ehundrieser
asked on
HD as Primary or Secondary Drive
A HP Pavilion (6653C) BIOS shows HD as Secondary drive. CD-ROM as Primary. Is this correct? I pressed F10 to get Default setup and that's what it shows. The PC rebooted, but not past the HP screen, at which point I pressed ESC and was presented with a Boot order screen. I selected the HD. Now PC boots to HD ok. In Windows Explorer the CD-ROM drive used to show up as the "M" drive. Now it shows "D."
Some of HP's not so helpful info says that the HD is the Primary drive. Hence my question.
Windows Me, 256 MB RAM
TIA
Some of HP's not so helpful info says that the HD is the Primary drive. Hence my question.
Windows Me, 256 MB RAM
TIA
ASKER
In PhoenixBIOS Setup the "Boot Device Priory is as follows:
+Removable Devices
Legacy Floppy Drives
ATAPI CD-ROM
+Hard Drive
WDC WD153AA-(SM)
Bootable Add-in Cards
Network Boot
BIOS Boot Menu
1. Removable Ddevices
2. ATAPI CD-ROM
3. Hard Drive
4. Network Boot
I did change the function of the PC to Network, even though it's not connected to any other computers -- other than a DSL Internet connection.
+Removable Devices
Legacy Floppy Drives
ATAPI CD-ROM
+Hard Drive
WDC WD153AA-(SM)
Bootable Add-in Cards
Network Boot
BIOS Boot Menu
1. Removable Ddevices
2. ATAPI CD-ROM
3. Hard Drive
4. Network Boot
I did change the function of the PC to Network, even though it's not connected to any other computers -- other than a DSL Internet connection.
This shows that the computer will attempt to boot from the removable devices first, if those fail, then it will attempt to boot from Legacy floppy drives, if those fail, then CD ROM, if that fails.... etc etc etc.
This doesn't have anything to do with the setup of the drives on the system.
(In this scenario, it is still quite possible for your system to have the HD as Primary Master, and CD-ROM as either Primary slave, Secondary Master, or secondary slave.)
:o)
Bartender_1
This doesn't have anything to do with the setup of the drives on the system.
(In this scenario, it is still quite possible for your system to have the HD as Primary Master, and CD-ROM as either Primary slave, Secondary Master, or secondary slave.)
:o)
Bartender_1
You should have an area in your BIOS that shows something along the lines of the following:
Primary Master (Could also be listed as Primary IDE 0, or First IDE Device, etc) which should show as your HD,
Primary Slave (Or Second IDE 0, second IDE device etc)
Secondary Master (primary IDE 1, third IDE device etc)
Secondary slave (secondary IDE 1, fourth IDE device etc)
This area will tell you how the drives actually are setup on your system. Look for your Hard drive listing, and it should tell you where it is on your computer. Post the exact wording of the listing here, and I'll be able to tell you exactly what is connected to where on your system (for drives anyway.).
:o)
Bartender_1
Primary Master (Could also be listed as Primary IDE 0, or First IDE Device, etc) which should show as your HD,
Primary Slave (Or Second IDE 0, second IDE device etc)
Secondary Master (primary IDE 1, third IDE device etc)
Secondary slave (secondary IDE 1, fourth IDE device etc)
This area will tell you how the drives actually are setup on your system. Look for your Hard drive listing, and it should tell you where it is on your computer. Post the exact wording of the listing here, and I'll be able to tell you exactly what is connected to where on your system (for drives anyway.).
:o)
Bartender_1
ASKER
System Time:
System Date:
Language:
Legacy Diskette A: [1.44 Mb 3½]
Primary Master [CD-W54E-(SM)]
Primary Slave [None]
Secondary Master [WDC WD153AA-(SM)]
Secondary Slave [None]
System Date:
Language:
Legacy Diskette A: [1.44 Mb 3½]
Primary Master [CD-W54E-(SM)]
Primary Slave [None]
Secondary Master [WDC WD153AA-(SM)]
Secondary Slave [None]
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Bartender_1: Your fine advice solved this issue. It was, as you suggested, having to switch the cables to the other channel. I had previously tried it, but to no avail. It didn't work previously because I hadn't yet discovered that you can ESC from the HP BIOS screen and select the boot device from the Boot Menu. Sounds confusing? It is :)
Now when I switched the cables, I went straight into BIOS, checked the setup, F10'd to save changes, automatically rebooted into the blue HP BIOS screen, pressed ESC, selected HDD, rebooted into Windows Me. Even the CD-ROM drive shows up as as before (drive 'M'). Back to BIOS to double check settings and PROBLEM SOLVED.
My greatful thanks to you.
Erik
Now when I switched the cables, I went straight into BIOS, checked the setup, F10'd to save changes, automatically rebooted into the blue HP BIOS screen, pressed ESC, selected HDD, rebooted into Windows Me. Even the CD-ROM drive shows up as as before (drive 'M'). Back to BIOS to double check settings and PROBLEM SOLVED.
My greatful thanks to you.
Erik
Glad I was able to assist.
Cheers!
:o)
Bartender_!
Cheers!
:o)
Bartender_!
In all PC's I've seen, the HD had to be on the primary master in order to function correctly. This may be different with ME (I refused to work with ME after about 2 months of difficulties with it, so haven't really gotten to know it). The only other thing I can think of that you may be seeing is the boot order which could be set to boot from CD before the HD (If there isn't a bootable CD, then it automatically jumps to the next bootable device in line, the HD)
:o)
Bartender_1