[phillpower2]

The recovery disks if burned correctly would normally give you an almost out of the box new system which is fine if you dont mind installing the missing Windows updates and reinstalling your other software, using the image disks would depend on whether or not they were created before you first had the issue, either way if the problem is with the BIOS chip not recognising a HDD on boot neither will resolve the issue I`m afraid.

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I reinstalled the 1TB HDD and installed windows 7 to it. afterwards, I restarted the machine but it still would not boot without the disc. is the BIOS chip replaceable or is it part of the motherboard?

[gregahoffman]

I reinstalled the 1TB HDD and installed windows 7 to it. afterwards, I restarted the machine but it still would not boot without the disc. is the BIOS chip replaceable or is it part of the motherboard?

[phillpower2]

I reinstalled the 1TB HDD and installed windows 7 to it. 

 

 

Which HDD, original or replacement and what disk/s did you use, the recovery or image disk/s, we need to know as there is nothing to say that your back up media is not bad.

 

is the BIOS chip replaceable or is it part of the motherboard?

 

 

A BIOS chip is replaceable but it is costly and where a notebook computer is concerned nine out of ten times it is not a financially viable option.

[gregahoffman]

I used the replacement HDD and the recovery disks I made when the machine was new.

[phillpower2]

It does not look good for the BIOS chip atm 

 

The only two suggestions that I have left are, boot into the BIOS and select the Fail safe Defaults option and then test and finally, with the main power brick and AC adapter removed from the notebook, press the power on button for at least 20 seconds,, remove the CMOS battery from the MB for around 5 minutes, replace the CMOS battery and AC adapter and then power up the notebook, let us know the outcome. 

[gregahoffman]

same results   ugh  still have to boot from disk

 

guess i'll just have to live with it, comp works great otherwise

[phillpower2]

Sorry that your update is not better news 

 

While not ideal you could try leaving the notebook in sleep/stand by mode so you don't have to load Windows every time.

[gregahoffman]

that's the plan, thanks for your help...we tried

[phillpower2]

You are most welcome and thanks for the follow up 

[gregahoffman]

^{sorry I have not posted any results lately, I have been working 12 hour shifts for the last couple weeks.}

 

^{it seems I plugged the hard drive cable into the wrong port on the motherboard. there are 3 identical ports and I chose the first one, plugged some other cable into the middle one, and the last one is for the second HDD.}

 

^{everything seems fine now except I get the error message at start up that windows desktop manager has stopped working}

 

^{also, now that I have 2 hard drives, how do I make the comp recognize the second hard drive and use that one  for more storage?}

 

^{thanks for your help and patience}

[phillpower2]

Are both HDDs recognised in the BIOS and are you able to boot into Windows, if yes, see below

 

1. Click on the Start button and then choose Control Panel.

2. Click on the System and Security link.

Note: If you're viewing the Large icons or Small icons view of Control Panel, you won't see this link so just click on the Administrative Tools icon and skip to Step 4.

3. In the System and Security window, click on the Administrative Tools heading located near the bottom of the window.

4. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click on the Computer Management icon.

5. When Computer Management opens, click on Disk Management on the left side of the window, located under Storage.

After a brief loading period, Disk Management should now appear on the right side of the Computer Management window.

Note: If you don't see Disk Management listed, you may need to click on the |> icon to the left of the Storage icon.

 

To capture and post a screenshot;

 

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... then after typing in any response you have... click on browse...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on the upload button...then on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.

 

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[gregahoffman]

I used disk management and initialized it, I now have both hard drives working. why do both HDD's show the same space? the primary is 1TB and the secondary is 750GB.

 

also, after I move data I want to save from the secondary to the primary, do I need to format the secondary drive to get rid of the old version of windows and duplicate files?

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[phillpower2]

Remove the 750GB HDD then check for and install any and all important Windows 7 updates to the C: (1TB HDD) then get back to us.

[gregahoffman]

done,  installed 19 important updates

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update 

 

Does the computer now boot up from the new 1TB HDD without any issue.

 

With only the 1TB HDD fitted, run Speccy and post an updated url for us please.