Bios and Boot Questions???

[MM7600]

Hello All, I need some help with starting up a new hard drive and loading Windows 7 Pro. Everything is working ok until I get to the boot screen in BIOS. I keep getting the same thing over and over… “Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media….. etc etc”
I set the boot menu in BIOS to boot from the CDROM since that’s where Windows 7 is…
I know it’s just a matter of time before I get it right but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Morgan in San Diego

 

[azanimefan]

Hello All, I need some help with starting up a new hard drive and loading Windows 7 Pro. Everything is working ok until I get to the boot screen in BIOS. I keep getting the same thing over and over… “Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media….. etc etc”
I set the boot menu in BIOS to boot from the CDROM since that’s where Windows 7 is…
I know it’s just a matter of time before I get it right but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Morgan in San Diego

First thought-

you might need to play around with which SATA plug your CDROM is plugged into.

 

[MM7600]

Thanks...

I'll try that in the morning... Appreciate the response! Morgan

 

[MM7600]

Boot Problems/Continued:

Az & Friends, I realize now the nature of the problem but still not quite sure how to proceed. I am learning and have a long way to go but I'm slowly getting there.
Here's a bit more background on my rig. I built up my "off the shelf" HP a6220n just to make it better for he FSX Flight Sim. I changed most everything with the exception of the motherboard. Apparently, my MB has an AMI BIOS chip.

Since graphics were such a big consideration, I picked up a used PNY geForce 9800 GTX for $40.00 and that sucker as you know is very huge. Upon installing it, I found that (PROBLEM AREA) the end of the card tread squarely on the SATA1 & SATA2 ports on the board. Not wanting to abandon my new vid card monster, I moved the 2 connectors (hard drive & CDROM drive) over to ports 5 & 6. So therein lies the problem in that I am attempting to set the "boot drive" to CDROM but have moved the CDROM drive connector wire over and away from port 2 where it is supposed to be.

Here are the questions that come to mind:

1. Do I need to go back into the BIOS setup and change something?
2. Can I even use this vid card or do the drive ports have to stay in 1 & 2?

 

[Robert17]

I don't think moving the SATA connections to other ports is so much the problem. They (5 & 6) may be RAID enabled ports so you may want to move the cables just for grins, or be sure RAID isn't enabled (if it's not). Make sure that you are using the "straight" end of the cable to connect to the MB so you get a best fit. You should be able to set up boot priority in BIOS so that your CD/ROM is first boot, HDD is second boot, etc.

Are you still using the OEM HDD? It may need some clean up if you're installing Win7 as an upgrade over Vista. Not critical to booting, just sayin'. After checking all cable connections you may want to ensure that you haven't bent/broken your other SATA ports that the new graphics card it pressed against. You could wind up with some controller issues if you've damaged a SATA port connector.

Also, make sure in BIOS that you've switched from "onboard graphics" to whatever the terminology is in that BIOS to reflect your PCI-E card; it may say something like "discrete graphics" or "IDE" or "PCI". This will not affect your booting either, just enable your new card.

 

[MM7600]

Response To Robert17: Thanks for your help Robert!

My HDD is a brand new WD WD5000AAKX Caviar Blue 500GB 7200RPM SATA from OutletPC. So it's a clean restart attempt with also brand new Win 7 Pro.

Per the connector, I'll try switching to a different connector cord if the problem persists. (the red SATA wire, not sure what the professional vernacular is for this item?) I have extras just in case the end plugs could be damaged as you suggest. The new vid card covers ports 1 & 2 so they are out of the picture completely!

I'm about to give it another try and from last nights adventures, I recall seeing "PCI" listed as the graphics card which of course, I have PCI-E. I'll follow your directions to see if it needs any setup. From my understanding in setting up a new build, (which this is not but may as well be for our purposes since we have a new HDD and O/S) if you even get to the BIOS setup screen then "your system is working so far per capita, ie: graphics card operational" and you would see nothing on your screen otherwise. OK, here we go again! I know it's just a matter of time before I am in!!! Thanks again to all!!! Morgan in San Diego

 

[S_I_N]

in bios sometimes you also have another setting for boot I.E. one will say boot from cd first hdd second and yadda yadda the other will show a list of actual devices. make sure the cd drive is listed there as first device.

 

[MM7600]

Thanks S_I_N!

Yeah each time I go into that odd little DOS world I find more strange stuff. I understand that I need to tell the system that this time, boot from the cd and then I should have go go back after that and tell it ok, from now on, boot from HDD main! Just not in yet!!! I'll look for that. Thanks again, Morgan