BIOS isn't following boot order

Tarkan2467

Ok, I have a 12GB IDE drive set as Primary Master with Fedora Core 3 64-bit Linux installed on it. Windows is loaded onto an SATA RAID.

I have the boot order of the BIOS set to check the floppy drive first, CD-ROM drives second, and hard disks last. In the hard drive priority section (I think that's what it's called, can't remember), I have the RAID set as first.

This all works fine except if I have a bootable CD-ROM in one of the optical drives. In this case (take a Windows CD, for instance) it gives the "press any key" prompt, and if I don't hit a key, it SKIPS THE RAID AND BOOTS LINUX! This does not happen if no CD is in the drive; it checks the floppy drive, both CD-ROM drives and then boots off the RAID like it's supposed to. The Linux bootloader is not installed on the MBR, it's installed on the /boot partition of its own drive.

This used to not happen; I had the RAID previously on SATA1 and 2 but those slots on this MB are not locked so I had to switch it to 3 and 4 for overclocking. However, I don't remember this problem occurring with the RAID installed on either set of slots. The RAID itself works fine either way.

I'm currently using BIOS 1.5B1 and experiencing this problem but the latest official 1.4 also has the same problem.

Any ideas?

Stang289 · 12-28-2004, 15:10 | posts: 1,484 | Location: Salem, Va

Can i ask you a simple question, why use raid at all, there is virtually no performance gain for it in real time situations is there, try using them normal before setting up raid to see if raid is the actual culprit.

Tarkan2467 · 12-28-2004, 17:59 | posts: 744 | Location: Illinois, United States

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Articles/RAID/
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/...31,pg,2,00.asp

The performance boost is very significant, at least with 7200rpm drives. With Raptors, the situation may be different as they're already very fast. But I definitely notice a performance gain. Nearly double the speed, to tell you the truth.

So yes, I want to find a way to make this work.

Stang289 · 12-29-2004, 03:04 | posts: 1,484 | Location: Salem, Va

well if its anything like mine when you install windows it asks for raid drivers, it required them to be installed at that time, if you install them after installing windows that could be why they are not working, read your manual that came with the board on how to set it up, mine came with a manual telling me how to set it up...

Tarkan2467 · 12-29-2004, 04:11 | posts: 744 | Location: Illinois, United States

I've been installing the RAID drivers during Windows Setup, it recognizes the RAID just fine but the BIOS doesn't want to execute the boot order properly if a bootable CD is in the drive (most notably, a Windows CD).

I was having some horrible problems earlier with SFC and installing Windows but I just got it fixed a couple hours ago, I posted in another thread about it in Operating Systems. The drivers that shipped with the MB on the floppy didn't like the RAID sitting on slots 3 and 4 and setup would hang each time I tried to install it. I copied the RAID drivers from the nForce 5.10 package (6.14 gives me problems and I didn't want to mess with it, I had enough at the time) to a floppy, used THOSE during the Windows Setup and everything was fine after that. The SFC problem I had was the same thing; it would replace the RAID drivers from the nForce 5.10 package with the outdated ones I'd use during the install on slots 1 and 2 (I'd move the RAID to 3 and 4 after the install). Then when I restarted it went nuts.

Silly boot order still doesn't work perfectly but that might be fixed in a BIOS update, so I'm not worried about it. I can run SFC now and that's what's important.

*continues to rebuild system*