Boot up sequence in BIOS

[andsome]

In my advanced BIOS settings, the boot up sequences are as follows.

First boot Device HDD 0

Seond Boot device HDD 1

Third Floppy

Boot other device Enabled

Swap Floppy device Disabled

Boot up floppy seek Enabled

Boot up from CD Rom is NOT on offer. Any observations please?

[CurlyWhirly]

I think that every BIOS is different but in my BIOS using the 'page up' and 'page down' keys bring up different options which you can then select as your boot-up device.

[AlanHo]

I have an ASUS motherboard with an American Trends BIOS.

The BIOS opening screen shows the following tabs :_

Main

Advanced

Power

Boot

Ext

Clicking on "Boot" reveals the following options :-

Boot device priority

Hard disc drives

Removable drives

CD ROM drives

My boot device priority is set to

DVD RAM

HDD 1

Floppy drive

If I click on Hard disc drives it shows my 4 hard drives (" internal 2 external)

If I click on CD ROM drives it shows my DVD Burner and my DVD read only drives.

Are you able to "see" all your drives under the various headings before setting the required priorites. I vaguely recall my BIOS priorites changing on their own after a power outage and havingto re-set them. I had the same problem as you because the DVD RAM drive did not appear in the options list until I messed about with the other tabs and "Found" it somehow.

Sorry if this is a bit garbled but my memory aint what it was.

[rong]

I would have thought it would be better to have your HDD with XP or what ever you use first, as this would mean XP or what ever you use would be booting straight off.

[Boris]

andsome

What bios is it ?

AMI

Phoenix-Award

[andsome]

All my boot up options are as above. When I start up the computer tells me it is checking DMI Pool Data. The last time that I reinstalled Windows, CD Rom was an option, and of course I had to use that to format and install. After install I could not of course use CD Rom as I did not want to leave the disk in permanently, so I set that further down the list and made HDD 0 the first option. Now CD Rom is no longer there as an option.

By the way. OS is XP Home SP2.

[Boris]

If you want to, you can leave CD-ROM as the first boot option.

It'll slow down the boot fractionally though.

It will just search for a bootable CD first each time and if not finding one will then boot from the second option (H/D)

[andsome]

If you want to, you can leave CD-ROM as the first boot option.

It'll slow down the boot fractionally though.

It will just search for a bootable CD first each time and if not finding one will then boot from the second option (H/D)

The point is that CD Rom is no longer an option on offer, it has disappeared somewhere along the way.

andsome

What bios is it ?

AMI

Phoenix-Award

Phoenix.

[AlanHo]

The reason for selecting the CD ROM as the first boot option is to allow you to boot from an emergency CD if Windows gets corrupted.

Andsome - are you not able to find your CD drive mentioned in any of the BIOS options ?

[andsome]

The reason for selecting the CD ROM as the first boot option is to allow you to boot from an emergency CD if Windows gets corrupted.

Andsome - are you not able to find your CD drive mentioned in any of the BIOS options ?

The options offered are exactly as listed. CD Rom was there because I used it when I last reinstalled Windows some months ago. It has now GONE, so I no longer have an option to reinstall Windows if I want to. I will look at any more answers later. Just going out to take 'Er indoors to see King Kong.

[rong]

The reason for selecting the CD ROM as the first boot option is to allow you to boot from an emergency CD if Windows gets corrupted.

Andsome - are you not able to find your CD drive mentioned in any of the BIOS options ?

You then go first into bious and change it

[mark2]

If you select / highlight 1st boot device using the arrow keys then use the page up / page down keys do the options for that selection change ?

[andsome]

Many thanks Mark, problem solved. I had simply used up and down arrows, and CD Rom was not there. Found it using page up/down.

[mark2]

I think that every BIOS is different but in my BIOS using the 'page up' and 'page down' keys bring up different options which you can then select as your boot-up device.

It was CW's post that I spotted and realised perhaps you had missed/misread initially.

Glad it's sorted.

Are you looking to a format / reinstall to speed up/clean up things. If so have you got everything important saved / accessible ?

[andsome]

My reason for the post is that when I get time I may do another reinstall. My computer seems to be running very well in the main at present in most respects. However I am getting one or two problems on this forum which seem to be affecting mainly me, and only occasionally other people. I have posted about these problems, but no solutions have come forward so far. I have used the forum for a long time now and have taken advantage of it's facilities, which are now suddenly giving me problems. A typical case is posting in a different font, with bold, coloured fonts, underlining etc. I have NEVER had problems doing this correctly in the past. Another new one is not being able to use the little globe above, to post a link. I now have to copy and paste a URL. All minor irritations, but they cause me to think that there may be a possibility that something is going wrong at my end. What do you think? I don't really want to go to the trouble, but if I do have problems, better to sort it sooner rather than later.

PS. I had misread C W's post. I confused page up and down with the up and down arrows. I don't need to use either very frequently. SORRY C W.

[-pops-]

I'm all for doing re-install occasionally. After a time your computer necessarily gets loaded with all sorts of bits and bobs that would be better not being there and that are almost impossible to find using conventional cleaning software. In addition, there are programs that you don't need any longer and remnants of old programs, long ago removed, affecting other programs and loads of things like that.

Additionally, if you are to make regular Acronis backups, you are far better off starting with a clean system and be able to ensure that your backup procedure works effectively without too much loss of anything important.

I have a rule:

Before installing any new program, think about it for a few days beforehand. More often than not, after a short consideration, you wonder why you ever wanted to install it in the first place.

I also have this adage:

Keep it clean, keep it lean.

I'm sure you know all the things you need to do and collect together before you do a re-install, andsome but, might be an idea just to note it down.

[andsome]

Sound advice thanks. Before I do anything though I need to get Acronis sorted out. I can get so far but have not as yet got it to actually install a back up that I have done. The furthest that I have got so far is it telling me to reboot, but even that fails at the last hurdle as the next box at the end is greyed out, even with the Acronis rescue disk in the drive. Mt next try will be to set the computer to boot from CD and try installing a back up in this mode. I am also wondering if I did the correct thing in installing the Acronis program onto my main drive C, and wondering if it would be better installed on the new plug in drive where I have saved the back up.

[-pops-]

Install the Acronis program on to your C drive but write the image (backup) to your external or other drive.

[andsome]

Install the Acronis program on to your C drive but write the image (backup) to your external or other drive.

That's how it is at present, but the back up will not install even after rebooting and trying to install from the Acronis boot up window. This why I want to set the computer to boot from CD and try again with Acronis rescue disk in the drive.

[-pops-]

That is the way to do it, andsome. Your machine should be set to boot from CD and then the Acronis rescue disk is inserted, machine rebooted and it will then load the drivers and things necessary to access the backup files. It takes a few seconds to do this then a blue screen comes up (NOT a BSOD) asking where the backup image is located - it gives you a list of possibilities. You tell it where and which backup to want to restore (if you have more than one) and then the whole thing whirs into action. In about 20 minutes or so everything is back to what it was that time you did the backup you have restored. :)

[andsome]

Got it at at last thanks. I will now check that I have everything that I want on CD or floppy, and then seriously consider a reinstall of Windows. Hopefully this will settle once and for all whether there are problems on the forum or my computer.

[andsome]

Many thanks again to those who helped. Windows reinstalled and updated. Nod32 and Zone alarm installed. When I get a chance soon I will do a few tests and see whether my computer has been at fault, or whether there are indeed problems on the forum. One more Acronis question. I will reinstall it again tomorrow and take an image. If in future I click on incremental images, will the program simply update the image already saved or will it save the updates separately?

[-pops-]

Your first Acronis image MUST be a full one. You then make incremental images for as long as you want or until the disk is full.

I use the Acronis Secure Zone and put about ten or twelve incremental backups on before starting with a new full backup. You still keep the original and you can choose that or any one of the increments. When the secure zone is full, make a new full image and the earliest one, with its increments, will be deleted.

[andsome]

So an incremental one doesn't add to the original?

[-pops-]

The incremental backup will record changes to your system made since that last time you did a backup, either full or incremental.

If you need to install from the backup it will seek out the fundamentals (O/S, programs etc) from the full backup and then add from the incremental you have selected.

It's much more complicated than that in reality but, it gives you an idea.

If you have a full backup and several incremental ones you can select which (if any) of the incremental ones you want or just the full one. So, if you find you've accidentally backed up an increment with a virus in it, you can ignore that, restore from an earlier one and then destroy the old "virussed" one. You do, of course, have to begin again with a new full backup but, that's no hardship in those circumstances. I've done that on other machines a couple of times.