Aspire A515-46 lap top loses secondary drive. Must enter and leave BIOS to have the drive recognized

gjpc
gjpc Member Posts: 4 New User

Sometimes when Windows 11 boots I cannot see the secondary drive.

In order to get the drive back in this PC I must enter the BIOS and go to the page that enables the drives.

Both drives are already enabled, all I do is hit F10 and boot and the secondary drive (drive D) is there.

Anyone have a solution for this?

Best Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    Open Control Panel. Search 'button'. Click 'change what the power buttons do' in the left pane. Click 'change settings that are currently unavailable' near top of next pane. Scroll down and uncheck box for fast startup. Save settings. Shut down Windows normally. Test for disappearance again. If D : \ still disappears from FileExplore, see if it's present in DiskManager by running diskmgmt.msc.

    Jack E/NJ

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    edited November 2022 Answer ✓

    Yes, they both seem show up in the BIOS Information tab after entering the BIOS or rebooting. Then simply pressing F10 to save settings and exit makes D reappear. It's just that on a cold boot without entering the BIOS, the secondary drive is often missing. Re-entering the BIOS and pressing F10 makes it reappear.

    Aside from putting the RTC cell on the back burner for now, I suspect that either the secondary drive isn't responding fast enough to the speedy BIOS POST routine or the usual Windows hibernation fast boot bugginess. I lean toward the latter. We'll see how it goes.

    Jack E/NJ

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer

    Yes, this usually means that the BIOS memory CR2032 lithium coin cell output (aka CMOS or RTC battery) has dropped to less than 3.1volts. Needs to be replaced. For your inconvenience, the bottom cover, battery pack and SSD card if so equipped must removed in order to change this $3 part. Good luck.




    Jack E/NJ

  • gjpc
    gjpc Member Posts: 4 New User
    edited November 2022

    Seems unlikely, the laptop is less than 2 months old. Those batteries last for years. Besides, I don't change any settings, just enter the bios look and leave.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    Open Control Panel. Search 'button'. Click 'change what the power buttons do' in the left pane. Click 'change settings that are currently unavailable' near top of next pane. Scroll down and uncheck box for fast startup. Save settings. Shut down Windows normally. Test for disappearance again. If D : \ still disappears from FileExplore, see if it's present in DiskManager by running diskmgmt.msc.

    Jack E/NJ

  • gjpc
    gjpc Member Posts: 4 New User

    Hi JackE, This looks promising. The D drive did not use to go away every time but starting up after your recommended setting change did have the D drive appear after a power down. I'll mark your suggestion as an answer and come back to this thread if the case of the disappearing D drive re-appears

    😀

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer

    OK. Thanks for reporting back. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. 🙂

    Jack E/NJ

  • If the problem reoccurs, check that both drives are showing up in the bios info tab.

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer
    edited November 2022 Answer ✓

    Yes, they both seem show up in the BIOS Information tab after entering the BIOS or rebooting. Then simply pressing F10 to save settings and exit makes D reappear. It's just that on a cold boot without entering the BIOS, the secondary drive is often missing. Re-entering the BIOS and pressing F10 makes it reappear.

    Aside from putting the RTC cell on the back burner for now, I suspect that either the secondary drive isn't responding fast enough to the speedy BIOS POST routine or the usual Windows hibernation fast boot bugginess. I lean toward the latter. We'll see how it goes.

    Jack E/NJ

  • gjpc
    gjpc Member Posts: 4 New User

    More data:

    It looks like it is the hibernation bugginess. This morning I woke the machine up after a few days of sleeping without the power plugged in and the D drive was gone.

    This time I simply performed a windows shutdown, waited a bit, still without the power plug, and started the machine allowing the full boot without entering the BIOS. Once cold booted directly into windows 11 the D drive was accessible.

    So I'll give your Nov 28 suggestion a yes vote too.

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,869 Trailblazer

    Good. Thanks for reporting back on this. 🙂

    Jack E/NJ