Boot failure only with secondary HDD installed?

[Hookster264]

I have been running a new build for about 2 weeks. [components are in signature].
I tried installing a secondary HDD. It's just a standard WD 1Tb 7200rpm HDD.

With the WD HDD connected to power and SATA cable, my computer will stall at boot up right at the Windows 7 screen when the four colors converge and "pulse" as the Windows logo.

If I disconnect the power and SATA to the WD HDD, the computer will boot to windows fine. I tried this several times.

Any ideas?
Could it be the SATA3 cable connected to the WD HDD?
Do I need to format the HDD first somehow?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[PP Mguire]

Is AHCI enabled? Was it enabled during Windows install? Make sure your OS drive is set as the boot drive.

 

[carnageX]

Try formatting the drive first. Use GParted:
http://www.techist.com/forums/f128/gparted-usage-tutorial-224994/