An all too common problem. See if this fits your conditions.
I have installed the various versions of Vista on over 350 various
computers. On
a fair amount of those computers I have run into, and solved, this nasty
boot
problem. I have also assisted with this problem for a rather large handful
of people who post here with a similar condition.
The problem concerns computers with the following configuration/condition:
1. A computer with a SATA system drive and additional multiple hard
drives
(any mix of SATA or PATA it turns out)
2. Any of the 2nd, or higher, drives has been setup as having a logical
partition/partitions
3. The user installs Vista by booting from the DVD
When a drive is setup with a logical partition, 8 meg of unallocated space
is reserved at the beginning of the drive.
The Vista installer, it appears, will start installing boot code to the
unallocated space on a 2nd, 3rd or 4th drive. I have used a hex editor and
have found this code there. This 8 meg of unallocated space is quickly
filled and the installer places the remainder of the code on the disk chosen
by the user for the Vista install.
The Vista install completes and the user removes the DVD. Upon startup, the
user finds that Vista will not boot. Vista is looking for the boot code on
the drive where the user had chosen to install Vista (system partition). It
is not there. Part of it resides on another drive where it is not
recognized.
If the user puts the DVD into the drive tray, Vista boots fine. Startup
apparently uses code from the DVD.
This should not occur, but it is too late to change the code on the Vista
DVD's at this point. The work around is to physically disconnect any drive
that you do not want the Vista installer to touch. In this way, all of the
code is written to the desired drive/partition.
Upon arriving at the Windows desktop, go to system management | Disk
Management and change the drive letters for your CD drive, DVD drive, USB
drives, card readers etc. to the end of the alphabet. This gets them out of
the way prior to you shutting down the computer and reconnecting your other
drives.
Now, shut down your computer and reconnect your drives. Upon booting to the
desktop, you will see that the new drives are recognized and initialized.
You will also see that the drive letters are in sequence, and not broken up
by the various other drives (you previously moved them). You may be asked to
reboot so the changes can be made permanent. Do so if directed.
The next time you boot to the desktop you can rearrange those re-lettered
drives if you so desire.
Now, I am not certain how pervasive this problem is but I have seen it on
old/new motherboards from 3 major M/B manufacturers. It is not, of course,
going to affect those who purchase a new computer with Vista on it. It
"will" affect those who upgrade or build their own computers, as these are
the
users who are more likely to have multiple drives installed in their
machines.
Another problem I have run across is when you use Acronis Disk Director
Suite
to add a new drive to your computer. When You create the partitions on the
new
drive, one of the partitions are usually marked as bootable. You can not, of
course,
have two bootable partitions - even if they are on different drives. This
will cause a no
boot condition. Remove the boot flag from the new hard drive partition and
the problem will
be solved.
--
Regards,
Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
