Question System won't boot from SSD unless it gets 1st priority boot

Apr 21, 2019
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Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I've been moving my components into a new case without changing anything really outside of case/power layout. If I put my DVD drive as first priority in BIOS and the bootable SSD as 2nd priority, every time I boot it will look for a bootable disk in the DVD drive and if it doesn't find one it gives the following error message "Reboot and Select proper Boot device, or Insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key" This message will repeat itself with every key stroke until I insert a bootable disk like the Windows 10 disk.
It will not just see that there's no bootable disk and go to the 2nd priority which is my SSD.
The way I boot now is by shifting my SSD as 1st priority and the DVD drive as 2nd priority, but why does it have to be this way? How can I make the boot order go to the 2nd priority if no bootable media was found in the 1st priority drive?
I have updated all the chipset and sata drivers from the MOBO maker.
Windows 10 pro 64bit
8DDR4 x 2
MOBO: Z170-HD3P
Intel i7 6700k stock clocks
 

Satan-IR

Splendid
Ambassador
Why would you want a Windows machine (with a bootable SSD) to try to boot from the optical drive and if no bootable medium found move to other storage?

Only reason I can think of would be trying to boot from an optical disc with a live linux distro or other OS maybe?
 
Apr 21, 2019
3
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Isn't it usually how ppl do boot priority? I can live with the need to press F12 whenever I need to boot from a media that's not my SSD I just thought there's something wrong with my setup that it looks for a Disk drive and when it doesn't find one just keeps requesting one until I either put in a bootable disk or just restart and have the SSD as 1st priority.
 

Satan-IR

Splendid
Ambassador
I guess there's no 'usual' way as such and you would decide based on what you need to do with the system. Usually the drive with the boot/system files is set as 1st bot priority and the rest after that except as I said when you might want to for example run a live OS for a while and change the optical to be 1st boot priority.

When you boot it usually starts like this: After checking the CMOS setup and loading the handlers, the BIOS determines whether the video card is working (most cards have a BIOS of their own too).

Then the BIOS checks to determine whether it is a cold boot or a reboot by checking values in memory and will POST checking if components (CPU, RAM, Storage drives, Mouse, Keyboard, PCI peripherals etc.) are there and functional/responsive (if it's a cold boot) and if it's a reboot it skips some of these POST steps.

Then the BIOS looks at the sequence of storage devices which are identified as boot devices in the CMOS setup. The BIOS will try to initiate the boot sequence from the first device (usually looks at drive C from HDDs or SSDs and such).

To answer your question, yes, if the BIOS does not find a device, it will (should) try the next device in the list. If it does not find the necessary files (boot/system files) on a device, the whole startup process will stop with errors given and such.

To cut a long story short yes it should look at the optical and if not find needed files should hop to your SSD if it's actually second of the 'boot sequence' list. If your system boots properly with the SSD set as 1st priority I wouldn't worry about it.