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General discussion

Boot up problem!

by migr8rx8 Sep 21, 2006 4:40AM PDT

I recently added a new Maxtor 250 GB with a 16 MB cache internal hard drive as a slave to my existing internal WD 250 GB drive which is the master. The master was left as the C: drive and I removed the CD ROM drive to make room for the new Maxtor which was designated as the D: drive.

Now, when I boot up my system, the screen tells me to Control, Alternate, Delete, which restarts the system and then I have to go to F2 to get to the startup BIOS screen. If I choose the "boot system" option, it takes me to the choice of drives to boot and I then have to choose the WD drive and hit enter in order to get my system to boot successfully. I'm not real savy about fooling around with the BIOS, but isn't there something simple that I can do to get my system to boot up normally?

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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Check again Bios
by pascal-var Sep 21, 2006 5:33AM PDT

When you add a second disk normally the Bios does not ask for boot order every time you run the PC.
I have 3 hard disks on my computer and my Bios does not asks about this because it has not an option about this.
Check your Bios if there is an option that every time you run your PC to ask about boot order.
I think that there is an option somewhere in your Bios.
Check it again.

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RE-Check the jumper connections
by acoxon1274 Sep 21, 2006 7:42AM PDT

Make sure the jumpers are in the correct position per the drive's manufacturer. You removed the CD to do this? Are the 2 drives on the same cable, may not be important but, check motherboard manual, you may be going at this with BIOS as problem when your trouble is in the hardwiring. Also check if your new drive needs 40 wire or 80 wire IDE cable and check the drive's manufacture website FAQ section to see if the WD and Maxtor have history of being incompatible. Are the drives partitioned? From what you describe at boot up your system is acting like it wants to be able to dual boot.

I think you need to provide more info, OS, Model number of HDDs and so on.

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Re: Boot up problem!
by Brewsk Sep 21, 2006 8:00AM PDT

Is this a Dell system? If it is let me know. I will tell you how to get to recognize the drive.

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Boot up problem
by migr8rx8 Sep 21, 2006 12:12PM PDT

No, unfortunately, this is a Gateway problem. Thanks anyway!

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