Hey everyone, I recently tried connecting an external hard drive (one I took out from my laptop) to an older PC running Windows. Instead of working, it showed a sad face on a blue screen. I powered off the PC and tried to boot it again without the hard drive, but now it's not showing anything on the screen. The monitor doesn't detect any device, and the fans are getting really loud. Plus, the PC powers on by itself when I plug it in, even when I try turning it off with the button. Did I mess up my PC? What could be wrong?
5 Answers
It sounds like the BIOS might be confused. When you plugged in the external HDD, it could have switched the boot order. Try getting into the BIOS by pressing the F10 or DEL key as soon as you power it on (the exact key varies by motherboard). Check if your original hard drives and SSDs are showing up, and make sure the correct boot device is set. If it’s trying to boot from the external drive, it won’t find an OS and that might be the issue.
I’ve seen instances where no signal can be caused by RAM issues as well. If you've already tried moving the RAM to different slots with no success, it might be worth trying another stick if you have one available or reseating them properly.
Check your BIOS settings to ensure the proper drive is selected to boot from. When you plugged in the external HDD, it might have set USB as the main boot device. That could explain why it won’t start properly now. If you can't access the BIOS due to the no signal issue, there could be a deeper problem with the PC's hardware.
Unfortunately, I can’t access the BIOS because the monitor still isn’t picking up any signal. The PC does power on and I can hear it running.
Another option could be to reset your BIOS directly from the motherboard. Look for the jumper that’s usually indicated in your motherboard manual, and it might help clear whatever lockup happened when you connected that HDD.
You could also try to unplug everything that’s not strictly necessary for booting—like any extra drives or peripherals—and see if the PC can boot to a basic screen. Sometimes a simple reset can resolve these issues.
I tried to enter the BIOS, but the monitor is showing no signal, and the keyboard isn’t responding either.