Intel Motherboards : Z87E-ITX boot screen frozen after Msa partitioning

Author: parsec
Subject: Z87E-ITX boot screen frozen after Msa partitioning
Posted: 22 Oct 2016 at 11:41pm

Jessie wrote: [URL=][/URL][URL=][/URL]I have a Z87E-ITX that I am using with a Msata drive (Kingston SMS200S3/30G). It was working perfectly until today when I tried to change the Msata drive partition. I haven't changed anything from a hardware perspective (I just boot on a USB stick to partition the Msata drive). Now I cannot go past the BIOS Splash screen, it is frozen. I tried CMOS reset, disconnecting everything (even the RAM) and update BIOS to the latest version (2.5). The BIOS Splash screen remains frozen, except when the Msata drive is connected. The Msata drive was working perfectly before the partition, so I am not sure that it is the culprit. I don't have a spare motherboard to test this Msata drive, so it seems that the next step can only be to RMA the Msata drive and see what happen. Has somebody a better idea ?

You did not say if the PC will boot with the mSATA drive removed from the board, so I can only assume that it doesn't boot at all now.

Your description is confusing, you said you think the mSATA drive has a problem, but the flash screen is frozen if the mSATA drive is connected.

If you remove the mSATA drive, does the PC boot?

I'll describe what I think is happening, but I'm really not sure this is the situation.

When you installed your OS (unknown, is that Windows?), was the mSATA drive connected to the board? Meaning both the OS drive and the mSATA drive were working when you installed your OS?

If that is correct, and you are using Windows, from your description of the problem it sounds like you were caught by a thing that the Windows installation program does.

If there was another drive connected to the board besides the target OS drive when you installed Windows, then Windows will put the System/Boot partition on the other drive, not the target OS drive. That means your PC depends upon both drives to boot Windows.

If the other drive is then formatted again as you said you did to the mSATA drive, then the System/Boot partition that was on the mSATA drive was removed, and Windows will no longer boot.

Can you get into the BIOS, and check the boot order?

If what I described is correct, you can fix your OS installation by booting from your Windows installation media (disk, USB flash drive) and select Repair. That will normally put the System/Boot partition where it belongs, on the OS drive.