Inspiron 9300, how to boot 2nd HD from mod ... ... yes exactly, it a strange one, What size is the hard drive ?

dave-p · 09-14-2009, 10:43 PM

yes exactly, it a strange one,

What size is the hard drive ?

dave-p · 09-14-2009, 10:48 PM

and your running XP on the internal drive, and Windows 7 on the Modular bay ?

EQuito · 09-14-2009, 10:49 PM

It's a Toshiba MK1032GAX 100GB 5400 rpm

EQuito · 09-14-2009, 10:53 PM

Yes but I have to switch drives every time and it's getting annoying

dave-p · 09-14-2009, 10:58 PM

how did you install the OS on each drive ?

Did you do so as the internal drive then move the drive into the Modular Bay adaptor?

Did you ever try to install the second OS from the Modular drive of course you would have to setup the CD ROM as an external drive

I am thinking the drive parameters were not set correctly during the install.

dave-p · 09-14-2009, 11:05 PM

Try using BCEDIT to view the boot options

I believe its a free download

EQuito · 09-14-2009, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave-p

how did you install the OS on each drive ?

Did you do so as the internal drive then move the drive into the Modular Bay adaptor?

Did you ever try to install the second OS from the Modular drive of course you would have to setup the CD ROM as an external drive

I am thinking the drive parameters were not set correctly during the install.

Yes just like that.
Yes, I can install the OS from my external CD but it won't boot.

dave-p · 09-14-2009, 11:18 PM

try using a Boot Manager I believe BCEDIT is one that may help setup the boot options,

If not try searching Boot Managers.

I have not done this in some time, but I beleive you have to use a boot manager program to be able to select which OS (when using 2 different ones) to boot from at start up

EQuito · 09-14-2009, 11:21 PM

BCEDIT or a boot manager cannot help me if the bios doesn't see a HD to boot from.

dave-p · 09-14-2009, 11:31 PM

I know windows Vista (and Windows 7) and XP do not play well together. it could be related to this problem.

If you see the drive while booted into windows from the internal drive it tells me the drive is working.

Question is, is it not reconzied until the OS boots up, or is it present to the system right from the start. What changes from Post to boot up.

IMO you have nothing to loose give the boot manager a try.

Also if you have not tried already try just booting with the drive in the Modular bay - remove the internal drive. just for the heck of it

let me know how that goes, and the Boot Manager

I will be back on Tommorrow night - time to run have a early start Tuesday

Cheers

EQuito · 09-14-2009, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave-p

I know windows Vista (and Windows 7) and XP do not play well together. it could be related to this problem.

If you see the drive while booted into windows from the internal drive it tells me the drive is working.

Question is, is it not reconzied until the OS boots up, or is it present to the system right from the start. What changes from Post to boot up.

IMO you have nothing to loose give the boot manager a try.

Also if you have not tried already try just booting with the drive in the Modular bay - remove the internal drive. just for the heck of it

let me know how that goes, and the Boot Manager

I will be back on Tommorrow night - time to run have a early start Tuesday

Cheers

I know they don't like each other because I tried dual boot and had probleam. That's why I want them totally separated in different HD's with their own boot sectors.

Again, the bios doesn't see the HD in the modular bay AT ALL! Not matter which OS is loaded for a boot manager to work the HD has to be recognized and bootable.

Yeah I tried that already, removing the internal drive, loading the OS in the modular HD but it doesn't work either.

Thanks for your time.
Regards

dave-p · 09-15-2009, 05:08 PM

I been reading through the threads on this topic and found this by one member who had the boot drive setup from the modular bay in his 9300.

I set my second hard drive to boot via the boot.ini.

Here is what I put in mine so I could boot off my old hard drive with windows XP

[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional OLD" /fastdetect
/NoExecute=OptIn

P.S. the bios has nothing to do with it...

If you have any questions, let me know...

here is the thread

http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...d+drive&page=8

dave-p · 09-15-2009, 05:18 PM

and this was the only other thread on the topic I found

http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...+modular+drive

EQuito · 09-15-2009, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave-p

I been reading through the threads on this topic and found this by one member who had the boot drive setup from the modular bay in his 9300.

P.S. the bios has nothing to do with it...

If you have any questions, let me know...

Hi Dave and thanks for taking the time to search for that but this guy is dual booting. He's using a single boot.ini file to control both drives. I can do that too but as I said before that's not what I need.

The bios has everything to do with it.

I have 2 drives, each with it's own OS, MBR and boot loader. When I switch IDE channels changing the boot order in bios, the machine boots normally. Same with changing the boot order manually.
That's because the bios checks for a drive first. If one is found the OS takes over and checks for boot sector and so on and then boots up.
If the bios doesn't find a drive to boot from (which is my case) the process stops there. The MBR and everything else goes unnoticed and the machine won't boot.
You can easily test this if you want. Remove a CD-ROM and replace with a HD with any OS loaded into it. Go to bios and change the order to boot from that drive and the machine will boot just fine.
See what I mean? that's what I want to do but I can't because that option is missing in bios.
What bothers me is why the bios can boot from a CDROM but not from a HD and why the manual shows that option but it is not in the boot sequence menu.

Anyway, would be nice if some bios guru can come up with a fix or at least an explanation.
Once again, thank you for your time. I appreciate your interest and your will to help.

Cheers!

dave-p · 09-15-2009, 08:38 PM

well I am also wondering if the A05 BIOS removed it.

wonder if flashing to an older BIOS might work for you

09-14-2009, 10:43 PM	#16
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	yes exactly, it a strange one, What size is the hard drive ? __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501

09-14-2009, 10:48 PM	#17
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	and your running XP on the internal drive, and Windows 7 on the Modular bay ? __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501

09-14-2009, 10:58 PM	#20
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	how did you install the OS on each drive ? Did you do so as the internal drive then move the drive into the Modular Bay adaptor? Did you ever try to install the second OS from the Modular drive of course you would have to setup the CD ROM as an external drive I am thinking the drive parameters were not set correctly during the install. __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501 Last edited by dave-p; 09-14-2009 at 11:02 PM.

09-14-2009, 11:05 PM	#21
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	Try using BCEDIT to view the boot options I believe its a free download __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501

09-14-2009, 11:18 PM	#23
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	try using a Boot Manager I believe BCEDIT is one that may help setup the boot options, If not try searching Boot Managers. I have not done this in some time, but I beleive you have to use a boot manager program to be able to select which OS (when using 2 different ones) to boot from at start up __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501

Notebooks For Sale

User Links

Latest Pricing

Top Posters

Todays Top Posters

Fastest Benchmarks

Latest Benchmarks

09-14-2009, 10:49 PM	#18
EQuito Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 24 Credits: -93	It's a Toshiba MK1032GAX 100GB 5400 rpm

09-14-2009, 10:53 PM	#19
EQuito Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 24 Credits: -93	Yes but I have to switch drives every time and it's getting annoying

09-14-2009, 11:21 PM	#24
EQuito Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 24 Credits: -93	BCEDIT or a boot manager cannot help me if the bios doesn't see a HD to boot from. Last edited by EQuito; 09-14-2009 at 11:24 PM.

09-14-2009, 11:31 PM	#25
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	I know windows Vista (and Windows 7) and XP do not play well together. it could be related to this problem. If you see the drive while booted into windows from the internal drive it tells me the drive is working. Question is, is it not reconzied until the OS boots up, or is it present to the system right from the start. What changes from Post to boot up. IMO you have nothing to loose give the boot manager a try. Also if you have not tried already try just booting with the drive in the Modular bay - remove the internal drive. just for the heck of it let me know how that goes, and the Boot Manager I will be back on Tommorrow night - time to run have a early start Tuesday Cheers __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501

09-15-2009, 05:08 PM	#27
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	I been reading through the threads on this topic and found this by one member who had the boot drive setup from the modular bay in his 9300. I set my second hard drive to boot via the boot.ini. Here is what I put in mine so I could boot off my old hard drive with windows XP [boot loader] timeout=5 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional OLD" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn P.S. the bios has nothing to do with it... If you have any questions, let me know... here is the thread http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...d+drive&page=8 __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501

09-15-2009, 05:18 PM	#28
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	and this was the only other thread on the topic I found http://www.notebookforums.com/showth...+modular+drive __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501

09-15-2009, 08:38 PM	#30
dave-p Loving my Alien :) Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 12,210 Reviews: 2 Benchmarks: 7 Credits: 100,758	well I am also wondering if the A05 BIOS removed it. wonder if flashing to an older BIOS might work for you __________________ M17x, FX Red, QX9300, Sli GTX-280, 384 GB SSD, 17" WUXGA, 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz 3yr CC M6400, Q9000, FX3700, 8GB DDR3, RGB LED Display, HD, Blu Ray, 1530 WiFi 370 BT, Desktop Water Cooled I7 920, P6T, 12 GB DDR3, Raid 10, Dell 2707, Blu Ray, GTX 295 CO-OP Copper, Swiftech GTZ, Koolance RP 1000BK, My Dells Vostro 1500, Studio 15, M6300,M1710, E1705,3500,4000,4100,5100,5150,6000, 7000,7500,8000,8500,C410,C610,C810,Cpi,CPx. 6400,1501

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Inspiron 9300 won't boot	bdnoona	Dell Home (Inspiron, XPS, Studio)	2	10-06-2008 07:09 PM
Anyone have the boot bios for installing 7800GTX on Inspiron 9300 please?	loveandlightone	Dell Home (Inspiron, XPS, Studio)	4	10-22-2007 08:14 AM
Dell Inspiron 9300 boot problems	hockey8705	Dell Notebooks - General	10	02-10-2007 08:06 AM
Inspiron 9300 - Resolution changes everytime I boot up/resume - Please Help!	grecinos	Dell Home (Inspiron, XPS, Studio)	1	09-13-2006 11:10 AM
Inspiron 700m modular battery on ebay!!!	acr2001	Dell Legacy (single-core notebooks)	19	08-17-2005 02:45 PM