. USB Floppy Drive
2. DVD/CD-ROM
3. HDD - the Vaio's hard drive

I presume the BIOS is thinking there is a USB Floppy connected - this is probably your external hard drive.

Try changing the boot order in the BIOS to: -

1. DVD/CD-ROM
2. HDD
3. USB

This should fix your problem and you should be able to boot with the USB connected. You will not be able to boot from a floppy disc - but I doubt if you would ever want to!!