Disabling a 2nd bootable hard drive in a nForce 2 Motherboard

[videobruce]

Details;
nForce2 motherboard (Abit NF7-S V2),
XP Pro w/ sp3 (but I doubt it matters),
IDE hard drives on the same bus,
Non RAID setup,
SATA ports not used,2nd IDE channel has a Optical drive on it.

There is the entry in the Bios to set any of the four IDE devices to "None", but doing so has no affect upon the next boot in the Bios. The drives still show up in the boot screen, so I doubt it's a Windows issue.

I have two bootable drives (1st partition each), and want to isolate one or the other (only on occasion) for different reasons, but I would rather not go through the hassle of opening up the case and pulling th cable(s).

Anyone else have this issue?

 

[videobruce]

No one still has a nForce 2 MB out there?

 

[QuietIce]

Are you setting "None" on the drive screen or the boot screen ...?

 

[videobruce]

Within the Bios. Note the Primary Master screen;

 

[QuietIce]

There isn't a "None" option at the end of that boot device list ...?

 

[videobruce]

??
Look at the 1st screen. None has no effect. So what is it for?

 

[QuietIce]

I quit trying to figure out BIOS programmers a long time ago but there may be other problems depending on how you have the drives configured. For example, I'm not sure that a slave HDD can run without a Master on the same channel. If you have the slave enabled on the same channel it may auto-detect the master, regardless of that setting, because it's required. Have you tried disabling the Master drive without a Slave drive ...?

 

[videobruce]

I have pulled the power connector on the Master w/o changing the jumper(s) with no issue and vice a versa to disable one or the other drive.

 

[QuietIce]

I guess I worded it badly.


Will the Slave drive disable with the "None" option or does it auto-detect and come back as well?

Have you tried "None" on the Master without a working Slave?

 

[CgS Drone]

??? so changing the second boot device from HDD-0 to HDD-1 wont have it boot from the slave drive? If it does not have you tried?
First boot device-CD-ROM
Second boot device-HDD-1
Third boot device-None

Assuming HDD-0 is the Master drive and HDD-1 is the Slave and you are wanting to boot from the Slave.

 

[QuietIce]

??? so changing the second boot device from HDD-0 to HDD-1 wont have it boot from the slave drive? If it does not have you tried?
First boot device-CD-ROM
Second boot device-HDD-1
Third boot device-None

Assuming HDD-0 is the Master drive and HDD-1 is the Slave and you are wanting to boot from the Slave.

I guess I wasn't clear earlier because this is exactly where I was headed with my question:

There isn't a "None" option at the end of that boot device list ...?

Unfortunately, that question wasn't answered.


I guess I'm typing in Greek this morning ...

 

[videobruce]

Will the Slave drive disable with the "None" option or does it auto-detect and come back as well?

Either drive will auto detect when set to "None". I didn't try "Manual", which is the other choice.

Have you tried "None" on the Master without a working Slave?

No.

so changing the second boot device from HDD-0 to HDD-1 wont have it boot from the slave drive?

The HDD-1 is the "Slave" drive and if I choose that it will boot from that drive.

There is no issue selecting a drive to boot from.

I re-flashed the Bios with the same, last update from Abit (2004) to see if that made any difference due to another problem; the Bios is loosing it's settings, going into a un-configured state (for lack of a better term). I have to 'Restore optimum settings" and reset a few settings to restore it (the same situation when you pull the memory battery (which I checked) and re-install it).

 

[CgS Drone]

OK, from the way it was posted I was assuming that you where just having an issue trying to get it to boot from the second drive rather than there being an issue with the bios resetting itself. It sounds like you are looking for a way to disable the motherboard from even seeing the primary drive when it resets itself, I don't see a way of doing that other than disconnecting it physically so it won't see it when it resets itself.

Also have you checked to see if the bios battery is good? if its not and the system is powered down it will cause the system to reset itself when it is powered back up. The battery does not have to be dead even a small drop in voltage will cause it to lose its stored info.

Edit wow I am reading Greek today. I see where you said you checked the battery. Have you tried just replacing the battery to rule it out, or have you tried a different power supply when those things are going they can do some really weird things to a system.

 

[QuietIce]

It's possible the battery is going out - that's a pretty old board.

But unless it's always resetting I doubt that's your "problem" (which is probably normal behavior) with the drives ...

 

[videobruce]

from the way it was posted I was assuming that you where just having an issue trying to get it to boot from the second drive

My orginal & continued issue quoted from my 1st post:

I have two bootable drives (1st partition each), and want to isolate one or the other (only on occasion)

It's possible the battery is going out

Which was the 1st thing I checked per my last post;

the same situation when you pull the memory battery (which I checked) and re-install it).

I only brought up this new issue since it was the reason I re-flashed the Bios. I haven't checked either issue, wanting to wait a day to see if the Bios lost it's settings again before I changed the battery.

 

[CgS Drone]

VB you where posting as I was editing my last post so you may not have seen it. I would try replacing the battery since it is cheap. I have only had to replace a battery on a couple systems over the last 15 years or so and when it was going it was doing weird things to the system. If that does not work do you have a spare power supply that you know is good that you can try? when a power supply is going out they can drive you crazy trying to find out what is wrong with a system and they can do some really strange things to a system.

If both of those don't solve the issue then you got me other than the motherboard has something failing and if that is the case I would start backing everything up because you are looking at losing your data if she goes south on you.

 

[QuietIce]

I have two bootable drives (1st partition each), and want to isolate one or the other (only on occasion)

I think the communications problem here is what you mean by "isolate".

Does that mean you don't want it visible to the OS or you don't want it on the boot menu? Since you mentioned they were both boot drives your meaning is unclear.

You may be able to isolate one drive from the OS by moving it to the secondary IDE channel by itself where you can (most likely) disable it in BIOS by turning off the channel (or switching it to SATA, which should accomplish the same thing). I doubt there's any way to be able to turn off both drives (as is one or the other) while keeping your IDE optical drive at all times ...

 

[videobruce]

It sounds like you are looking for a way to disable the motherboard from even seeing the primary drive when it resets itself

All I need is for the O/S not to see it.

Have you tried just replacing the battery to rule it out, or have you tried a different power supply when those things are going they can do some really weird things to a system.

I have a replacement cell, but haven't replaced it yet purposely. I just re-flashed the Bios and last check (off for 24 hours), the box booted ok, the Bios didn't reset. I'm thinking the Bios got corrupted (which has happened on another MB, but different scenario). I also thought of the PS, but that would be a 2nd last resort only to the MB itself.

I think the communications problem here is what you mean by "isolate".
Does that mean you don't want it visible to the OS or you don't want it on the boot menu?

Sorry for the confusion, I assumed by setting it to "None" it would not be visible to the MB until you set it back. That wouldn't matter if it was visable as long as the O/S didn't see it which is all I wanted.

 

[videobruce]

This deal with the Bios resetting just started to happen. His HDD died (6 1/2 years old) and I replaced that with two new drives plus added memory, hence the original question.

BTW, the caps on the MB look good (it's not Epox ).

 

[QuietIce]

I guess I still have a question, which I should have asked sooner. Do you have the HDDs set up as Master and Slave on their individual jumpers? Or are you using the CS (cable select) option? If you're using CS you might try rearranging the cables so you have one HDD on the secondary channel by itself, the optical drive as the primary Master, and the other HDD as the primary Slave - with all the jumpers set as either Master or Slave. Not 100% sure it would work that way (though I'm pretty sure you could isolate the lone drive) but it's the best shot I can think of for getting it to work ...