Press F1 to Resume, Why?

Hi All, ............... Just finished formating a hard disk and doing a clean install of WindowsXP Pro SP2 on it. I expected a normal boot, instead I get "Press F1 to Resume" and also the opportunity to click Esc to eliminate the countdown before the actual boot. I have seen this before when I had two drives connected, but now I have only one with the operating system installed on C: Previously, the second drive was a backup and had been produced using XXCLONE. The boot.ini file appears to be normal and since it was produced during the OS installation, I haven't changed it.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


Does anyone have a suggestion as to how the F1 condition can be eliminated? Thank you.

 

Hi, derfsch.

Is there anything displayed on the screen immediately before the "Press F1 to Resume" prompt? If so, please state exactly what it says.

Might also be helpful to know what hardware configuration you have and whether your XP Professional CD is retail or OEM. If this is a laptop, then it may be helpful to know the make and model of the laptop.

I Googled "Press F1 to Resume " and got about 33,000 search results. Specifics requested above might help us narrow down the search.

 

mailman,

I copied by hand everything that appears of the screen but decided to take your word "immediately" as the important part of your first sentence. What appears before the Press F1 .... is:
No IDE Master H.D.D. Detected!
I got used to this term when booting the second disk backed up with XXClone and was content to press F1. Now however, the second disk is not even powered and the main drive has a newly installed OS.

Some of the other points you raise: My system is a desktop, not a laptop. The CD is a retail not an OEM. I've used it in the past to install, repair, etc. to take care of problems and ending up with a normal boot. Hardware: A Lexmark printer and a D-Link wireless modem neither connected during the installation and part of my system for several years.

Thank you for your interest and if the above added anything, let me know.

 

derfsch, The only time I have ever seen that message is when some hardware change was made and the BIOS settings needed to be updated to reflect the change. Normally it tells you to press some key to enter setup or else press F1 to continue.

You should verify that your HD is connected to the plug that is farthest away from the MOBO if it is going to be the only drive on the cable. Then you should enter the BIOS setup and change the CMOS settings to reflect the fact that you have no drive connected to the slave connector on the primary channel, if indeed it is vacant.

If in doubt, return the settings to the default values and see how it goes.

 

Thanks for your additional info.

Since you disconnected your backup HDD, I suspect your currently installed HDD might be connected incorrectly.

Assuming your currently installed HDD is an IDE (PATA) drive,

• it should be connected to the end connector (not the middle connector) on the IDE data cable
  (Also be sure the connector is not connected backwards. Usually, the red colored data line is closest to the power connector on the HDD.)
• and the jumper on the HDD should be on the "Master" pins. ( "Cable Select" might work too.)

While you're at it, be sure all necessary cables and cards in your case are firmly plugged in and your HDD power plug is also plugged in.

A possible solution I have been seeing via Google is to reset the CMOS and/or BIOS. I'll look for detailed instructions about how to do that (if you want them) and post a follow-up.


EDIT: Heh! Hi, surferdude! GMTA!

 

mailman and surferdude2,

Since you are both (GMTA) zeroing in on the same areas, I'll only post one reply. First, let me assure each of you that my configuration conforms to the comments of mailman's second paragraph. The end of the cable is connected to the one active drive. The keyed sockets prevent me from messing up. But also I have no jumper on the HDD pins. When I first asked for information from this board about a Master/Slave setup I was informed that Cable Select was the way to go.

As to BIOS, I rarely go there, and then only to change the boot order. Now however, I took a closer look and some settings that may be significant in the American Megatrends v02.53 BIOS.

Primary IDE Master.......[Not Detected]......(on Main Tab)
Primary IDE Slave.........[Maxtor xxxxxxxx]......(on Main Tab)
Secondary IDE Master...[Lite-On LTR-xxxxxx]......(on Main Tab)

Setup Defaults..........................................(on Exit Tab)

I haven't made any changes here but if you see something that should be changed, please let me know.

 

From what is being detected by the BIOS, it seems that using cable select is not going to work in your particular case. To correct this, place a jumper on the hard drive pins to reflect a Master drive setting.

This happens with some drive/BIOS combinations and is nothing to be overly concerned about. Normally cable select works but it's not a definite guaranteed thing.

 

I looked up derfsch's other threads related to IDE/cabling/jumper settings. Here they are (as I could obviously determine from derfsch's excellent detailed thread topics), for everyone's convenience.

• No IDE Master H.D.D. Detected (5th July 2007)
• Master, Slave and Partitioning (3rd March 2007)
• Motherboard Socket Connections (23rd February 2007)

These excellent detailed thread topics should serve as a model for all thread starters. Thanks, dersch! I would like to include them in my Examples of Good Thread Posts thread (if you don't mind).

dersch,
These threads might also be handy for you to link in any other threads you start that might be IDE/cabling/jumper-related. Therefore, for your convenience, here are handy copy/paste URLs. (The BBS software will automatically create links to the threads when you submit the post.)
==========
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=65834 No IDE Master H.D.D. Detected (5th July 2007)
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=62769 Master, Slave and Partitioning (3rd March 2007)
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=62503 Motherboard Socket Connections (23rd February 2007)
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=67238 Press F1 to Resume, Why? (31st August 2007)
==========

I'm off for some boating. I'll look forward to seeing this issue resolved when I return.

 

surferdude2,

That did it! Once again thank you for helping me. I installed a jumper on the drive in the Master position and the system booted up normally. In my own investigation I came across mention of the Master drive not being detected relative to an Asus mother board. Mine is a an Asus P5PE-VM but I can't blame the motherboard since I did not pursue it further.

Now I have to get information from the backup drive. I know that you have used XXClone, could I prevail on you to briefly describe your Master/Clone relationship if used?

mailman,

Good news! The F1 problem is no more. Thanks to the cooperative efforts of you and surferdude2. Feel free to use any of my postings that you think will be helpful to any of the computer neophytes. Thank you again for your support.

 

Sounds good. All you have to do now is set the jumper on the backup drive to slave and hook it up on the other connector (middle) of the data cable that the master is now on. You should then be able to see it and get any data from it that you like. It will not affect the booting of your master drive.

 

surferdude2,

All is well. I now have the two drives working, one as master and one as slave. Thank you for your helpful inputs.

 

Thanks for posting your update so others can benefit.

I suppose the lesson may be, cable select may not always work properly depending on your particular hardware. Generally it's worth trying but if strange problems crop up, revert to the old fashioned method of using drive jumpers.

All the best,

Dude

 

derfsch,

You're very welcome and thanks for your support!

Glad we got your problem resolved. You clearly described your symptoms and troubleshooting methods and your problem was solved in only 11 posts!

Thanks again for your assistance in my quest to inform newcomers!