Acer Aspire 7741G & HDD Caddy (system not booting)

Pleistoros
Pleistoros Member Posts: 2 New User
in 2015 Archives

   I decided to install a SDD in my Laptop and keeping the original hard drive.
(removing the blue ray drive from laptop and installing the Caddy)
After installing the Caddy I discovered that the two hard drives will not work together, the laptop freezes and I cant access the BIOS to identify the status.

   Independently the hard drivers are working fine, as a single drive, either in laptop bay or in caddy.

   After doing some research all is pointing to a Caddy compatibility, but both drivers are working fine if they are used as a single drive installed in that Caddy.

   I still have the original BIOS on the laptop (v1.04), and after reading the info on all new releases (up to  v1.26), there are no specification regarding fixing a problem regarding a second HDD or Caddy bay.
Since there are some problems with flashing other Acer models and I didn't found some relevant data regarding my model, I don't want to do a BIOS update unless is absolute necessary (because the Laptop is working fine and has no problems at all).

   Thanks in advance !

Laptop model : Acer Aspire 7741G - 434G50BN
Caddy model : Akasa AK-OA2SSA-BKV2
Original HDD : WDC WD5000BEVT-22A0RT0 (500GB)
New HDD : Intel SSD 530 series (240GB)

 

Acer 7741G.jpgAK-OA2SSA-BKV2_f00.jpg

Answers

  • Space86
    Space86 Member Posts: 1 New User

    Have you solved the problem as I want to replace my HDD with a SDD and use the optic drive as the old HDD.

  • ewwestsr
    ewwestsr Member Posts: 18 New User

    i replaced my primary 500gb sata with a 1.5tb sata using the hdd caddy and Ghost to transfer files. It worked extremely well, and i am able to use the 500 in the caddy as a secondary drive without any problems.

    What did u use to copy the files from one drive to the other? As u said the drives work well independetly, but if you copied partition to partition, as an image, it may see them drives as exact duplicates and conflicts on the primary drive. In the bios, in the 'boot to' section, make sure the drive at 'port 3' is not listed as a boot device.

     

  • Pleistoros
    Pleistoros Member Posts: 2 New User

    ewwestsr, you don have the same ACER model as mine, your is 7741z, mine is 7741G.

    Since I first started this thread, I tested 3 different Caddy's with the same result.
    Even if I keep my original HDD in and I install a blank one in caddy the system will not boot or start, just a black screen.

    I posted the caddy problem on multiple forums and caddy stores with no solution, even the official ACER support does not have a solution or a pertinent explication for this problem.

    In my opinon is a chipset problem/incompatibility.  (the southbridge)

    For now, I just replaced the 500 GB HDD with a 240 GB SSD and I added an external a 2 GB USB HDD for storage. If this model would have a USB 3, then it would be acceptable, but with an USB 2 ... is still a issue that is bother me (because I need relative high speed storage).

     

    Except that, after more than 5 years of intensively use, mainly as a desktop replacement usually 6-12 hours/day and in many cases continuously for 2-3 days without restart or sleep, this laptop is still performing exceptionally. The only broken things are the internal speakers (after 2 years), and I use external ones or headphones.

     

     All-around is a good piece of hardware and I am very pleased of the price/quality.

    (700 Euro bargain in 2010) Smiley Wink


    For maintenance I clean the dust from fan/radiator (without opening) once every 2 months, and a total dust cleaning every 2 years.

    When used as a desktop I keep him cooled with a Cooler Master U3.
    In the summer is needed active cooling (with the fans powered), but the rest of the time, the aluminium frame is sufficient to keep the laptop temperature under 40C.

     

     

    CM U3 - 1.jpg CM U3 - 2.jpgCM U3 - 3.jpg

     

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