Dual OS / Slave Master Switch

David42 · 05-25-2006, 05:23 PM

Hello everyone

I have quite a problem and I appreciate any help you can give me.
OK -

About a week ago now, I decided to change around my HDDs for space reasons. I had one hard drive sitting inactive in my computer. I only have enough power cables and such to run 2 hard drives.

My HDDs before I changed:
Master: 60gb
Slave: 200gb (a)
Inactive: 200gb (b)

I wanted so 200gb (b) was the master, and 200gb (a) was the slave.
I had some backing up to do from the 60gb drive, so I put the inactive 200gb (b) as the slave.

I installed Windows XP Home on the 200gb (b) drive.
I spent a few days installing drivers and backing up.
After all was working perfectly and everything was backed up, I wanted to make the 200gb (b) the master. I didn't know at that stage that that would be a problem.

So, I changed the jumper settings etc so that it was set up as follows:

Master: 200gb (b)
Slave: 200gb (a)

When I started the computer, it detected the drives correctly and all, but then as soon as it had done that, it automatically goes to prompt 'Boot from CD', immediately followed by "Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk..." etc.

So, I checked BIOS for boot order and all was right. I even took CDrom out of the boot order but it still just tried to Boot from CD.

I then tried the drive on its own, but the same problem occured.
I set it back up again so the 60gb was master and the 200gb (b) was slave and of course it all worked again.

I switched them back to try and fix the problem (after some internet research on boot problems).

The next thing I tried was repair console.
I did 'fixboot' and 'bootcfg /rebuild'.
Neither solved my problem.

I then did a repair installation of Windows XP home to the 200gb drive (when it was set as Master). I thought this would work for sure!
It worked correctly - but then there comes a part of the installation where it says something to the effect of: 'Your computer will now reboot. After the restart, setup will continue."
The problem here was that when my computer rebooted, it automatically went to "boot from CD" and displayed the "DISK BOOT FAILURE" message before setup could continue. I wasn't too worried, because I thought to myself "I'll just switch the drives around, and finish the installation, and then it will work." - So I switched the drives around, and sure enough, my computer booted XP home and continued and succesfully completed the repair installation of Windows XP.

I then installed Service Pack 2 and some programs again which needed reinstallation after the repair install. After I had done that, I restarted the computer, but the same problem happened AGAIN.
I had asked this on another forum but the topic has gone quite dead so I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone could help out or suggest anything

Someone has explained to me how when you install Windows on the slave drive, the Master Boot Record is on the C:/ (I'm probably re-telling his words incorrectly), and so when you make D:/ C:/ by switching it to master, it makes almost 4000 registry entries invalid - or something to that effect!!
His solution was to do the repair install.. but unfortunately that still didn't work!! I was surprised about that actaully.
I'm starting to really run out of ideas!

Let's recap:
Jumper settings are fine
BIOS boot order is fine
Repair install didn't work
Repair console commands "fixboot", "bootcfg /rebuild" didn't work
The drives are fine and all work 100%
Legal Windows copy - fully working

When I post on the forums and things, I'm running the Windows installed on the 200gb drive.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance,
David

way2evil · 05-26-2006, 03:59 PM

take out all the drives except 200gb(b) or unplug them. install windows on 200gb(b) only. then, after installing all drivers plug back in the other 2 drives and let windows detect them. if that dosent work, then i dont know what will

05-25-2006, 05:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
David42 New Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 1	Dual OS / Slave Master Switch - Problems Hello everyone I have quite a problem and I appreciate any help you can give me. OK - About a week ago now, I decided to change around my HDDs for space reasons. I had one hard drive sitting inactive in my computer. I only have enough power cables and such to run 2 hard drives. My HDDs before I changed: Master: 60gb Slave: 200gb (a) Inactive: 200gb (b) I wanted so 200gb (b) was the master, and 200gb (a) was the slave. I had some backing up to do from the 60gb drive, so I put the inactive 200gb (b) as the slave. I installed Windows XP Home on the 200gb (b) drive. I spent a few days installing drivers and backing up. After all was working perfectly and everything was backed up, I wanted to make the 200gb (b) the master. I didn't know at that stage that that would be a problem. So, I changed the jumper settings etc so that it was set up as follows: Master: 200gb (b) Slave: 200gb (a) When I started the computer, it detected the drives correctly and all, but then as soon as it had done that, it automatically goes to prompt 'Boot from CD', immediately followed by "Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk..." etc. So, I checked BIOS for boot order and all was right. I even took CDrom out of the boot order but it still just tried to Boot from CD. I then tried the drive on its own, but the same problem occured. I set it back up again so the 60gb was master and the 200gb (b) was slave and of course it all worked again. I switched them back to try and fix the problem (after some internet research on boot problems). The next thing I tried was repair console. I did 'fixboot' and 'bootcfg /rebuild'. Neither solved my problem. I then did a repair installation of Windows XP home to the 200gb drive (when it was set as Master). I thought this would work for sure! It worked correctly - but then there comes a part of the installation where it says something to the effect of: 'Your computer will now reboot. After the restart, setup will continue." The problem here was that when my computer rebooted, it automatically went to "boot from CD" and displayed the "DISK BOOT FAILURE" message before setup could continue. I wasn't too worried, because I thought to myself "I'll just switch the drives around, and finish the installation, and then it will work." - So I switched the drives around, and sure enough, my computer booted XP home and continued and succesfully completed the repair installation of Windows XP. I then installed Service Pack 2 and some programs again which needed reinstallation after the repair install. After I had done that, I restarted the computer, but the same problem happened AGAIN. I had asked this on another forum but the topic has gone quite dead so I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone could help out or suggest anything Someone has explained to me how when you install Windows on the slave drive, the Master Boot Record is on the C:/ (I'm probably re-telling his words incorrectly), and so when you make D:/ C:/ by switching it to master, it makes almost 4000 registry entries invalid - or something to that effect!! His solution was to do the repair install.. but unfortunately that still didn't work!! I was surprised about that actaully. I'm starting to really run out of ideas! Let's recap: Jumper settings are fine BIOS boot order is fine Repair install didn't work Repair console commands "fixboot", "bootcfg /rebuild" didn't work The drives are fine and all work 100% Legal Windows copy - fully working When I post on the forums and things, I'm running the Windows installed on the 200gb drive. Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance, David

05-26-2006, 03:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
way2evil Platinum Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Safe Mode Posts: 739	take out all the drives except 200gb(b) or unplug them. install windows on 200gb(b) only. then, after installing all drivers plug back in the other 2 drives and let windows detect them. if that dosent work, then i dont know what will __________________ Thermaltake Armor Jr. Gaming Case Enermax EG565P 535 Watt Power Supply Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6600 Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit Asus P5N32-E 2048MB [1024MB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Corsair XMS2 NVIDIA GeForce 7950GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video 320 GB HARD DRIVE x2

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