AN7 hard drive boot device Question

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

I just swapped an AN7 in for a NF-7S that had a bad BIOS Flash. I have two
windows HD on the AN7 on IDE1. The one on master is old and I rarely use it,
the slave is my primary windows drive I use. When I had my NF-7S I could
use the BIOS to switch between HDD-0 to HDD-1. It looks like abit deleted
HDD-1,2.3 and added options for USB drives in their place. So it will just
boot IDE1 master (HDD-0) with no option for another HD.

I just unplugged the power to HDD-0 amd I am now able to boot from IDE1
slave (HDD-1)

Ultimately I can swap jumpers and cables to make the slave a master but I
was wondering if there is a way to solve this within the BIOS

 

[Jim]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit (More info?)

Several possibilities.

If you have a PCI controller card, like a Promise Ultra100 TX2, that device
may be selectable over the IDE HD in the BIOS (it is on my AI7). Such a
controller can be had for ~$15 on eBay.

Or, you can get yourself a Trios (
http://www.3dgameman.com/vr/romtec/trios2/video_review.htm ), which allows
you to toggle the devices *physically* via a simple switch (the downside
being cost and the fact that you can't see the one HD when the other is HD
is booted, this wouldn't be a problem w/ BootIt NG, for example). But you
can add a third "shared" HD, which is a nice feature.

Or, you could install a boot manager, like BootIt NG which would allow you
to toggle back and forth *logically* between HDs. That'll run you about
$35, or try the free (but lightly supported) XOSL boot manager (
http://www.freedownloads.be/html/downloaddetail.php?down_ID=308 ).

IMO, the easiest and cheapest solution *initially* is to simply try BootIt
NG (30 day free trial) or XOSL and see if you like either one. If not,
they're easy enough to uninstall.

HTH

Jim


"Leadfoot" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:BY2ec.6670$es.770@fed1read02...
> I just swapped an AN7 in for a NF-7S that had a bad BIOS Flash. I have
two
> windows HD on the AN7 on IDE1. The one on master is old and I rarely use
it,
> the slave is my primary windows drive I use. When I had my NF-7S I could
> use the BIOS to switch between HDD-0 to HDD-1. It looks like abit deleted
> HDD-1,2.3 and added options for USB drives in their place. So it will just
> boot IDE1 master (HDD-0) with no option for another HD.
>
> I just unplugged the power to HDD-0 amd I am now able to boot from IDE1
> slave (HDD-1)
>
> Ultimately I can swap jumpers and cables to make the slave a master but I
> was wondering if there is a way to solve this within the BIOS
>
>