I changed my partitions. Now when I change BIOS boot order it has no effect

I'm half-way in the process of making my Vista HP dv5t dual-bootable with Ubuntu. I've shrunk my vista C: partition and created additional partitions, but done nothing else.

Now I have a problem where, if I change the boot order in the BIOS, it has no effect-- the BIOS remembers my new settings (to boot off of cd-rom before HDD) BUT it ignores them.

I can boot off of cd-rom, but only if I use ESC to interrupt the startup sequence, and then F9 to go into a "Boot Manager" screen that lets me chose between hard drive or internal optical drive to boot from. I just got tired of doing that. I changed the BIOS boot order, but it doesn't have any effect.

Also, the BIOS boot order gives me lots of options, including net adapter and USB, but those aren't listed in the F9 "Boot Manager" screen.

Have I messed something up that I need to fix before I install linux and grub?

I didn't try to change the BIOS settings before I altered the partition table, so I don't know if it worked right before.

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The steps I took to get here:

1. The system came with one huge C: partition and a hidden D: recovery partition. I burned my vista recovery DVDs using the HP recovery utility. I backed up all my files, and make a backup of my Vista BCD just in case using a free downloaded utility (vistabootpro).

2. I deleted the hidden recovery partition USING the HP recovery utility. I used Vista to clean up and defrag C:. I shutdown the system.

3. I booted off of a live linux cd and used GParted to shrink C: (only from the end). Then I created new partitions (for linux, linux swap, and data).

4. I had to force the inode size to be 128 b/c I use ext2fs for windows, and that's what it needs, so after I exited GParted, I used the linux command mkfs.ext2 -I128 to format my new partitions.

5. I shutdown and powered back on. For the first time, I got the Vista Boot Manager screen asking me if I wanted 1. Vista or 2. RAMDISK (is this another name for a USB drive?). I chose Vista. As expected, it had a problem, but it asked me if I wanted to repair, I said yes, and all I had to do was sit and wait while it ran chkdsk (at least it looked like it was running the fast version of chkdsk). I was expecting much worse.

6. Vista booted successfully. I looked at my new partitions, they were the size I expected, so I shutdown. Then I wanted to look at something using the linux live cd, and I thought, hey, I need to change the BIOS boot order. I changed it so cd-rom was before hdd, chose "exit and save."

7. But, left to its own devices, the system will boot off the hard drive, NOT the cd-rom, even though there is a bootable cd in the drive.

So, have I messed something up? This is my first time trying to dual boot with Vista (as well as dealing with the OEM recovery disks-only situation) so I'm worried.

Thanks for any help! Sorry it's such a long post.

 

It doesn't sound like it. The one thing I'd consider doing is updating your BIOS to the latest version before you try installing Linux. It could just be a BIOS bug.

But as to screwing something up before installing Linux, no you haven't. If the bootable LiveCD gets you into Linux and works alright, you shouldn't have any problems installing it.

 

Thanks very much for the reply!

I did flash a new version of the BIOS, but I still get the same behaviour. Someone else suggested it could be a hardware problem.

Thanks for the help!

 

Try a different distro?

 

In regards to the Live CD, is it one you got from shipit - or is it one you d/l'ed and burnt yourself? Either way, could/have you verified the media to be good on a different system?

This is just a poke in the dark but, could your step #2

be what is causing the problem? IMO, it could have changed your disk scheme (numbering) so that vista is looking for the wrong partition number. If this is the case, you would need to pursue fixing the MBR

As for the system not booting from the CD drive, it seems silly I know, be sure you're working with good media (known to be working using a different system). Have you gone back into the BIOS to verify the boot order is in fact, showing the CD drive as #1?

 

No. The BIOS boot order isn't affected by what you have on the disk. It sounds like you've prepared your partitions correctly, so all you need to do is to boot from your Linux distro Installation CD and install Linux. Depending on the distro, the last step will be to install the Grub boot loader which will allow you to boot either Vista or Linux when you computer boots from the HDD.

The problem with your BIOS boot order, may be a BIOS bug. You mentioned that you noticed the BIOS not recognizing the boot order after you changed your partitions. Was it recognizing the boot order before you changed the partition map? This HP support doc suggests that the default BIOS boot order is floppy, optical, HDD, USB, and then network, so before you changed your partition map you would have noticed your computer booting from your optical drive, before HDD, anyway. I would suggest first going into your BIOS and resetting them to the defaults. This should put the optical drive before the HDD, and then see if it works correctly. If that doesn't change anything, then you should contact HP support and tell them about the problem, and see if they are aware of the problem being a known BIOS bug.

Bottom line I've never heard of anything on disk, (like a changed partition map), affecting the BIOS boot order. The BIOS on a computer system is the first thing to boot, and it does so from the BIOS memory area. So it wouldn't be reading anything off of disk before it goes to through the boot order.

Good Luck..

 

Thanks jas-

I don't know if it was recognizing the boot order specified by the BIOS before I altered my partitions-- I never tested it. I did reset the BIOS to all default options (boot order = USB floppy, cd-rom, hard drive, USB key, [network disabled]). Had no effect on the behaviour.

Thanks for re-assuring me that the BIOS should do its thing before even going to look at the hard drive. I didn't see how changing my partitions could have had anything to do with the boot order, but it's good to hear I'm really not losing my mind.

I will contact HP tech suport. Thanks again for all the help, everyone.

 

Hello Dark Girl,

I am also using a HP based laptop.
I would goto the HP site, and see what utilities they have to resolve your BIOS problem.
I have used several 'Live' distro's. Especially Knoppix.
I always set my BIOS boot order; CDROM, Floppy (no longer supported), and the HD.
I have even used a usb key/drive as a linux swap. i.e. gparted
I only miss Vista for playing WoW. lol...

 

I did read you have an HP lappy. Do you have the blue media buttons??? If so, you may be interested in this: linky

I have Ubuntu running on a HP 9420US lappy. I DID NOT install ANY boot manager. Doing so will clobber the media buttons. I boot from CD.

Hope this helps!


Radnor

 

I have the basic volume up/down/mute, but I only care about the wlan (bcm1390) button. Not the 'media player' buttons, as some models may have.