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Thread ID: 45435 2004-05-22 04:44:00 BIOS Settings - Startup Scouse (83) Press F1
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238478 2004-05-22 04:44:00 Hi Folks. Running XP Pro. Some time ago upgraded from 98SE and then later started again with a clean install. My system does not seem to address my floppy while starting up. My lovely (expensive) Ghost boot disks etc go unnoticed. Under 98SE similar disks were clearly identified, so XP Pro has changed by BIOS settings. They currently show:
1st boot device: IDE-0
2nd boot device: floppy
3rd boot device: CD Rom
SMART for hard drives: Enabled
Boot up num-lock: on
Floppy drive seek: disabled.

Is XP Pro happy for me to change the boot device priorities and if so, to what order??? Thanks
Scouse (83)
238479 2004-05-22 04:57:00 all you need to do is change the floppy drive seek to enabled and then if yuo want to boot from the floppy change the 1st boot device to floppy. kevinL (1785)
238480 2004-05-22 07:17:00 what do you mean by "address my floppy while starting up" ? does the floopy drive work at all ?

the floppy seek is not really important (turning it off helps to speed up startup)

for boot order it would be best to have
1st cdrom (because you would use your XP cd to boot from)
2nd ide-0 (tho i could be floppy IF you use any floppy boot disks)
tweak'e (174)
238481 2004-05-22 08:22:00 Hi Kevin and tweak'e.
Yes, the floppy drive works well for normal activities, copying files, etc.
Ghost (and AVG) invited me to make a set of "Bootable System Disks/ Rescue Disks" with Ghost's set including support for USB, LPT and CD/DVD.
They also suggested that the disks could be checked after completion by booting up with them inserted in the floppy drive, from where the system would boot from the floppy, etc. Seemed sensible to check that the system would see the floppy and boot from it. However, the system ignores the floppy and just boots as normal.
The old 98SE system certainly did that with its own emergency boot disk.
Hence the reason for checking order of BIOS settings. Appreciate any further advice or comment. Thanks.
Scouse (83)
238482 2004-05-22 08:33:00 Change 1st to floppy - 2nd to IDE 0, allthough it should not have been altered by installing XP - it does not do anything to the BIOS.
Bye
Peter H (220)
238483 2004-05-22 08:38:00 > changed by BIOS settings. They currently show:
> 1st boot device: IDE-0
> 2nd boot device: floppy
> 3rd boot device: CD Rom
> SMART for hard drives: Enabled
> Boot up num-lock: on
> Floppy drive seek: disabled.
>
> Is XP Pro happy for me to change the boot device
> priorities and if so, to what order??? Thanks

Yep, you can change the order quite freely

I use:-
1st boot : Floppy
2nd boot : CD Rom
3rd boot : IDE 0

So, on boot it checks the floppy, if none try CD, else boot from the HD

Cheers R2
R2x1 (4628)
238484 2004-05-22 08:43:00 Should have added, On boot it checks the drives in the order given, and boots the first OS it finds. Your original (?) setup checked the HD first, found XP, so never looked at the other sources.

Clear now? (Like mud ?)
R2x1 (4628)
238485 2004-05-22 20:46:00 Thanks folks. Help appreciated. All fixed. Sorry for delay in getting back to you. Scouse (83)
238486 2004-05-23 02:49:00 There is no problem with making the floppy the first boot option. If there's no floppy there, it will go down the list until it finds a bootable device.

The main reason for making the floppy last (never found unless there's a disaster) is that when boot sector viruses were "popular", it was much safer to never try to boot from a floppy. Accidents happened. ;-) The first thing to occur when a floppy was there with a boot virus was infection of the hard disk. :_|
Graham L (2)
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