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Secondary drive not in BIOS Boot sequence


KCav

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I am running Windows 7 and have a secondary, internal drive installed on my notebook. I would like to install a Boot Manager on the secondary drive and need it to appear as an option in the BIOS Boot sequence. It is not showing up. The secondary drive is visible in Windows Explorer as drive D, and it can be seen as active and online by Computer Manager. I am able read, write, copy and delete files on the drive, yet it is not listed as an option in BIOS Boot Priority list. I wonder why?

 

In Windows Explorer when I right click on Drive D, and scroll down and click on Properties, on the Hardware tab it says, “SMI ATA Device…Disk Drive. Under Location 0 (Chanel 0 Target 0, Lun 0). Device status: The device is working properly. The same information can be found in Computer Management, under Storage for Disk 1. However in Device Manager an Error is reported . I don’t know if this error is the SMI ATA Device or not, but under Other Devices – Mass Storage Controller under Properties, on the General tab, it says Location: PCI bus 7, device 1, function 2, “The drivers for this device are not installed; Code 28.” Then I clicked on the Update driver button and it said, “No driver files are required.” If that is so why Code 28? If this Mass Storage Device is not the secondary hard drive, what might it be?

 

Can somebody help me determine what information I need, and where to find it in order to determine why the SMI ATA drive is not in the boot sequence options.

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I cannot advise on the Code 28 issue.

 

I can advise that some weeks ago my BIOS suddenly stopped Booting my SSD even though it was detected and bootable.

During Power-up stabbing at the F8 function key gave me the Boot Selection Screen,

which allowed me to choose any removable media / Flash Drive or any fixed device and boot from my choice, and that allowed me to Boot the SSD ( till the next time.)

 

During Power-up stabbing at the DEL key gave me control of the BIOS settings and I clicked on the BOOT menu

and like you, my SSD was NOT an option in the Boot Priority sub-menu, no matter what or how hard I clicked.

BUT there was also another sub-menu with a name like "Hard Drives",

and the SSD was not shown there but clicking on things (now forgotten) in that area I was able to resurrect the SSD into that group,

after which another reboot and DEL took me back to Boot Priority and the SSD was still absent - but now I was able to resurrect the SSD and give it top priority.

 

I believe the problem arose because I followed "good practice" and erased my SSD before restoring a partition image backup,

and although this previously caused no problems,

this time when booting into my Boot Flash Drive Image Restore tool, the BIOS saw that the SSD was no more and chose to declare it Removable and unfit for Boot Priority.

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Allan_B - "some weeks ago my BIOS suddenly stopped Booting my SSD even though it was detected and bootable."

 

It seems unnatural events can cause conflicts that disrupt normall activities, and that type of thing is what happened to you and is what I am now experiencing. Thank you for sharing your experience with me.

 

KC

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I believe the problem arose because I followed "good practice" and erased my SSD before restoring a partition image backup,

and although this previously caused no problems, this time when booting into my Boot Flash Drive Image Restore tool, the BIOS saw that the SSD was no more and chose to declare it Removable and unfit for Boot Priority.

 

Possible causes of this:

 

1) Partition/drive boot flag is missing/corrupted, & or the active status is incorrect.

2) Newer BIOS can boot a PC from power on so fast, the drive has barely spun up (much less initialize) & the drive may be skipped.

3) If you have other connected drives with bootable OS/Flag/active partitions, BIOS may get confused & attempt to boot from wrong device, causing problems.

4) Bug or flaw in older BIOS.

 

If 1 is the problem, you can install via your installation DVD instead of doing a partition "restore". Backup anything important before beginning.

If 2 is the problem, you can set the BIOS to have an extended POST & ensure your drive priority is correct.

If 3 is the problem, you can disconnect extra drives to prevent problems. Use external drive bays after the OS has loaded instead of loading with the OS.

if 4 is the problem, you can update to the latest BIOS for your model, being certain you are on battery backup protection before beginning.

 

There are other possibilities.

 

What I really wonder, is if the way you do things has interfered with the normal boot flag/bootable drive or partition?

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Possible causes of this:

 

1) Partition/drive boot flag is missing/corrupted, & or the active status is incorrect.

2) Newer BIOS can boot a PC from power on so fast, the drive has barely spun up (much less initialize) & the drive may be skipped.

3) If you have other connected drives with bootable OS/Flag/active partitions, BIOS may get confused & attempt to boot from wrong device, causing problems.

4) Bug or flaw in older BIOS.

 

If 1 is the problem, you can install via your installation DVD instead of doing a partition "restore". Backup anything important before beginning.

If 2 is the problem, you can set the BIOS to have an extended POST & ensure your drive priority is correct.

If 3 is the problem, you can disconnect extra drives to prevent problems. Use external drive bays after the OS has loaded instead of loading with the OS.

if 4 is the problem, you can update to the latest BIOS for your model, being certain you are on battery backup protection before beginning.

 

There are other possibilities.

 

What I really wonder, is if the way you do things has interfered with the normal boot flag/bootable drive or partition?

Whoops - confusion :rolleyes:

 

I do not need advice.

I was explaining an issue which I encountered and had a similar consequence of the BIOS not remembering that my SSD had Boot priority over my HDD.

The resolution of my problem has nothing to do with installation DVD's etc. - it merely required entering the BIOS and forcing it to update its settings which it had corrupted in the CMOS RAM.

 

This topic is concerned with KCav's problem which MIGHT be resolved by entering the BIOS and altering its settings.

 

There may be other solutions to KCav's problems but they will not be fixed by addressing my symptoms

e.g. My SSD does not rotate and has no need to spin up :)

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I tried to remove the CMOS battery from my notebook. On my desktop, slide off the case and the battery is visible. Not so on this notebook. I removed about 1/2 dozen screws and still couldn't find the CMOS battery.

 

 

KC

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