[Probook 4540s] Adding a second HDD in the optical drive bay

[anassbennis]

Hello,
I am facing a little problem with my hackintosh, i'll try to explain very well and i hope you can help me.

I have a Probook 4540s. I take out the origianl HDD drive and I installed there a SSD drive.
I succeded to install hackintosh (OS X 10.9.4).
And everything is working perfectly (boot in less than 10 secondes)

But now i want to use the original HDD drive (to use it for data storage or install on it windows on dual boot).

So i bought a HDD caddy to add a second drive in the place of the optical drive.
And when i did this, the probook doesn't boot normally anymore. Sometimes it take 20 to 30 secondes to see the chameleon bootloader. And sometimes it doesn't boot and stucks on this black screen with a bar on the top left (see pictures). And when it stucks, i can do nothing and i have to shut down manually the computer and try to reboot again.





So to sum up :
- with the SSD only : it works fine and boots in less than 10 secondes
- with the SSD + HDD/Caddy on optical drive bay : it's random : 30 seconds to see chameleon bootloader OR sometimes stucks on the black screen.

Of course when i remove the HDD/Caddy from the optical drive bay, everything works fine again.
And the problem is not caused by the caddy, because i ordered a second one from an other seller, and i still face the same problem.

Do have an idea how i can solve this problem. I can do without the second HDD, but i want to use it to have more space for storage or to install windows and have a dual boot.
Thank you

 

[RehabMan]

Hello,
I am facing a little problem with my hackintosh, i'll try to explain very well and i hope you can help me.

I have a Probook 4540s. I take out the origianl HDD drive and I installed there a SSD drive.
I succeded to install hackintosh (OS X 10.9.4).
And everything is working perfectly (boot in less than 10 secondes)

But now i want to use the original HDD drive (to use it for data storage or install on it windows on dual boot).

So i bought a HDD caddy to add a second drive in the place of the optical drive.
And when i did this, the probook doesn't boot normally anymore. Sometimes it take 20 to 30 secondes to see the chameleon bootloader. And sometimes it doesn't boot and stucks on this black screen with a bar on the top left (see pictures). And when it stucks, i can do nothing and i have to shut down manually the computer and try to reboot again.

I think your caddy is not compatible with the 4540s...

Check your caddy to see if it has any small DIP switch(es). If it does try it in a different position... If not, you may have to disconnect/cut a pin or something. I forget the details...

It may also depend on the device you have in the caddy, how large it is and how it is partitioned, etc, but you haven't provided any of that information.

 

[anassbennis]

I think your caddy is not compatible with the 4540s...

Check your caddy to see if it has any small DIP switch(es). If it does try it in a different position... If not, you may have to disconnect/cut a pin or something. I forget the details...

Do you mean this little white switch inside the red cercle in this pic ??


I changed its position, and now it boots more succefly. But somestimes (20% to 30% of my tests) the boot stucks on the black screen.

It may also depend on the device you have in the caddy, how large it is and how it is partitioned, etc, but you haven't provided any of that information.

The drive is a HDD 500Go. I think it's a 7mm because when installed in the caddy i still have a little space (green cercle in the picture)



Do you think i can use this caddy and this HDD to have a second drive ?
My idea is to partition this drive : 60 Go for windows 7 or 8 + 440Go for storage.

 

[RehabMan]

Do you mean this little white switch inside the red cercle in this pic ??

I don't own one of those caddys, but I think that is the switch others were experimenting with.

I use a different caddy... a bit more expensive, but one that was marked as compatible with the 4530s (and is also compatible with the 4540s).

I changed its position, and now it boots more succefly. But somestimes (20% to 30% of my tests) the boot stucks on the black screen.

What blackscreen are you talking about? At what stage of the boot process?

 

[anassbennis]

What blackscreen are you talking about? At what stage of the boot process?

I talked about this black screen in the first post






i made these 3 videos to show this black screen (look also at the little white bar on the top left) :

1- Sometimes (30% of my tests) it boots perfectly and fast :

[video=youtube;bpSJLYME3R8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpSJLYME3R8[/video]



2- Sometimes (40% of my tests) it boots a little slowly :

[video=youtube;wBQ0IFzRk4s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBQ0IFzRk4s[/video]



3- And sometimes (30% of my tests) it doesn't boot and stucks on the black screen :

[video=youtube;2QYYvVIwB1E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QYYvVIwB1E[/video]

 

[RehabMan]

I talked about this black screen in the first post

I wanted to be sure it was the same black screen (pre-bootloader).

i made these 3 videos to show this black screen (look also at the little white bar on the top left) :

Only one works, but I get the idea. It is something related to your devices connected at the time of boot.

 

[anassbennis]

Only one works, but I get the idea. It is something related to your devices connected at the time of boot.

Any idea what to do ?

The HDD drive in the caddy is the one i get with probook from the factory. So 100% compatible.

I bought two caddys, and the result is the same. And i think both are compatible because when the probook boots (video 1 or video 2), i can see hdd drive in "disk utility". I even can format or parition it.

 

[RehabMan]

Any idea what to do ?

The HDD drive in the caddy is the one i get with probook from the factory. So 100% compatible.

I bought two caddys, and the result is the same. And i think both are compatible because when the probook boots (video 1 or video 2), i can see hdd drive in "disk utility". I even can format or parition it.

You'll have to experiment to determine the true cause. Put an empty drive in the caddy, for example. Compare results.

 

[peacefula]

I got HDD Caddy for my pro book 4530s half a year. It works perfect though its china made) Check ur bay connection.