Windows stuck in bootloader when caddy is installed

Caledon Ken said:

Maybe I'm stating what has already been stated.

In the screen shots where it shows what Windows is booting it says UEFI but the disk is legacy. Look at post #26. There is no EFI partition. I stand to be corrected, again, but I believe you must have and EFI partition.

Try setting to legacy in BIOS and then repeat steps to see what Windows thinks.

and someone ( or everyone) set me straight on the need for an EFI partition.

I have tried to install caddy with both Legacy and Secure Boot, still the same.

These are my BIOS settings.


After this, I attach my caddy and get stuck at this:

1) For BSOD crashes there are Windows settings that can be modified.
2) In step #10 above another method is to type control in the left lower corner > open control panel > system and security > system > on the left pane click on advanced system settings >
a) under startup and recovery > click settings > post an image of the startup and recovery window into the thread
b) under performance > lick settings > on the performance options window click on the advanced tab > under virtual memory click change > post an image into the thread

3) For Ccleaner uncheck:
a) Memory Dumps
b) Windows log files

4) Chkdsk D: ok CT500MX500SSD1
5) If possible please run chkdsk /r /v and HD Tune on the second drive

Caledon Ken said:

Maybe I'm stating what has already been stated.

In the screen shots where it shows what Windows is booting it says UEFI but the disk is legacy. Look at post #26. There is no EFI partition. I stand to be corrected, again, but I believe you must have and EFI partition.

Try setting to legacy in BIOS and then repeat steps to see what Windows thinks.

and someone ( or everyone) set me straight on the need for an EFI partition.

The screen shot does show a 99mb Healthy EFI partition, hassanyf 's latest screen shot seems correctly set up - the other option left is to try also disable "Secure Boot" in that latest screen shot to see if it boots.

There are web reports of some laptops not booting only with some hard drives in the caddy but working when they are replaced by a different size/make of hard drive and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason for that happening.

Although it is also quite possible as you say that there is some kind of conflict going on!

See if you can open the BIOS using F10.
What are the settings?
Legacy
UEFI Native
UEFI Hybrid
(with or without CSM)

Open administrative command prompt and type or copy and paste:

Code:

bcdedit /enum
bcedit | find "osdevice"
diskpart
list disk
list volume
select disk 0
detail disk
list partition
select partition 1
detail partition
select partition 2
detail partition
select partition 3
detail partition
select partition 4
detail partition
select disk 1
detail disk
list partition
exit

When these have completed > right click on the top bar or title bar of the administrative command prompt box > left click on edit then select all > right click on the top bar again > left click on edit then copy > paste into the thread

slicendice said:

Have you already tried to wipe the HDD in your caddy clean? No partitions, nothing! Then insert the caddy with the clean HDD and enter BIOS to see what it detects. Finally if all is detected correctly, boot into Windows.

OP used MiniTool Partition Wizard to set up that caddy drive, may be he can use the same tool to completely wipe that drive using another PC.

das10 said:

The screen shot does show a 99mb Healthy EFI partition, hassanyf 's latest screen shot seems correctly set up - the other option left is to try also disable "Secure Boot" in that latest screen shot to see if it boots.

There are web reports of some laptops not booting only with some hard drives in the caddy but working when they are replaced by a different size/make of hard drive and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason for that happening.

Although it is also quite possible as you say that there is some kind of conflict going on!

EXACTLY! I just plugged in another HITACHI 320GB HDD in my caddy and it worked. But when I insert another TOSHIBA 1TB HDD in my caddy, it stucks at bootloader.