Changing Boot Order of HDD?

My system is DELL GX270. I've installed windows XP on the Secondary SATA HDD. Windows is also installed on the primary IDE HDD ..... BUT the problem is that by default the system is booting the SATA Windows. There is no option in the BIOS to correct this.

Although, i can boot to IDE windows by clicking F12 when the system starts, but this to be done every time when windows starts



So, is there any option to correct this?

 

Oh? I've never seen a BIOS that did not allow you change the boot order - and according to your manual under System Setup, it shows you can. Scroll down to Boot Sequence.

 

Bill,

I looked through that manual and can't see a section on booting from different HDs. Did I miss it?

 

Did you read the section on Boot Sequence? I don't know what your BIOS menu looks like but the manual suggest you can change it.

 

I still can't see how you can choose to boot individual HDs in that manual.

I have a Dell 9150 and my BIOS only allows me to turn ON/OFF individual HDs. I haven't used this as a means of booting as I don't have any OS on the second HD. But I do have about 20 OS on the first HD managed by BootIt NG.

Sinnersaint could benefit from using BootIt NG. Choosing which OS to boot is a single click. Not having to enter the BIOS to alter a HD setting that may not be present.

 

I don't have the actual bios to work with, but it sounds easy enough

That pretty much sounds like how a lot bios do it, you move up/down to highlight the item, then use a +/- key to move that highlighted item up or down.

Of course you could just use boot.ini to fix this easily as well if you wanted to. All you need is the correct disc/partition number on a new line and choose that as the default after a 3 second timer if needed.

Sul.

 

Sul,

That changes the boot order for Floppy, CD, USB, HD. But I don't think that BIOS has an option to boot individual HDs.

 

It would be the first bios, even dell bios, I have seen that did not allow you to boot from your choise of sata drive or pata drive. Could be, but it would be strange.

OP, if you can't change it, then focus on the boot.ini if on XP.

Sul.

 

Let's wait until the OP comes back before we 2nd guess what is going on since it is clear none of us have the actual BIOS to look at.