Win7 won't boot from eSATA dock

I bought an Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.
It has a dedicated eSATA port.
Hard drive I want to use is a WD 1600HLFS VelociRaptor.

I plugged in my Rosewill RDDO-13002
external eSATA docking station.
Booted macrium from USB and restored sysprepped
Win7 via eSATA.

It wouldn't boot.
I let it do it's repair diagnostics and it couldn't
fix it.
I plugged the drive directly to the motherboard eSATA
socket and let it boot and do the first boot configuration.
Works good.
Plugged it back into the Rosewill eSATA dock.
It boots as far as the swirling dots, then reboots.
On reboot, I get the repair menu.
I select "boot anyway". (or words to that effect)
It booted and ran.
That's the last time I saw it boot from the external eSATA
dock.
Keeps booting up to the swirling dots and reboots.

I booted another internal drive and did some stress
testing on the drive in the eSATA dock. No issues.

Drive still works fine if I remove the external dock
and plug the drive directly to the dedicated eSATA socket on the
motherboard. Just to be clear, it's a standard SATA socket
that's managed separately in the BIOS as eSATA.
The cable to the rear panel converts to eSATA hardware configuration.

I have zero experience trying to boot from eSATA.

Is this something that Microsoft does to inhibit
our use of the OS?

Ideas?

In message , mike
writes:
I bought an Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.
It has a dedicated eSATA port.
Hard drive I want to use is a WD 1600HLFS VelociRaptor.

I plugged in my Rosewill RDDO-13002
external eSATA docking station.
Booted macrium from USB and restored sysprepped
Win7 via eSATA.

It wouldn't boot.
I let it do it's repair diagnostics and it couldn't
fix it.
I plugged the drive directly to the motherboard eSATA
socket and let it boot and do the first boot configuration.
Works good.
Plugged it back into the Rosewill eSATA dock.
It boots as far as the swirling dots, then reboots.

Your mention of "swirling dots" makes me wonder: are you talking about
Windows 10? I see you posted to the 7 'group only, and said 7 in the
subject.

On reboot, I get the repair menu.
I select "boot anyway". (or words to that effect)
It booted and ran.
That's the last time I saw it boot from the external eSATA
dock.
Keeps booting up to the swirling dots and reboots.

I booted another internal drive and did some stress
testing on the drive in the eSATA dock. No issues.

Drive still works fine if I remove the external dock
and plug the drive directly to the dedicated eSATA socket on the
motherboard. Just to be clear, it's a standard SATA socket
that's managed separately in the BIOS as eSATA.
The cable to the rear panel converts to eSATA hardware configuration.

I have zero experience trying to boot from eSATA.

Is this something that Microsoft does to inhibit
our use of the OS?

Ideas?

Sorry, no; I know nothing of eSATA.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's
money."

mike wrote:
I bought an Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.
It has a dedicated eSATA port.
Hard drive I want to use is a WD 1600HLFS VelociRaptor.

I plugged in my Rosewill RDDO-13002
external eSATA docking station.
Booted macrium from USB and restored sysprepped
Win7 via eSATA.

It wouldn't boot.
I let it do it's repair diagnostics and it couldn't
fix it.
I plugged the drive directly to the motherboard eSATA
socket and let it boot and do the first boot configuration.
Works good.
Plugged it back into the Rosewill eSATA dock.
It boots as far as the swirling dots, then reboots.
On reboot, I get the repair menu.
I select "boot anyway". (or words to that effect)
It booted and ran.
That's the last time I saw it boot from the external eSATA
dock.
Keeps booting up to the swirling dots and reboots.

I booted another internal drive and did some stress
testing on the drive in the eSATA dock. No issues.

Drive still works fine if I remove the external dock
and plug the drive directly to the dedicated eSATA socket on the
motherboard. Just to be clear, it's a standard SATA socket
that's managed separately in the BIOS as eSATA.
The cable to the rear panel converts to eSATA hardware configuration.

I have zero experience trying to boot from eSATA.

Is this something that Microsoft does to inhibit
our use of the OS?

Ideas?

There are suggestions here, but nobody confirms in the
thread, that anything worked.

https://www.dell.com/community/Deskt...m/td-p/3234958

I think Dell has something to do with this.

*******

I'd suggest this, except your symptoms don't match.
You're not getting an "inaccessible boot volume". You're
getting "swirling balls", which suggests System Reserved
was successfully found, but, by using GUID, the C: partition
is not being found. Your failure sounds "later" in the
boot process. (Windows 7 has the canned "juggler balls"
animation, while Win8/Win10 are the "ferris wheel balls".
On Windows 7, there's actually a file with a frame by frame
animation stored in a "very tall" image file.)

https://www.askvg.com/how-to-change-...lling-windows/

I would load up my Macrium emergency boot CD, and do a boot
repair with just the ESATA drive connected. To make sure that
any newly created GUIDs are "self-consistent". Then try booting.
If it doesn't boot at that point, use the Windows DVD and
use the Troubleshooting options there.

Paul

mike wrote:

Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.

Doing a search on that (along with adding "bios setting boot order") to
look for an online manual, I found:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/35....html?page=287

I suppose Dell has a copy of that computer's manual somewhere but I
wasn't going to waste time going through Dell's procedure to find it.

That page has no mention of booting from eSATA, only from internal
(primary) SATA. You are restricted to the types and order of bootable
device types by what the BIOS supports.

You'll have to move the drive off the eSATA port, take the drive out of
the external enclosure, and attach it to one of the mobo's SATA ports.
But you already knew that. Sorry, you can't boot a device type that the
BIOS doesn't support.

On 5/2/2018 7:44 AM, Paul wrote:
mike wrote:
I bought an Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.
It has a dedicated eSATA port.
Hard drive I want to use is a WD 1600HLFS VelociRaptor.

I plugged in my Rosewill RDDO-13002
external eSATA docking station.
Booted macrium from USB and restored sysprepped
Win7 via eSATA.

It wouldn't boot.
I let it do it's repair diagnostics and it couldn't
fix it.
I plugged the drive directly to the motherboard eSATA
socket and let it boot and do the first boot configuration.
Works good.
Plugged it back into the Rosewill eSATA dock.
It boots as far as the swirling dots, then reboots.
On reboot, I get the repair menu.
I select "boot anyway". (or words to that effect)
It booted and ran.
That's the last time I saw it boot from the external eSATA
dock.
Keeps booting up to the swirling dots and reboots.

I booted another internal drive and did some stress
testing on the drive in the eSATA dock. No issues.

Drive still works fine if I remove the external dock
and plug the drive directly to the dedicated eSATA socket on the
motherboard. Just to be clear, it's a standard SATA socket
that's managed separately in the BIOS as eSATA.
The cable to the rear panel converts to eSATA hardware configuration.

I have zero experience trying to boot from eSATA.

Is this something that Microsoft does to inhibit
our use of the OS?

Ideas?

There are suggestions here, but nobody confirms in the
thread, that anything worked.

https://www.dell.com/community/Deskt...m/td-p/3234958

I found several links like that. None seemed to match what I'm seeing.

I think Dell has something to do with this.

*******

I'd suggest this, except your symptoms don't match.
You're not getting an "inaccessible boot volume". You're
getting "swirling balls", which suggests System Reserved
was successfully found,

My system doesn't have a system reserved partition.

but, by using GUID, the C: partition
is not being found. Your failure sounds "later" in the
boot process. (Windows 7 has the canned "juggler balls"
animation, while Win8/Win10 are the "ferris wheel balls".
On Windows 7, there's actually a file with a frame by frame
animation stored in a "very tall" image file.)

https://www.askvg.com/how-to-change-...lling-windows/


I would load up my Macrium emergency boot CD, and do a boot
repair with just the ESATA drive connected.

That's the first thing I tried, no go.

To make sure that
any newly created GUIDs are "self-consistent". Then try booting.
If it doesn't boot at that point, use the Windows DVD and
use the Troubleshooting options there.

I decided that, since the system boots/runs fine if I eliminate
the eSATA dock from the system, these issues couldn't be the problem,
but I have little experience in that area.

Paul

I had restored a win7 backup.
I started over and did a fresh win7 sp1 install from the DVD.
Same boot loop.

I installed Linux Mint 16.
Boots fine from eSATA.

I installed win 10 1709 from DVD.
Boots fine from eSATA.
This install does have the system reserved partition.
I don't have a Win10 license for this machine,
so that's not a solution.

I went back and installed win7 sp1 and let windows
create the system reserved partition.
Still boot loop.

Looks like a win7 issue. Unfortunately, win7 is the only
thing I really need to work...sigh...

On 5/2/2018 11:10 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
mike wrote:

Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.

Doing a search on that (along with adding "bios setting boot order") to
look for an online manual, I found:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/35....html?page=287

I suppose Dell has a copy of that computer's manual somewhere but I
wasn't going to waste time going through Dell's procedure to find it.

That page has no mention of booting from eSATA, only from internal
(primary) SATA. You are restricted to the types and order of bootable
device types by what the BIOS supports.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

You'll have to move the drive off the eSATA port, take the drive out of
the external enclosure, and attach it to one of the mobo's SATA ports.
But you already knew that.



Sorry, you can't boot a device type that the
BIOS doesn't support.
That's certainly correct.
But my experiments suggest that the BIOS does support booting from
eSATA. Appears to be a win7 issue.

mike wrote:
On 5/2/2018 11:10 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
mike wrote:

Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.

Doing a search on that (along with adding "bios setting boot order") to
look for an online manual, I found:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/35....html?page=287

I suppose Dell has a copy of that computer's manual somewhere but I
wasn't going to waste time going through Dell's procedure to find it.

That page has no mention of booting from eSATA, only from internal
(primary) SATA. You are restricted to the types and order of bootable
device types by what the BIOS supports.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

You'll have to move the drive off the eSATA port, take the drive out of
the external enclosure, and attach it to one of the mobo's SATA ports.
But you already knew that.



Sorry, you can't boot a device type that the
BIOS doesn't support.
That's certainly correct.
But my experiments suggest that the BIOS does support booting from
eSATA. Appears to be a win7 issue.



Naw.

Have you looked at the motherboard at all ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optipl...4AAOSwMTZWRxSP

That one has a Southbridge with a couple SATA ports next to it (and
some de-populated SATA connectors).

Then, it has what looks like a "VIA configuration" in the lower
right. I see two SATA connectors and one IDE connector, which
suggests a VIA chip. Or maybe a Promise chip, but my guess would
be VIA.

At the scale of that photo, I cannot guess what's on there.
But you, sitting in front of real hardware, can easily
survey the motherboard content. (I have a collection of
magnifying glasses I got from Edmund Scientific years
ago, and that's what I use to read the laser etch off
chip tops.)

I tried to search on

model name string dmesg

but I couldn't get any informative DMESG dumps for 755.

Have a look at the motherboard first.

Trace where the ESATA cable from the slot bracket,
runs to on the motherboard. Try moving the
ESATA cable, to a Southbridge port.

When there are add-on chips, only a few modern motherboards
have added all sorts of booting capabilities. Maybe yours
doesn't have what is needed.

A VIA chip also wouldn't have the amplitude for ESATA,
and other brands might claim to support both, but with
no apparent config bit to switch to a slightly higher
drive level. About all you can do, is use short 1 meter
ESATA cables, so you won't run out of signal budget.

How many drives are present when you do the boot experiment ?

Would the System Reserved from some internal drive be
getting picked up ?

*******

ESATA has a great many variations, and these have to do
with "powering". A laptop ESATA has only 5V power on it
(for the powered variant). A desktop ESATA has 12V power
(not sure where the 5V comes from). It's not even clear if
these were standardized or approved at all.

Is your external enclosure self-powered ? As that
will alleviate any concerns about "trying to run
a drive when there is no power for it".

Paul

On 5/2/2018 5:58 PM, Paul wrote:
mike wrote:
On 5/2/2018 11:10 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
mike wrote:

Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.

Doing a search on that (along with adding "bios setting boot order") to
look for an online manual, I found:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/35....html?page=287

I suppose Dell has a copy of that computer's manual somewhere but I
wasn't going to waste time going through Dell's procedure to find it.

That page has no mention of booting from eSATA, only from internal
(primary) SATA. You are restricted to the types and order of bootable
device types by what the BIOS supports.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

You'll have to move the drive off the eSATA port, take the drive out of
the external enclosure, and attach it to one of the mobo's SATA ports.
But you already knew that.



Sorry, you can't boot a device type that the
BIOS doesn't support.
That's certainly correct.
But my experiments suggest that the BIOS does support booting from
eSATA. Appears to be a win7 issue.



Naw.

Have you looked at the motherboard at all ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optipl...4AAOSwMTZWRxSP


That one has a Southbridge with a couple SATA ports next to it (and
some de-populated SATA connectors).

Then, it has what looks like a "VIA configuration" in the lower
right. I see two SATA connectors and one IDE connector, which
suggests a VIA chip. Or maybe a Promise chip, but my guess would
be VIA.
Looks can be deceiving.
There is no IDE connector, that's the connector to the front panel.
There are three populated SATA connectors, SATA0, SATA1, eSATA.
All are independently managed in the BIOS.

At the scale of that photo, I cannot guess what's on there.
But you, sitting in front of real hardware, can easily
survey the motherboard content. (I have a collection of
magnifying glasses I got from Edmund Scientific years
ago, and that's what I use to read the laser etch off
chip tops.)

I tried to search on

model name string dmesg

but I couldn't get any informative DMESG dumps for 755.

Have a look at the motherboard first.

Trace where the ESATA cable from the slot bracket,
runs to on the motherboard. Try moving the
ESATA cable, to a Southbridge port.

I've tried it on the dedicated eSATA port and SATA0
Same result.

When there are add-on chips, only a few modern motherboards
have added all sorts of booting capabilities. Maybe yours
doesn't have what is needed.

A VIA chip also wouldn't have the amplitude for ESATA,
and other brands might claim to support both, but with
no apparent config bit to switch to a slightly higher
drive level. About all you can do, is use short 1 meter
ESATA cables, so you won't run out of signal budget.
I'm using a short eSATA cable.


How many drives are present when you do the boot experiment ?
One hard drive on either SATA0 or eSATA and one DVD-ROM on SATA1

Would the System Reserved from some internal drive be
getting picked up ?

There is no other drive from which to pick up anything.

*******

ESATA has a great many variations, and these have to do
with "powering". A laptop ESATA has only 5V power on it
(for the powered variant). A desktop ESATA has 12V power
(not sure where the 5V comes from). It's not even clear if
these were standardized or approved at all.

Is your external enclosure self-powered ?
YES
As that
will alleviate any concerns about "trying to run
a drive when there is no power for it".

Paul
My reply from 1:03 PM today describes more recent experiments
where only win7 fails to boot from eSATA connected to external dock.
The hardware seems to be reliable for linux and windows 10.

On 5/2/2018 5:41 PM, Good Guy wrote:
On 02/05/2018 09:48, mike wrote:
I bought an Dell Optiplex 755 SFF.
It has a dedicated eSATA port.
Hard drive I want to use is a WD 1600HLFS VelociRaptor.

I plugged in my Rosewill RDDO-13002
external eSATA docking station.
Booted macrium from USB and restored sysprepped
Win7 via eSATA.

It wouldn't boot.
I let it do it's repair diagnostics and it couldn't
fix it.
I plugged the drive directly to the motherboard eSATA
socket and let it boot and do the first boot configuration.
Works good.
Plugged it back into the Rosewill eSATA dock.
It boots as far as the swirling dots, then reboots.
On reboot, I get the repair menu.
I select "boot anyway". (or words to that effect)
It booted and ran.
That's the last time I saw it boot from the external eSATA
dock.
Keeps booting up to the swirling dots and reboots.

I booted another internal drive and did some stress
testing on the drive in the eSATA dock. No issues.

Drive still works fine if I remove the external dock
and plug the drive directly to the dedicated eSATA socket on the
motherboard. Just to be clear, it's a standard SATA socket
that's managed separately in the BIOS as eSATA.
The cable to the rear panel converts to eSATA hardware configuration.

I have zero experience trying to boot from eSATA.

Is this something that Microsoft does to inhibit
our use of the OS?

Ideas?


This is the solution given on DELL's Forum
https://superuser.com/questions/431218/is-possible-to-load-windows-7-from-the-esata-drive-even-if-its-not-supported-i:

I run a copy of Windows 7 from an eSATA drive on my laptop. Here's how
I did it:

1. I removed old drive from laptop
2. Put new drive in laptop
3. Installed Windows 7 on the new drive
4. Put old drive back in laptop and put the new Windows 7 drive back
in its eSATA case
5. Booted up old drive
6. Plugged in eSATA drive, and made note of the drive letter assigned
to the Windows 7 partition on the eSATA drive (use Windows
Explorer to browse for the right drive, then note the drive letter
assigned to it)
7. Installed EasyBCD http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD to change the boot
loader (Non Commercial use is free but you need to register; So
create a dummy disposable eMail account for this)
8. Using EasyBCD made a new entry, called it "Win7 eSATA", and told
it to find the new copy of Windows 7 on the eSATA drive at the
drive letter in #6
9. Rebooted

You will find a menu now at bootup, where you can let the internal
Windows 7 boot up by default, or choose "Win eSATA" and boot up from
Windows 7 on the external drive. You do not need to have the eSATA
drive connected unless you intend to use it.


https://superuser.com/questions/431218/is-possible-to-load-windows-7-from-the-esata-drive-even-if-its-not-supported-i

That's interesting, but won't help.
That method accesses the internal drive to get the information
required to boot the eSATA drive. I don't have an internal drive.

It does suggest a possible cause.
The BIOS is smart enough to decide which port to boot.
The boot process starts correctly, but win7 gets confused
when accessing the external drive dock and pulls
the rug out from under itself.

The external drive dock does USB2.0 or eSATA.
It's possible that miscommunication between the
boot process and the chip in the eSATA dock
results in changing the mode or disconnecting
the eSATA port from the dock end.

This is a windows 7 only problem. Linux and win10
boot just fine from eSATA and my external dock.

mike wrote:

My reply from 1:03 PM today describes more recent experiments
where only win7 fails to boot from eSATA connected to external dock.
The hardware seems to be reliable for linux and windows 10.

What I can't figure out, is why isn't it throwing
an "Inaccessible boot volume" blue screen error ?

If there was a driver mismatch, like Win7 had previously
selected an IDE (pciide.sys) driver, and suddenly it
was faced with an AHCI/RAID setting, then it should
give an "Inaccessible boot volume", in which case
you'd track down a recipe to change the "Start" value
to the driver from 3-0. And that "re-arms" the driver
so the driver type can be checked at boot. That's different
than WinXP, where on WinXP you were basically screwed
if the storage port definition, didn't match the
driver lineup. Win7 has in-box IDE, AHCI, RAID drivers,
but it doesn't "try" all of them on each boot cycle.
After the OS boots initially, is uses the barest
subset of drivers to bring the system up.

The re-arm procedure, of changing the Start registry
key for the driver, makes the OS "re-consider" the driver
on the next restart. The method may also differ, between
the modern OSes (might not be the same procedure exactly
for each one).

But I don't want to put you to all this trouble, unless
you're seeing a 7b error.

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm (7b Inaccessible Boot Volume)

If you wanted a registry editor, recent versions of
Kaspersky offline scanner disc, include a Linux registry
editor. It's possible that tool is portable and can be
moved to other LiveCDs if you wanted.

Normally, people change the Start value, shut down the
computer, change BIOS storage settings, and try to boot. So
they do online registry editing, as opposed to offline
registry editing.

If I was doing it, I would make sure Start is set to zero,
for both IDE and AHCI for example. That way, if you forget
to change the BIOS setting right after that, it still comes
up, the way it did originally. By arming two drivers, you're
ready for both the "before" and "after" BIOS setting.

I must be missing a symptom here, because I can't tell
if this is an Inaccessible Boot Volume or not. It seems
strange that some completely unrelated issue has popped up
to prevent it from booting. Somehow, we need to confirm
what the problem is.

Paul

In message , mike
writes:
[]
I've tried it on the dedicated eSATA port and SATA0
Same result.
[]
So it's not just the eSATA that's the problem as stated in the subject?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

If you're playing a killer monster, be very quiet. -
Anthony Hopkins, RT 2016/10/22-28

On 5/2/2018 11:13 PM, Paul wrote:
mike wrote:

My reply from 1:03 PM today describes more recent experiments
where only win7 fails to boot from eSATA connected to external dock.
The hardware seems to be reliable for linux and windows 10.

What I can't figure out, is why isn't it throwing
an "Inaccessible boot volume" blue screen error ?

You're a lot more experienced than I am. Perhaps I'm not
using the right terms...
I have never seen what I would call a 'blue screen error'
anywhere in this setup. No actual blue color, no error message,
no nothing.

When I boot win7 from the external eSATA, I get the normal BIOS
messages, the initial start of windows 7 with the colored balls
swirling around. Then the balls stop moving. A second or so later,
a reboot. No error messages at all.

I did see, one time only, an "Inaccessible boot volume"
but was in the middle of an experimental flurry. I can't be more
descriptive.

If there was a driver mismatch, like Win7 had previously
selected an IDE (pciide.sys) driver, and suddenly it
was faced with an AHCI/RAID setting, then it should
give an "Inaccessible boot volume", in which case
you'd track down a recipe to change the "Start" value
to the driver from 3-0. And that "re-arms" the driver
so the driver type can be checked at boot. That's different
than WinXP, where on WinXP you were basically screwed
if the storage port definition, didn't match the
driver lineup. Win7 has in-box IDE, AHCI, RAID drivers,
but it doesn't "try" all of them on each boot cycle.
After the OS boots initially, is uses the barest
subset of drivers to bring the system up.

The re-arm procedure, of changing the Start registry
key for the driver, makes the OS "re-consider" the driver
on the next restart. The method may also differ, between
the modern OSes (might not be the same procedure exactly
for each one).

But I don't want to put you to all this trouble, unless
you're seeing a 7b error.

Let's go back to the first attempt.
I have a sysprepped win7 SP1 macrium backup.
I've used it dozens of times to initialize/test computers.
I've never ever had any problems with it until this eSATA attempt.
It's my understanding that sysprep generalize does force
reinitialization of drivers. I've restored it to many computers
of different vintage without issue as long as native win7 drivers
exist. It takes me through the oobe setup at first boot.
Is that not sufficient to resolve driver issues?

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm (7b Inaccessible Boot Volume)

If you wanted a registry editor, recent versions of
Kaspersky offline scanner disc, include a Linux registry
editor. It's possible that tool is portable and can be
moved to other LiveCDs if you wanted.

Normally, people change the Start value, shut down the
computer, change BIOS storage settings, and try to boot. So
they do online registry editing, as opposed to offline
registry editing.

If I was doing it, I would make sure Start is set to zero,
for both IDE and AHCI for example. That way, if you forget
to change the BIOS setting right after that, it still comes
up, the way it did originally. By arming two drivers, you're
ready for both the "before" and "after" BIOS setting.

I must be missing a symptom here, because I can't tell
if this is an Inaccessible Boot Volume or not. It seems
strange that some completely unrelated issue has popped up
to prevent it from booting. Somehow, we need to confirm
what the problem is.

Paul

I'm beginning to think that this is a lost cause.
The intent of this system is to be able to
install/boot/run/backup/restore
any OS from/to eSATA using the external drive dock.
It needs to just work without modifying anything.
If it doesn't, it's useless for the intended purpose.
I need to find a different computer or different external eSATA dock.

It's been very frustrating that linux and win10 both work fine.
The license keys I have are for win7.
It's always something.

I could easily do what I want with two internal SATA drive docks
and a DVD. But I don't have a box that has three front panel slots
and is still short enough to fit the available space.

On 5/3/2018 1:48 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , mike writes:
[]
I've tried it on the dedicated eSATA port and SATA0
Same result.
[]
So it's not just the eSATA that's the problem as stated in the subject?

Problem is win7 with the eSATA (powered) external dock connected to either
SATA0 or eSATA sockets on the motherboard.

Win 7 SATA drive connected directly to either SATA0 or eSATA motherboard
socket WITHOUT
using the external dock works fine.

Windows 10 and linux work fine no matter which of the motherboard
sockets with or without the external eSATA dock.

There seem to be no logical differences between any of the three
motherboard SATA ports. Paul suggests that the port labeled for eSATA
may have higher drive levels.

The subject line is correct.

In message , mike
writes:
On 5/3/2018 1:48 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , mike writes:
[]
I've tried it on the dedicated eSATA port and SATA0
Same result.
[]
So it's not just the eSATA that's the problem as stated in the subject?

Problem is win7 with the eSATA (powered) external dock connected to either
SATA0 or eSATA sockets on the motherboard.

Win 7 SATA drive connected directly to either SATA0 or eSATA motherboard
socket WITHOUT
using the external dock works fine.

Windows 10 and linux work fine no matter which of the motherboard
sockets with or without the external eSATA dock.

There seem to be no logical differences between any of the three
motherboard SATA ports. Paul suggests that the port labeled for eSATA
may have higher drive levels.

The subject line is correct.

But incomplete (-:, as it also won't boot from SATA0 _if_ using the
dock. Will it from SATA1, or isn't there such?

So the problem _combination_ seems to be

o external dock rather than drive connected directly to SATA
o connected to SATA (I think you said it's fine when connected to USB?)
o Windows 7.

Changing ANY one of those three seems to fix it - right?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Whoever decided to limit tagline length to 68 characters can kiss my

mike wrote:

When I boot win7 from the external eSATA, I get the normal BIOS
messages, the initial start of windows 7 with the colored balls
swirling around. Then the balls stop moving. A second or so later,
a reboot. No error messages at all.

And that's because, in the System control panel, you haven't
disabled Automatic Restarts.

If there is a BSOD at startup, the system will attempt to automatically
restart. With the drive plugged into a regular SATA port, bring
that disk back up and disable Automatic Restarts. And then you
should get a 0x7b error indicating "Inaccessible Boot Volume".

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...-experiences-a

The box shown in this diagram should be unticked.

https://msegceporticoprodassets.blob...s/4056019_en_1

All this will succeed in doing, is verifying the problem is the
usage of the wrong driver. It'll still be up to you to figure out
what driver should have been used, and change the "Start" item to 0
on that driver, so the OS actually attempts to use the driver.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\servic es\pciide\Start == 0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\servic es\msahci\Start == 0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\servic es\iaStorV\Start == 0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\servic es\iaStor\Start == 0

The names of those change from OS to OS, so you must verify the details
for yourself in each case of needing to do that.

You could set the drive up such that it boots again without the ESATA,
do the registry changes, shut down, then plug it into the ESATA
and see if it comes up. Once it comes up, you can inspect any
logs for evidence of what the OS decided to do. (On WinXP you'd use
setupapi.log as a source of evidence, but later OSes reduce the utility
of that log.)

At least some web article claimed you could get the OS into the
right state, by making a traversal to Safe Mode to re-arm the
drivers. I've never tried that.

I think I have used re-arm a few times in the past, but haven't
used it recently. Initially, this was a "novelty" compared
to the complete meltdown that such a situation would cause
in WinXP. Fixing a 0x7b on Windows 7 should be a little bit
easier.

Paul