Re: What is wrong with WindowsXP CD?
- From: "Anando [MS-MVP]" <anando@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2006 02:45:49 -0400
When XP boots from the CD it apparently must in some way query the BIOS
for the presence of a bootable XP partition. If it finds one and you FAIL
to strike any key during a few second window of opportunity, it will
automatically bypass itself (the CD..) and boot the HDD instead.
When you boot from the Windows XP setup CD, you are not actually booting
into XP, you are just booting into the Windows XP Setup program. The boot
device priority is actually maintained in the CMOS chip on the motherboard
and this information is read by the BIOS during the bootup process and code
control is transferred accordingly. The bootloader on the Windows XP CD is
designed to prompt the user since a CD might be accidentally left into the
CD drive and on a subsequent reboot, the user should have a choice to boot
into the CD drive or not.
I am *guessing* that if there are no active partitions on the fixed boot
device, the CD might directly boot into the setup program without prompting.
Not sure though.
--
Anando
Microsoft MVP- Windows Shell/User
Microsoft Certified Professional
http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
http://www.mvps.org
Folder customizations
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"Marshall" <dead@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:qM0Wg.5449$F87.2995@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Marshall wrote:
Shenan Stanley wrote:
Marshall wrote:
Every bootable CD (from another OS or utility disk, etc) I place
in my CD drive WORKS FINE.
I have two genuine XP pro disks and both of them produce the same
result. The system scans the CD drive and then tells me to hit any to
continue booting from the CD.
Only the WindowsXP disks produce that prompt AND nothing happens when I
do as instructed. No key struck produces a response.
I'm going to keep fiddling around with boot order arrangement in
the BIOS setup and probing around the Knowledge Base but this is
damn bizarre considering that the problem ONLY happens with
XP...
Must be a feature...
Type of keyboard? Any KVM involved? BIOS setup for Legacy USB devices?
Hardwired keyboard, no KVM. I will redo BIOS setup to not support USB
devices as a test.
Thank you
Follow up:
OK, here is the deal. When I first tried this I had in the BIOS setup
intentionally disabled my RAID array as I had planed to over write it
with a dual boot scheme. So effectively in that state there is no OS to
be seen as the striped array was made no longer accessible. Only raw
unformatted drives as far as any OS should be concerned.
That was the first step leading to the confusion.
When XP boots from the CD it apparently must in some way query the BIOS
for the presence of a bootable XP partition. If it finds one and you
FAIL to strike any key during a few second window of opportunity, it
will automatically bypass itself (the CD..) and boot the HDD instead.
This is what I consider being user second guessed by Microsoft
engineers. I had the WindowsXP CD in the drive intentionally with the
expectation to boot from it.
By disabling the array and failing to strike any key during the CD boot
sequence in that few second window, it locks the user out from doing
anything (unless you reboot and catch the key strike/prompt during that
few second window). I am guessing that this is because it still sees the
MBR or some sort of boot flag but yet is not able to access the now
nonexistent array.
(The exact method of how this happens might be slightly off as I did not
test a few other permutations but that is the essence of the confusion.)
I am done with this problem for now but as a boot design scheme I
dislike being second guessed and having my time wasted.
Thanks for the fast replies and attempts to help. Those are always
sincerely appreciated.
Marshall
.
- References:
- What is wrong with WindowsXP CD?
- From: Marshall
- Re: What is wrong with WindowsXP CD?
- From: Shenan Stanley
- Re: What is wrong with WindowsXP CD?
- From: Marshall
- Re: What is wrong with WindowsXP CD?
- From: Marshall
- What is wrong with WindowsXP CD?
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