External hard drive causing issues switching pc on

georgiac

I use a Dell pc running windows 10 and have an external hard drive attached. My last hdd was full so I bought a Seagate One Touch to replace it. The hdd is permenantly attached to a usb port as the pc is in an awkward position to get to -under the desk and around a corner!

My pc no longer boots to the home page when I switch it on and gets "stuck" at the Dell logo page.

If I crawl under the desk and unplug the hdd and switch it on again it works fine.

I have always kept the hdd plugged in before so I am not sure what has changed with this one.

Any advice gratefully received, thanks

Neil_Jones

This may be because the computer is trying to boot from it.

Enter the BIOS setup options (usually a key on the screen will tell you what the option is, usually F1, F2, F10, F12 or Del) and there may be a section, "Boot Devices" or "Boot Priority" or similar.  This needs to be whatever the internal drive is and not the USB one.

What is your Dell service tag?  Usually a label somewhere on the main box.  All very well saying its a Dell running 10 but Dell make hundreds of computers.

georgiac

Neil_Jones said:

This may be because the computer is trying to boot from it.

Enter the BIOS setup options (usually a key on the screen will tell you what the option is, usually F1, F2, F10, F12 or Del) and there may be a section, "Boot Devices" or "Boot Priority" or similar.  This needs to be whatever the internal drive is and not the USB one.

What is your Dell service tag?  Usually a label somewhere on the main box.  All very well saying its a Dell running 10 but Dell make hundreds of computers.

Thanks, I will give that a shot. Can't find the service tag without major upheaval so I will attempt it this weekend thanks

Heedtheadvice

....and buy a usb extension?

Not normally a good idea for an external device that you wish to use speedily (a short extension will affect transfer speed of data slightly) but will if extended from PC to an accessible position facilitate your external drive plugging.

.....but then do you not have usb ports on the front of the PC?

Above boot suggestion should be first fix attempt and is likely to sort the problem. It could be your old external drive did not have a boot sector but the new one does. The cable extension will be useful if that is not the issue in the short term till problem resolved and cheap and handy anyway.

[Deleted User]

georgiac said:

Neil_Jones said:

This may be because the computer is trying to boot from it.

Enter the BIOS setup options (usually a key on the screen will tell you what the option is, usually F1, F2, F10, F12 or Del) and there may be a section, "Boot Devices" or "Boot Priority" or similar.  This needs to be whatever the internal drive is and not the USB one.

What is your Dell service tag?  Usually a label somewhere on the main box.  All very well saying its a Dell running 10 but Dell make hundreds of computers.

Thanks, I will give that a shot. Can't find the service tag without major upheaval so I will attempt it this weekend thanks

Dell service Tag is viewable in the BIOS setup screens to save the major upheavel.

Jenni_D

georgiac said:

Neil_Jones said:

This may be because the computer is trying to boot from it.

Enter the BIOS setup options (usually a key on the screen will tell you what the option is, usually F1, F2, F10, F12 or Del) and there may be a section, "Boot Devices" or "Boot Priority" or similar.  This needs to be whatever the internal drive is and not the USB one.

What is your Dell service tag?  Usually a label somewhere on the main box.  All very well saying its a Dell running 10 but Dell make hundreds of computers.

Thanks, I will give that a shot. Can't find the service tag without major upheaval so I will attempt it this weekend thanks

You can also find it using SupportAssist: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk