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markmcwiggins

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Sun Fire X2100 often does not boot CD

Sun Fire X2100 doesn't always accept BIOS instructions to boot CD. I change the boot order
to CDROM, then Hard disk, and it tries to boot from the hard drive (hot-swappable SATA)
even when I unplug the drive!

I've tried everything I can think of; is there some non-obvious BIOS setting I'm missing? I'm trying to
install Windows on this thing ...
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Alan Henderson
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markmcwiggins

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Thanks -- why the heck is this necessary? I'd rank this as a hardware bug, or am I missing something?
One possibility is that your CMOS battery is on its last legs and the BIOS lost its settings.
Best to put a new one in before the same thing happens again..
Incidentally, there's probably a jumper on your motherboard for accomplishing the same thing as removing and replacing the battery.
Actually I don't think so ... for one thing I've been doing 'warm boots' without removing power. The BIOS setup screen LOOKS the same from inspection to inspection (even after I remove power by turning off the power strip), so I think the battery is OK.

Looks like some other problem to me, software guy that I am ...
I tried clearing the BIOS again after having the same problem, and this time it didn't work -- still tries to boot from the hard disk despite boot order CDROM, CDROM, CDROM ...

Any other ideas? This is with the 1.7 supplement flashed into the box.
Try reseating the CDROM plugs and/or try a different IDE data cable.
Did you have this question listed in the Hardware Zone?
May be worth relisting there.
Also try a different CD ROM drive if possible.
Is the CD ROM working normally when windows is loaded?
*splut* -- I found it. I had missed the "load optimized defaults" step after flashing the updated BIOS. I did that this morning and got Windows installed with no further problem.

Sorry for the waste of time, everybody!