Hi
tl;dr: PC won't boot when an SSD/HDD is connected, I suspect it could be related to previous owner doing overclocking.
I bought a PC-parts-combo (pre-built: motherboard, memory, CPU) secondhand, and then I built the rest of the computer with parts I had at home.
It works fine without an SSD/HDD when booting from a USB-flashdrive, but when I connect a disk to it, it wont even boot, it just shuts down immediately after pressing the power button. When taking out the disk, it boots just fine from the USB-flashdrive again.
The previous owner used the PC-part-combo for testing various graphics cards.
I looked around in the BIOS and when i go to the "MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)" section, i get a warning/error prompt stating "The system has experienced boot failures because of overclocking or changes of voltages. Last settings in this page may not coincide with current H/W states."
So I have a feeling that the previous owner may have overclocked or done some sorts of tweaking.
When looking in the motherboard manual, it states this at the end of a section regarding the (M.I.T): "(Inadequately altering the settings may result in system's
failure to boot. If this occurs, clear the CMOS values and reset the board to default values.)"
So I think maybe the solution is to restore to defaults and then save that, but I would appreciate opinions on this before I go ahead :-)
In the (M.I.T) section in the BIOS there are some options such as:
F5:Previous Values
F6:Fail-safe Defaults
F7:Optimized defaults
Note: I tested with two different new SATA cables
Specs:
MB: Gigabyte P55-USB3
CPU: i7 870
Memory: 4GB
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB
PSU: Corsair RM750x
I haven't tried to reset a BIOS before, so I am not familiar with the process of it.
Is it safe to attempt either (F6:Fail-safe Defaults) or (F7:Optimized defaults) ?
From the motherboard manual: "Inadequately altering the settings may result in system's failure to boot. If this occurs, clear the CMOS values and reset the board to default values."
I'd try optimized then fail sale if that doesn't work
This would certainly be a concern if your computer was booting. Since we're at the point now where it isn't, you can safely disregard that.
I'd probably choose failsafe defaults myself.
You can also reset the CMOS like it recommends. Power the PC off, unplug it from power and peripherals, push the power button a few times to purge the capacitors. Then remove the CMOS battery from the motherboard, press the power button a few more times for good measure, reinsert the CMOS battery, plug in power and peripherals, and boot the PC.
Best of luck!