Boot order delima

[Doomer]

Biostar P4M80-M4 Motherboard.

I'm booting from a Strip set RAID Array hooked to the 2 SATA channels. I also want to hook up a HD to the First IDE channel. The problem is, no matter what I do setting wise, the damn thing tries to boot from the HD hooked to the first IDE channel rather than the raid Array. The Array is set as Boot, I've tried every combo of setting in the BIOS but still it wants to boot from IDE rather than RAID. If I unplug the HD from IDE0, it boots normally from the SATA RAID Array.

Anybody ever run into this and maybe have an answer?

TIA

 

[iscsidude]

Doomer,
I'd try the following. I'm assuming your IDE drive is new and has no data you are trying to protect.

1. Create a very small "primary" partition on the IDE drive. Based on the size of the drive, this will likely be around 7MB.
2. Create an extended partition for the remainder of the available space.
3. Create a logical partition in the extended partition using all the available space.
4. Delete the primary partition.
5. Reboot

If Windoze can't see a primary partition, it moves on and should see your SATA array with a primary partition to boot from.

 

[Doomer]

Thanks, The drive does have info on it but I can move it to another drive. I'll give it a try.

 

[iscsidude]

Good luck.
Of course, if you have access to PartitionMagic via Rescue diskettes the process is pretty painless. Boot from the diskettes and remove any existing partitions. Then proceed through the steps above.

If you don't, I guess it's back to booting from DOS and running FDISK. I haven't tried that option for many years so I'm not sure what limitations would arise. i.e. FAT32 vs. FAT, etc.

Again, this all assumes you back up your data before attempting any of the above.

 

[Doomer]

Since this is NTFS I'm dealing with, I thought I'd run Win XP setup, let it delete the partition and then hook the RAID Array back up and see what happens. If all is well, i'll just make a new partition and format it from within Win XP.

 

[iscsidude]

Okay. If you're able to use XP Setup to accomplish the above you're better than I.

I've been using PartitionMagic for so long I'm not sure of any other options or how to use them. I didn't think Win XP Setup would allow you to create and delete a primary partition while retaining extended and logical partitions on the drive. I learn something new every hour.

 

[Doomer]

Damn, damn, damn. I deleted the partition and the damn thing still wants to boot from it. it seems that no matter what, this stupid MB will boot from a HD hooked up to either IDE0 or IDE1. Since I have the latest BIOS, there seems to be no way around it.

 

[iscsidude]

Are you saying that with no active partition at all on the IDE drive that it still wants to boot from it?

Are you sure the primary partition is gone? I'm using an IDE drive on my ASUS A8N-SLI but boot from a WD Raptor SATA attached. Used to be RAID0 with a second Raptor but found the performance was no different.

Just had to get rid of that primary partition and all is well.
I don't think your MB is the problem. Windoze decides from where to boot. That is unless you have a different boot sequence setup in your BIOS.

 

[Doomer]

Yep, it seems that the RAID is the very last thing it will boot from. I hooked up a external USB HD and the damn thing tried to boot from it even tho it wasn't in the boot order at all.

I've given up. I'm imaging the RAID as I type this, I'm just gonna move the boot partition over to the IDE drive and use the RAID for storage. Not it way I want it but oh well.....