new MBP Wont boot up when External HD connected

[tim1980]

I have the new MB pro (first time mac buyer). When I plug in my 500GB lacie HD via firewire 800, the mac will NOT boot up to OSX on the mac HD. Instead I get the flashing folder with a question mark. When I unplug the external HD the mac boots up just fine to OSX on the mac HD.

Once my mac is booted up, I am able to plug in the external HD and it is recognized and I can use the HD like normal. My HD is formatted for Mac.

How can I get it so if my external HD is plugged in it will boot up (without a flashing folder) to the OSX on my mac HD?????? Thanks.

 

[chscag]

Does your LaCie HD also have a USB 2.0 port? Use that instead. When your external HD is connected to the MBP via FW800, it assumes it's bootable. Since it's not bootable, you get the flashing folder with the ?.

You should also be able to boot the MBP with the LaCie connected to the FW800 port while holding down the Option key during boot up. Just select the Macintosh HD.

Regards.

 

[tim1980]

thanks for the note... yes it does have USB, however my 2 USB are currently in use (printer and mouse)

Is there a way to program the computer to not try to boot up to the external HD when it is connected via FW800? Having to hold down the Option Key every time is kinda annoying...