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Seagate USB drive always makes Gigabyte laptop boot twice

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2K views 36 replies 3 participants last post by  Macboatmaster 
#1 ·
I realise this is a very specific issue indeed, and also kind of a '1st world' issue... but I'd like to know what's causing my Gigabyte P57Xv7 laptop to boot twice, every time whenever my 4TB Seagate Backup Plus USB3.0 drive is connected to it. Here are the salient points:
  • The first boot doesn't even make it to the spinning Windows circle, it only gets to the initial Gigabyte screen, then after a few seconds it reboots.
  • It's not the same type of double boot that occurs whenever you first plug in a new USB device (which I assume is for the BIOS to enumerate the new device?) - those boots are much shorter than this one.
  • It only boots twice when the boot is from a shutdown state. Not when it's a Windows 10 restart.
  • However I doubt it's a Windows issue, as it happens even when I disable Windows Boot Manager in BIOS (which makes the laptop boot straight into BIOS instead of loading Windows 10)
  • I've tried various BIOS settings (like enabling/disabling USB Legacy Support)
  • I've also tried various Windows settings (like disabling Hibernation and playing with various Power settings)
  • The Seagate drive is not a boot drive, and there are no hidden/system files in the root directory. Its file system in NTFS.
  • The drive has passed all of Seagate's tests via its SeaTools program.
  • While I don't have an awful lot of other hardware to play with, I can tell you that 1) the Seagate does not cause another older laptop to do the same thing; and 2) another different model Seagate USB3.0 drive does not cause the Gigabyte to boot twice.
Both units are under warranty. Neither Seagate nor Gigabyte tech support have been able to trace the cause. Gigabyte were less than helpful but Seagate has very kindly offered to replace the drive, and says that if the new one does the same thing then it must be the laptop. Despite the offer, I am reluctant to accept it because it would be replaced with a refurbished drive, and for all I know that may end up having more issues than this, and also I'm having some trouble backing up the contents of the Seagate to my NAS storage anyway.

The Seagate is drive W: in the info below. The other two drives are both logical drives of an SSD. Everything is NTFS.

Thanks for any suggestions for any further troubleshooting I may be able to perform!

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.4
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 9
Processor Count: 8
RAM: 32618 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070, -1 Mb
Hard Drives: C: 157 GB (67 GB Free); D: 295 GB (185 GB Free); W: 3725 GB (1434 GB Free);
Motherboard: GIGABYTE, P57V7
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled and Updated
 
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#3 ·
Yes, it's an SSD which contains volumes C: & D:, and C: is the primary boot device.
There's also an HDD, volume H: - it probably didn't show up in the System Info as it's BitLocker encrypted, anyway that's not a boot device, and it's the only encrypted volume.
 
#5 · (Edited)
However I doubt it's a Windows issue, as it happens even when I disable Windows Boot Manager in BIOS (which makes the laptop boot straight into BIOS instead of loading Windows 10)
That is as it should be, as Windows Boot Manager is the boot device for UEFI
UEFI/GPT must boot from a FAT partition, so after POST control is handed from there to the FAT partition, which is the unlettered partition on the drive format FAT32 which contains the boot manager, then control is handed to the BCD to complete the loading of Windows.

However to return to the actual problem it is probably unconnected with USB legacy support, that is to allow USB devices such as mouse and keyboard to operate in BIOS and at POST and is not required on a laptop, although occasionally if that is enabled the system tries to load the external hard drive, as a usb legacy device.

1. Check if boot from USB device is first boot option in firmware, by that I mean above the hard drive entry, as if it is there is a chance that the system tries to boot from the USB cannot do so and then reboots to check the next boot device.

2. If that Seagate Plus came with the USB 3.o to USB type C adapter try fitting that and connecting to USB C of which your laptop has one such port.

3. If still no good or you do not have the adapter try disabling fast start - not that this would be a solution, really, but just to test,.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Thanks very much for your assistance with this. I can confirm that it's the same whether USB legacy support is enabled or disabled.

1. I don't see the option in firmware to boot from the Seagate USB drive. Could this be because it doesn't contain a boot partition?
'Boot Option Priorities' only gives me two choices:
"Windows Boot Manager (LITEON CX2-8B512" (which is the SSD); and "Disabled" (which boots into the UEFI interface instead of Windows)

2. The Seagate only came with one cable, but that's a good suggestion, so I will get a USB3.0 to Type C adaptor and see if that makes a difference! Presumably this would do the job: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/15cm-US...ing-Data-Cable-Converter-Adapter/283172731008
(I prefer the idea of one which incorporates a cable like this, since presumably it would place less physical strain on the USB-C port in the long-term than a simple chunky adaptor)

3. I disabled Fast Start-Up some time ago because it hardly made any difference. With it disabled, the laptop boots to the Windows login screen in 21 secs, which is plenty fast. (Takes about 44 secs with the external drive connected)
 
#7 ·
Cheers
As you appreciate all firmware interfaces are slightly different and I could not find on the Gigabyte site any instructions in the manual for firmware setup
On many UEFI firmware interfaces . you can set USB as the first boot option and Windows Boot Manager as the second boot option OR you can set for instance DVD as the first option, USB as the second and then Windows Boot Manager
That as you say does not appear to be the case in this instance

THIS is NOT necessarily your UEFI interface, but if yours offers the option having enabled fast boot then I would try disabling usb devices until windows loads as in bold

Fast Boot
Enables or disables Fast Boot to shorten the OS boot process.
USB Support Disabled All USB devices are disabled before the OS boot process completes
Full Initial All USB devices are functional in the operating system and during the POST.
Partial Initial Part of the USB devices are disabled before the OS boot process completes. (Default)
This item is configurable only when Fast Boot is set to Enabled. This item is disabled when Fast Boot is set to Ultra Fast.
 
#13 ·
What are the options on the Seagate - currently set Auto
I cannot see on your screenshot what is shown on the right pane
I can see there is the word Auto and the word enable

ALSO on the first screenshot of your last post - This you may remember is what I referred to on my post 7

Yours is currently set FULL INITIAL:
USB Support Disabled All USB devices are disabled before the OS boot process completes
Full Initial All USB devices are functional in the operating system and during the POST.
Partial Initial Part of the USB devices are disabled before the OS boot process completes. (Default)
I suggest you try setting USB Support as Partial Initial save and exit - reboot and see if problem still occurs.
If it does set USB Disable - save and exit and check if problem still occurs.
 
#8 ·
Thanks, but I definitely can't see any of those options in my UEFI settings. It's quite a sparse firmware interface. Even the option to boot from an optical disc doesn't appear in the UEFI unless a bootable disc is detected in the drive. So I would imagine that if the USB drive were bootable, it would then appear in the menu as well.

I have however had some success in the meantime. I enabled a UEFI setting "Restore WIN7 Defaults" (The laptop is of course running Win10). This made another option appear on the boot page - instead of "OS Type" being just "UEFI OS" without any other option, an option became available to change this to "Legacy OS" - and doing this seems to have fixed the issue. I tried several cold boots with that setting on "Legacy OS" and then putting it back to "UEFI OS", and there were no double boots when it was set to Legacy OS. The boot process was however a tad longer (almost 30 secs instead of 21 secs).

Obviously I don't know why there is the Restore WIN7 Defaults (and also a Restore WIN8.1/10 Defaults) option as well as the usual simple 'Restore Defaults' and what effects these may have on overall performance...
Computer Personal computer Font Display device Gadget
Computer Font Personal computer Screenshot Technology
 
#9 ·
I am sure you will appreciate that without some information from Gigabyte on the UEFI firmware GUI setup for your laptop I cannot really advise you and I doubt anyone else can either.
I consider it IMHO quite disgraceful that Gigabyte on a laptop of that expense, provide no information on UEFI setup in the user manual

It cannot possibly be correct to enable legacy OS in the firmware
The Windows 7 defaults will I am sure be simply the default firmware settings for 7
As you say restore defaults

Your screenshot does not show any Fast boot options, so with that enabled after returning to UEFI boot - I have no way of knowing what options are then shown
What is shown please on hard drive BBS priorities
 
#10 ·
I agree, the lack of documentation is woeful.
OK, I have enabled Fast Start-up in Win 10, but this did not make any additional Fast boot options appear in the firmware. There are however some differences between the Boot screen options dependent on whether Legacy OS or UEFI OS is selected.
The following screenshots are all with "WIN7 Defaults" loaded, since that is the only option which allows for Legacy OS.
I also compared with "WIN 8.1/10 Defaults" and the screens were identical to the UEFI OS screenshots below except that there was no option to select Legacy OS in the first screenshot.

Firstly with UEFI OS:
1) This is UEFI OS main Boot page (with OS Type selected)
There is only one boot option available - the LITEON is the boot SSD.
There is no Hard Drive BBS Priorities page in this mode.
Personal computer Computer Font Screenshot Multimedia


2) This is UEFI OS main Boot page (with Boot Option 1 selected)
"Disabled" boots into the firmware instead of the SSD.
Computer Personal computer Font Screenshot Display device


Now with Legacy OS:
3) This the the Legacy OS main Boot page
Now we have an option to boot from the optical drive, even though there is no disc in it - but still no option to boot from the USB drive.
And now we have a Hard Drive BBS Priorities page too.
Font Screenshot Multimedia Software Number


4) And this is the Hard Drive BBS Priorities page
The "P2 HGST" option is the internal 1TB HDD - not sure why this appears as a boot option as it has no boot sector
Computer Personal computer Font Display device Multimedia
 
#11 ·
I was actually referring to fast boot in Firmware set up NOT fast start within Windows- as I mentioned
THIS is NOT necessarily your UEFI interface, but if yours offers the option having enabled fast boot then I would try disabling usb devices until windows loads as in bold
However it appears you do not have that facility in your setup
What is on the advanced tab

You definitely do not want to leave your firmware - legacy OS
One of the main reasons is that by doing so you lessen your security provided by the UEFI - Early Launch Anti-Malware ability

I think depending on what is shown in the advanced tab - you are unlikely to solve it -
What hidden files are on the root of the drive - I know you say there are no system files

Disconnect the Seagate drive
Connect a USB flash pen and see if the same problem occurs.
Just as a matter of interest to ascertain if it is any USB device
 
#12 ·
OK, I've set it back to optimised defaults (labeled as 'Restore Defaults').
Not sure what the difference is between "Optimised" and "WIN8.1/10" defaults, but the WIN7 and WIN8.1/10 options result in an immediate reboot, whereas the the regular default option doesn't. I mention this because after setting optimised defaults and then going to the Boot page before rebooting, this menu appears, which appears to allow more control over USB support:
Font Personal computer Computer Software Electronic device

However after the reboot, those options no longer appear.

There are no hidden files on the root drive of the USB, only these hidden folders:
$RECYCLE.BIN
Config.Msi
System Volume Information

I tried 6 x USB sticks and a different USB hard drive, none of them cause the same behaviour. (Some of those caused what I would call a micro-reboot (not a technical term) whereby the laptop immediately reboots after pressing the power button, literally after less than half a second, not even time for the fan to spin, and I assume this is normal behaviour as the firmware detects a new device and updates itself).

Here is the Advanced tab:
Computer Font Display device Gadget Electronic device


And here is the expanded USB Configuration page:
Computer Font Personal computer Display device Electronic device


Let me know if you need any of the other Advanced pages expanded.
In the meantime I've ordered a USB3.0 to USB3.1 adaptor cable, which will take at least a week to arrive.
 
#14 ·
The options for the Seagate are:
Auto
Floppy
Forced FDD
Hard Disk
CD-ROM
As well as Auto, I have previously tried Hard Disk, with no difference.

The problem with the USB menu on the Boot tab is that that menu only appears after selecting "Restore Defaults" on the Save & Exit page (to which the confirmation prompt is "Load Optimized Defaults?") Selecting Yes sets all firmware parameters to their default states, but does not automatically reboot. If prior to rebooting you then navigate to the Boot tab, that's the only time you'll see that USB menu. After the reboot, it's gone, and to make it re-appear, you again need to load optimized defaults.

Anyway I did this twice as you suggest, firstly selecting Partial Initial, then Disabled, but no change in behaviour.

[This is probably unimportant but I'll mention it here anyway as I've just noticed how this works: When you select "Load WIN8.1/10 Defaults" or "Load WIN7 Defaults" it reboots immediately without waiting for a Save Changes & Reset. I knew this before, but what I've just noticed is that those options do not reset all firmware parameters to their default states. Presumably it only makes certain changes, eg. it did not change my first boot option back to Windows Boot Manager. It left it disabled, which is where I had set it to do the above tests.]

Here are better screenshots of the Advanced... USB Configuration page:
Firstly with Mass Storage Device highlighted
Computer Personal computer Font Display device Multimedia


And with Legacy USB Support highlighted
Computer Personal computer Font Display device Electronic device
 
#15 ·
Is the Seagate connected direct to a USB port or to a USB hub connected to the port
 
#17 ·
I surrender
Unfortunately I cannot decide the cause or suggest anything else to try
In view of this
The first boot doesn't even make it to the spinning Windows circle, it only gets to the initial Gigabyte screen, then after a few seconds it reboots.
There is unlikely to be anything of relevance recorded in event viewer as of course that is only applicable to an event - once windows load has commenced

I can only recommend that you connect AFTER windows has loaded

Sorry I cannot solve it for you - I take some comfort from the fact that Seagate failed as well - but only a small amount.
 
#18 ·
No need for apologies and I always appreciate your thorough approach! But don't give up just yet, because...

Your last question gave me an idea: I'd never even considered connecting it via a hub, mainly because I only have a USB2.0 hub. But I thought, what the heck, let's see what happens if I do - and wouldn't you know it, voila, the drive only boots once when connected to the hub - I even tried with Legacy USB set to on, and it still worked. The boot time is 6 seconds longer than without the drive connected, but I imagine this is to be expected as the system probably waits for it to reach full speed before it knows whether there's a boot sector or not?

Obviously this solution isn't optimal due to the USB2.0 hub speed but it gives me hope that the issue may stay away if I were to get a USB3.0 hub. Better still, I still have that USB3.0 to Type-C adaptor on its way (your idea!) which could arrive within a week if I'm lucky, so I'll hold fire and see if that fixes it.

So that's all we need to do here for the time being, but before taking a break till it arrives and I report back, I'd like your opinion on what I should do if neither the Type-C adaptor or the USB3.0 hub works, because as I mentioned at the start, Seagate has generously offered to replace the drive under warranty, but it would be replaced with a "factory repaired product" which is "tested to meet Seagate specifications".

Logically, as with everything and everyone, a used product is closer to its end-of life than a new product - and something which meets specifications today is less likely to meet specifications tomorrow, next week, next month... so swapping my used product (which currently meets Seagate specifications, according to their SeaTools diagnostic) for someone else's used product is taking a gamble on which used product is older or has had more cycles - ie. I may end up with a drive which still has the same issue, and could be closer to its end-of-life than my current one - so I'm inclined to stick with the devil I know. What do you think?
 
#19 ·
I would not exchange the drive
I do not think it is anything to do with the drive itself - in respect of something wrong with it.
Is the hub simply a single usb to 4 port hub or the like or is it a powered hub either with a Y cable using one usb for power and one for data OR externally powered
 
#20 ·
This one is externally powered via a plug-pack in the wall. I noticed that when I first attached the drive to it, it started spinning even though the laptop was off. But it powers down normally when I switch the laptop off. I assume that was because of the external power.

I do have one of the cheap unpowered ones in a box somewhere which I don't use - would be interesting to see what happens with that one, but that test will need to wait for the morning (I'm in Australia)...
 
#21 ·
I do not think that will help
I was thinking that the drive may not be getting power from the USB socket on boot - quick enough for windows boot manager to take over with that drive connected
That MAY have been the problem especially now we know the hub is powered

Good luck Let me know how it goes with the adapter to the USB C

Good Country to live in - been there twice
Wife has relatives in Aus.
 
#22 ·
I've been waiting to reply until the adaptor arrived...
OK, so the unpowered USB hub was no good - the drive booted twice with it.

But the adaptor arrived today, and - *fanfare*... it works! Tested a few boots and timed them at 24 seconds to the Windows logon screen, which is only 3 seconds longer than without the drive connected.
I'd have to call this a great outcome, and the outlay was only AU$3.95 for the adaptor :D

As ever, thank you very much Macboatmaster for your assistance, ideas and tenacity. This was a tricky one!

As for the cause - and as for why this particular solution works - I expect we can only really speculate?
 
#23 ·
Cheers
Good result

Pleased to have helped
My guess is that the boot could not configure the drive quickly enough on the original port for control to then be handed to the Windows boot manager
Whereas it does using the powered hub or the C adapter

Mark it solved please when you are ready
click mark solved on your opening post

As I said on post 21 - I like Aus - been just twice to Perth and Dunsborough and Sydney
 
#25 ·
Cheers I was there in 2002 - did the bridge climb and had dinner in the revolving restaurant.
Nice waterfront I remember and a good day out to the Blue Mountains area.
Good to have worked with you again
 
#27 ·
Yes it was great and we were lucky enough to see why they were called the Blue Mountains
Although early afternoon it cleared and the weather was great.
 
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