Multiboot problem after install a SATA HD

Hello,

Because it seems to be more a Windows XP problem than a hardware's one,
I put my post at Windows XP area ...
The actual configuration of my computer is:

IDE 1 - PATA 80 GB 7200 RPM - Primary Master, where I have :
3 OS installed on primary FAT32 partitions and an extended partition with 3 logical FAT32 partitions.

Win XP Pro | Win XP Pro SP2 | Win98SE | D E F


IDE 2 - my CD-RW & DVD-RW

A few days ago I added a new HD to my system:
SATA 2 320 GB 7200 RPM - here I have only an extended partition with 4
logical partitions.

I use for a long time PQ Boot32, which I consider to be the best boot manager, because it's a stand alone executable; I run it only when I want to to switch from an OS to another. The OSs are completly independent and MBR
is not modified in any way ... as I said, I guess it's the best boot manager.

After having SATA installed with the necessary drivers in each OS, my
boot manager began to see SATA as 1 st HD ... but there are only non bootable logical partition, so I cannot use it anymore
This is true only for XP systems; Win 98 and DOS can see my prim master
as before. Please look here

I don't understand why Win XP has fallen in love with SATA, which is mere
a storage HD ...
Can anybody help me to get my dear PQ Boot 32 back to work with XP ?

 

I think your problem will be in the BIOS. Check for which hdd is the first boot device, it needs to be the IDE hdd not the sata even if the sata in non bootable. For 98/dos it would not matter but XP I think looks at the bios for hdd boot order and that info seems to be passed to PQ. Could try reinstalling PQ with correct info.

BTYI guess it's the best boot manager) to each his own. ( MBR
is not modified in any way ) the MPT's boot partition flag is modified.

 

Hello again,

Thank you TopFarmer for your quick answer. I was a little slower, because of weekend and also because I've made a few experiments with my computer. Well, now I'm even more confused than before...
Taking your advice, I went in BIOS and was searching everywhere, looking for some SATA settings. There is only one setting for SATA in Boot menu ... Here you can see what I see.
Now, there is no mention of my SATA hard drive in BIOS. But the disk is recognized by DOS, Win 98 and also XP and works fine.
I've made a few "uninstall" and "reinstall" of SATA drivers in XP and every time after "uninstall" I've got PQBoot32 back to work. After "reinstall" it stopped working again.
Now, I believe that Win XP is the culprit and maybe a very smart program can switch the
actual HDD configuration. I also believe it's a Registry matter.
If you have some new ideea, please let me know.

best regards,
Stefan

 

I can not be of much help. My comp is not sata capable, nor do I use your boot manager.

More info could be useful if some one else cares to jump in with advice.
1) motherboard make/model or comp's ?

It does look line you are using a very old version of PQBoot32 , I have an old copy version 8, yours is version 2. Version 8 does write some code to the MBR and is the first thing one sees. From your problem it appears that PQ must be loaded onto each OS. Can not read my manual to try to determine how Ver.2 works, its total different.