Maximum PC

Reason I'm not in the Windows Parlor is cause it might be a physical SSD problem so............

In Task Manager, like an idiot and by accident I turned off explorer.exe. Again, stupid and a mistake. I remedied this by hitting the restart button on my pc. I can get the Win7 splash screen to come up but that's where it stops, won't go any further.

The way I'm setup is that if this happens no biggie, I've always run a small 64gig SSD as my C drive that only has Windows and a few programs on it. The 4 other drives are slaves with mostly video. If I crash all I've ever had to do is reinstall Win7 and I'm good.

Forced BIOS to boot to DVD and tried to reinstall Win7 and I get the files to load which takes about a minute, then it restarts and I get the blue screen with cursor but no words on it and that is it. Nothing else comes on the screen.

Just by dumb accident I hit the restart button on the pc, pc boots to dvd but asks if I want to boot to DVD to hit button (obviously it recognizes that one of my drives has Windows installed on it so it's giving me an option to reinstall or go with old install) so I didn't hit any button for it to start loading files. Win7 splash screen comes up like before but this time Windows runs and runs exactly like it's supposed to.

Thought I was in the clear so I reset BIOS to boot to C drive and it's back to stopping at the splash screen. When I make it boot to DVD and decline to hit a button which would make Win7 reinstall from DVD, Win7 boots and runs just fine. Did I physically fuuck something up with my SSD???

Another thing......I had to unplug the D drive to use it's electric plug to be able to use the DVD drive (cause I never have to use the DVD drive for anything) so the whole time Win7 was working after trying to boot to DVD my D drive was absent. So I find an electrical outlet for my D drive and figure I'll just have to boot to DVD every time and NOT hit a button for Win7 reinstall and Win7 will run fine like it's been doing. With the D drive back in the game, Win7 hangs again at the splash screen!!! I thought the fix was just to have BIOS boot to DVD and wait for Win7 to boot/run properly has it had but it won't with the D drive having power. So of course I unplug the D drive, restart the pc, it boots to DVD, I wait and BANG......Win7 boots/runs just fine?

Even if I wanted to reinstall Win7 from disc I can't. It loads files, restarts to a blue/green screen and nothing else on screen. No words no nothing so even if I wanted to just start from scratch it seems I can't. Any ideas? Specs below.

Windows 7 64-bit
ASUS M4A79 Deluxe Mobo
AMD Phenom 3.2 running at 3.6
8 gigs Corsair RAM
3 one TB HDs
1 external TB HD
1 64gig SSD
Antec 750 PS
ATI 4890 HD w/1gig RAM
42" HDTV/ 26" HD Monitor

Where I stand now??? As long as my D drive is unplugged, BIOS boots to DVD and when I DON'T hit any button it boots to the C drive just fine. With D drive plugged in, it hangs at Win7 splash screen.

Just to provide more info.......

Went into BIOS and noticed

SATA 1
SATA 2
SATA 3
SATA 4
SATA 5

1,2 and 3 are all slave drives, 4 is the DVD and 5 is the SSD and my C drive running just Windows and a few proggys.

2 is the D drive that currently is left unplugged with no power. I plug it in and Win7 won't run. My system has made the DVD the new D drive. I'm hoping maybe there is a way out of this by simply plugging these in a certain fashion. Thanks for looking.

Install the AHCI driver before you do that or it won't boot.

Nasty

I think you guys are onto something cause, since your posts made me think about it....I am set to IDE and not the AHCI option. I remember reading it when I clicked over it in BIOS.

How or where do I get the AHCI options? What made you think that??

I don't believe in coincidences, the last thing I did physically to this machine was to vacuum the insides so maybe I hit something I shouldn't have??????

What's weird is if I try to boot the C drive directly, it hangs. If I boot to DVD and let it default to the OS on the C drive, it works BUT only if the D drive is unplugged electrically. Sounds like a bit of the boot sector of the C drive is corrupt or whatever and the DVD option is a kinda workaround.

Do you guys think Windows 7 will already have the AHCI drivers???

Can you boot into safe mode?

I would look on the motherboard site for the driver.

Nasty

Man..........you'd think the driver's were on the CD that came with the ASUS board.......

Where can I look to see what drivers I have running now??? How do I load the new drivers onto the motherboard???? Sorry to be so freakin' helpless...............

Which button do I hit on startup to get into safe mode??? I hit delete and that gets me into BIOS. Is it F8???

Thanks KK for the help. I'll be on it first thing tomorrow as I'm just glad to be able to watch my media AND be online with you guys. Any ideas as to why boot up fails with my D drive unplugged in which it's just a slave drive.

Why can't I boot to my C drive with ALL of my drives plugged in like they've been for years???? Why DOES my C drive boot up but only after booting to the DVD and asking me to hit a button to continue to boot to DVD or go to the C drive????

Is there any test or way I can prove that I corrupted a part of the boot sector of the C drive or the OS on the C drive???? Remember the C drive is an SSD. Why can't I just reinstall the OS from my DVD?? Does it look like I'm gonna need a new SSD C drive????

EDIT.....my SSD is almost 3 years old and it's been running pretty hard ever since. SSD's are relatively new for home use and I am sure there have been advancements in the past 3 years with SSD's. Where a traditional hard drive moves info around the platters, SSDs don't ever need to be defragged cause everything stays in the exact same spot and maybe it just got worn out.

Set your boot menu in the bios for your C drive to boot first, then hit F10, save and exit.

Nasty

What is F10 gonna do???? Still can't understand why having the D drive unplugged allows the C drive to boot....after booting to the DVD and then letting it default to the OS on the C drive.

Ready to do the F10 thing, just want to know what doing it is going to do.

Is F10 gonna reset my BIOS???? Every time I try to boot direct to the C drive it hangs on the Win7 splash screen. What's a reset gonna do??

Appreciate the little help but, do you know how to read? I mention BIOS more than a few times in this thread. My system I built has been running picture perfect for 2.5 years and then all of the sudden this.

Like a douche and by accident I shut down explorer.exe in Task Manager. Thing's never been right since. I believe I may have trashed a part of the boot sector but SSD's have no moving parts, it's not like data keeps moving around like on a standard drive.

I can't boot directly to the C drive without it hanging up on the splash screen. Only way I can get into Windows is by booting to the DVD, NOT hitting any button when asked and then it defaults to windows from there. Also I can't plug in my D drive and go thru the DVD......

Whatever it is, I seriously doubt a few drivers that have worked since day one is the problem.