Boot config

[The Astroman]

Well, I recently added me a SATA 160 GB Maxtor 9, making a total of 240 GB of space available with my current drive. Now, my 80 GB drive has 2 partitions: C and G, Windows is on C. The new hard drive has one partition, H. I configured the Bios to boot up on the 80 GB hard drive, but every single time the same thing happens: I boot, it takes a hell of a lot of time at the screen with the 512 MB ram detected stuff (the one with the bios logo), then an error message with something like "No boot media, please insert boot media and press key to continue." but I HAVE a bootable media, it's my Windows drive. So I reset using the button on the front of my case, and the second time, it miraculously works, and boots on the 80 gig drive, and boots on Windows. A) Can I speed up the first page, which was way quicker before I installed the 2 HDD B) How can I tell the comp always to boot on the 80 gig HDD (the 160 HDD is not even in the boot list in the bios, just the 80 gig one).

 

[mrjack]

Usually when booting up press F11 and the you can choose what to boot from but that usually is for one time only, but you can enter your BIOS (I press F8) and then in some category you can choose how the boot media is searched for i.e. HD1, CD, Floppy etc.

 

[The Astroman]

Yes, I know, but I set the bios ONLY TO BOOT ON the 80 gig drive, nothing else. And most of the time, when I use the boot pop-up, it doesn't show the 80 gig drive.

 

[Byteman]

You'll prob need to modify your boot.ini

open it up, copy the contents of it and post it here..(don't make changes to it yet).

 

[The Astroman]

Here it is (I modified my boot screen, and everytime I boot it asks me if I want to boot using the picture I have for it or the default Windows XP logo... How can I tell it to always boot with the modified boot screen?)

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP dition familiale (bootscreen)" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /KERNEL=kernel1.exe
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP dition familiale" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

My XP is in French

 

[The Astroman]

Anybody?

 

[ghost]

curse them french LOL

what u want to do is....

delete the bottom line of that boot.ini file.
so it was this...

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP dition familiale (bootscreen)" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /KERNEL=kernel1.exe
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP dition familiale" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

to this....

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP dition familiale (bootscreen)" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /KERNEL=kernel1.exe

if that don`t work then it might be a hardware setup fault !

plz reply if this was any help.

steve

 

[The Astroman]

Well, you solved one thing, I am not asked to select boot screen, saves me some time, thanks! But the other question rests unanswered. Remember, the 80 gig is IDE and the 160 SATA... Could it be jumper config on the IDE disk?

 

[ghost]

hmmm, im not to sure on that 1 but i have a few things for you to try...

If there is more than 1 SATA connector on ur mobo refer to your mobo user manual to find out what 1 is SATA1

on my mobo its got them labled SATA1, 2, 3, & 4.
then try putting the HDD to SATA 1.

If that don`t work try putting your IDE HDD in C/S (Cable Select) using the jumpers on the HDD.

If not then try putting your HDD to Slave, if u have a IDE ribbon cable with 3 connectors USE THE MIDDLE ONE FOR SLAVE !

If that don`t work then please post again, cheers

Steve

 

[The Astroman]

The SATA disk is already on SATA1 (it's labeled on mobo), and I'm gonna try swapping jumpers on the IDE disk see if it makes any difference. BTW, the IDE cable which came with my mobo has 2 ends only, one black and one grey, does this make any difference if I put the disk on the black or the grey?

 

[ghost]

thats ok if the IDE cable only has 2 ends, just try swapping the jumpers around and see what happens

 

[The Astroman]

Works like a charm! The first screen loads uber-fast and boots always omn the 80 gig drive after jumper changes. Thanks ghostfacesuk!