I have got this PC:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...ocid=MIGR-39510

The BIOS that I have got is :

BIOS Date: 02/20/02
BIOS Type: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 for IBM NetVista. licensed to Intel
BIOS ID: IBM 6214E8G BIOS Version: 20KT29AUS



Each PC (At work we have got many) has got two HDs,,,,,,Master (Segate) and Slave (Western Digital) connected to one ribbon cable to IDE0,,,,and CD Rom connected to IDE1.

When I booted the system there are two option

Press F1 for setup

Press F12 for startup Device Menu.


If I choose F1 for Setup,,,,I have many options,,,,under "Devices" --> "IDE Drives Setup" :

IDE Drive 0
IDE Drive 1
IDE Drive 2
IDE Drive 3

IDE Drive 0 and IDE Drive 1, for HDs master and slave respectively,,,,, IDE Drive 2 for CD Rom.

I divided the fisrt HD (by using cfdisk knoppix CD),,Drive 0 (I have got two HDs as mentioned earlier) to 3 partitions.

And seond HD,,,Drive 1 to 4 partitions.

I installed WinXP on the first partition (1/3) of the the fisrt HD and Win2003 on second partition (2/3) of the fisrt HD.

I installed FC4 on Second HD (with 4 partitions).

After a long discussion with linux's people , I have been told that there is some thing wrong with order for the boot squence for devices (Two HDs).





I did test by using Hirens CD V7.2 (Has got heaps of DOS utility) ,,,and I use partition utilities

1- I used Partition Magic v8,,,,it showed me that the hard disk with four partitions is Drive 1 and the hard disk with 3 partitions is Drive 2.

2- I System commander v9.01,,,,it showed me that the hard disk with four partitions is Drive 0 and the hard disk with 3 partitions is Drive 1.

3- I used Ranish partition,,,,it showed me that the hard disk with four partitions is Drive 0 and the hard disk with 3 partitions is Drive 1.

4- I used Paragon partition manager,,,,it showed me that the hard disk with four partitions is Drive 0 and the hard disk with 3 partitions is Drive 1

What does that mean ? does the drive 0 mean Master ? or it does mean Slave ? I get confused from this PC,,,,,Drive 0 it should refer to Master,,,Am I right ?

The point I don't have an option within the BOIS to change the squence for HDs,,,,Is there any option for reset them and let the BOIS scan for them automatically ?

Not a good mix to start with...

Format your disk. Create partitions during the windows installation. Then if you need to tweak the sizes do it with partition magic.

And do not forget to get the latest bios. ( usually doesnt hurt to have the latest )

Regards.

Thanks Alexandar.

But my guery I bout BIOS, not about partitioning

Your BIOS will always boot from the primary partition on the disk that is selected to boot from. Drive 0 is the primary master indeed. Also, there must be an option in your BIOS to change from what harddisk to boot from. E.g. the choises are IDE-0, IDE-1, IDE-2 and IDE-3. What are the choises in your BIOS?

I hope I understood your question,,,,the answer will be quoted below

Yeah but there's also a Boot section in your BIOS I think?