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XP pro and SATA - problems booting reliably

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by invalid char, 2006/04/18.

  1. 2006/04/18
    invalid char

    invalid char Inactive Thread Starter

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    I am running XP Pro SP2 (32 bit), on a DFI nforce4 board with athlon 64 dual core and AMD driver. latest Award BIOS. 3 drive system, all SATA. 1 WD 7200 rpm SATA boot drive and 2 maxtor 5200 rpm SATA drives. this is my first system with no ide drives as i made the move to sata totally with this new box.

    The os installed fine, and all cpu/gpu/etc drivers installed fresh from the web so are up to date. all microsoft patches applied per auto-update.

    Net net - i have freshly re-installed XP several times, the same problem persists: the system does not seem to "like" the WD drive. when i boot, the BIOS screen goes by, then the windows logo and moving green dots pop up for 3 sec, then bsod. (this tells me that it found the drive long enough to run something, but not very long...)
    HOWEVER IF i hit ESC while booting and manually select the WD boot drive, then all is well and the system boots fine! I have tried to move the drives around the sata slots with no apparent good effect (except that once i mixed up the drives, the system would not boot at all!! I had to put them back in their original positions to get a live system back.
    it really does not like the drives to be moved around. wierd behavior for 'hot-plug' sata, no??)

    boot.ini says:
    [boot loader]
    timeout=10
    default=C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT
    [operating systems]
    C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT= "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer

    it may be impt to note that the mobo drive controller has the traditional ide drives numbered 0 and 1 with sata numbered from 2-5.... so of course i cannot have the sata boot drive as logical device 0. so i have it as 2. (does this/should this make any difference??)

    I have my CD ROM in the IDE as logical drive 0, but BIOS has been told that the WD drive in 2 is the boot device, followed by the CD and then the fdd..

    I have reset CMOS, swapped memory, and reinstalled the OS several times.

    Help!!
     
    invalid char,
    #1
  2. 2006/04/18
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    According to your Boot.ini it is trying to load the Recovery Console as your default operating system.

    When you get the system to boot to Windows, go to System Properties (Start > Control Panel > System) and select the Advanced tab. Press the Settings button under Startup and Recovery, press the Edit button under System Startup.

    Edit to look like:
    PHP:
    [boot loader]
    timeout=10
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTOUT /USEPMTIMER


    If it still crashes, Follow these instructions to post a Dump Data Log.
     
    Arie,
    #2


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  4. 2006/04/18
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni

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    Try running chkdsk /r on your WD hdd.
     
    rsinfo,
    #3
  5. 2006/04/18
    invalid char

    invalid char Inactive Thread Starter

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    a bit confused..

    Thanks for the tips. Disk is fresh and checkdisk found no errors.

    Thanks Ari for the pointer - I am however still a bit confused. The Dr. Watson utility must be run after boot or during the boot process (i.e. from autoexec.bat) it seems, and I don't get that far. Since it just hangs after initiating the windows boot, the blue screen dump is not applicable.
    Are there other utilities that I need?
    How can I initiate a boot log that will record exactly what is happening from the time that BIOS hands off to the boot loader?

    Also, as a separate question, where can one find out the syntax for the drive locator in the boot.ini text... i.e. multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" blah blah blah

    I really don't understand this and I'd like to understand what the multi and disk and rdisk param's mean and why it's not part (0) not (1), etc...

    Thanks again..
     
    invalid char,
    #4
  6. 2006/04/18
    invalid char

    invalid char Inactive Thread Starter

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    update

    since my last reply, i found basic info on boot.ini in the microsoft library, but it doesn't mention sata as a drive type, only (scsi and multi) - how is sata recognized?

    also many of the switches I have in my boot.ini are not shown which tells me that this is old or incomplete data.

    I have set sos and bootlog on so hopefully this will assist me as well.

    lastly, what should default= be set to?
     
    invalid char,
    #5
  7. 2006/04/18
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    The multi(x) parameter is used to set the disk controller number, where x=0,1,2,... . The multi(x) parameter is always followed by disk(0); unless using a SCSI controller without the BIOS enabled.

    The "rdisk(n)" parameter is for the HDD drive number, where n=0,1,2,... depending upon which physical drive the Windows drive is in your system. The "partition(p)" parameter is the partition holding Windows on the drive, where p=1,2,3,...


    If you can boot to the recovery console (or boot off the Windows XP CD & select "Repair" after starting the setup), you could also try to run these command: Bootcfg /Rebuild

    This will scan your hard drive, looking for valid Windows installations and startup information.

    More Info on Bootcfg here
     
    Arie,
    #6
  8. 2006/04/18
    invalid char

    invalid char Inactive Thread Starter

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    thx Ari -

    i can easily get to the drive, because i can boot it fine **if I select it using the ESC at boot time** ..
    the problem is that it doesn't want to to boot on its own. i think the prob may be the boot.ini settings but i don't understand them well enough to know how they "track" when a sata drive is moved from channel to channel and to know where the boot partition is currently residing at.

    i know from experience that moving the boot drive to another channel screws things up but don't know what parameter to modify in the boot.ini file to accomodate this.

    also, what's should the line DEFAULT = be set to?

    thx
     
    invalid char,
    #7
  9. 2006/04/18
    sparrow

    sparrow Inactive

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    My sata motherboard (Asus a8v) connections are numbered 0,1,2...etc. and the BIOS tries to boot the drive on 0 unless you can point it elsewhere. I found it simplest to put the boot drive on 0 (it had been on 1) and repair reinstall XP from the CD. Previously had to call up the window like you do and choose the disk to boot.
     
    Last edited: 2006/04/19
    sparrow,
    #8
  10. 2006/04/18
    invalid char

    invalid char Inactive Thread Starter

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    actually the board is numbered 1,2,3,4 but the BIOS POST numbers them 0,1,2,3 (IDE) then 4,5,6,7 SATA, and the 4,5,6,7 do NOT 1:1 correspond to the physical connectors (i.e. logical drive 4 is physical connector 2).
    I am thinking that the board tries to boot from logical drives 0-3 first and gets confused if it does not find a boot sector there.
    I of course have the BIOS set to boot from the SATA drive on which I have the OS loaded, but it seems to ignore that, or at least be confused unless I use the ESC key to specifically point to the boot drive at boot time.
    Hummmmm..............
     
    invalid char,
    #9
  11. 2006/04/18
    invalid char

    invalid char Inactive Thread Starter

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    invalid char,
    #10
  12. 2006/04/19
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    use the Bootcfg /Rebuild command to have Windows this sort out for you...
     
    Arie,
    #11
  13. 2006/04/19
    sparrow

    sparrow Inactive

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    Spent some time in recovery console trying to learn what you suggest, Arie, but too stupid to be successful. Even read everything .MicroSoft said about editing boot.ini etc. Hoped to save invalid char some time by reporting on the experience. Repair reinstall takes half hour or so, and preserves settings, installed programs, etc. :D.

    invalid char, the important info is what the BIOS labels the connectors. What the MoBo, manual or anything else calls them is irrelevant.
     
    Last edited: 2006/04/19
    sparrow,
    #12
  14. 2006/04/19
    invalid char

    invalid char Inactive Thread Starter

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    thanks guys - rebuild did it Ari. much appreciate Sparrow's time to look into this too. glad he shares my frustration :D

    FYI - i ran across an old but very interesting thread which includes a post from McTavish. His idea of having a zillion clones ready to step in at a moment's notice is not a bad one.

    http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=49990&page=4

    cheers
     
    invalid char,
    #13

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