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Dual Booting on Optiplex GX280
Hi Folks,
Can anyone advise on a problem I'm having?
I have an Optiplex GX280 with SATA drive installed, OS is XP Pro. I would like to install a second HDD which also has XP Pro, but has some work-related apps which necessitate that the PC boots from that drive. This drive is IDE, not SATA.
I installed the new drive using the CD ribbon, in the order HDD =>CD/RW and when I boot up using the SATA drive, the new drive can be read and written to in WIndows Explorer. However, no matter what changes I make to all the jumper and BIOS settings, the PC just will not boot from the IDE drive. When I set the BIOS to do so, I just get a drive read/write error message.
Any clues would be appreciated. I did see a similar topic using the search facility, but following the advice in that didn't help me unfortunately.
Thanks,
Peter
pjmcm
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September 7th, 2009 10:00
Suppose all I can do is try - Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained and all that!
It's not the end of the world if it doesn't work, just an easy way to solve a problem.
thanks for the help.
Peter
Davet50
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September 7th, 2009 10:00
Is the second drive from another exact configured Optiplex? If not then it will not boot as when a OS is installed it is at that point linked to that particular motherboard and hardware configuration
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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September 7th, 2009 10:00
Another issue you may have is the actual boot. If the SATA drive is booting in AHCI mode then the IDE drive cannot boot as it will need to be in ATA mode for it to do so. Now you cannot just switch that mode in the bios as then the SATA drive will not work unless you want to reload that drive in ATA mode.
You will also need to setup a boot loader using an XP boot loader program to set this up
pjmcm
4 Posts
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September 7th, 2009 10:00
Thx for the reply. :emotion-2:
Nope - it was from a Compaq machine which failed and wasn't worth repairing. Wonder then if it would work by running an XP disc and repairing the XP installation on this drive? Don't want to completely format it as it would then obviously lose the info for the work-related apps that were installed.
Peter
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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September 7th, 2009 10:00
You can try but that may not work either. Most of the time a new reinstall is necessary. You more than likely cannot use it like a secondary drive as the apps have most likely embedded themselves into the registry and wont allow you to run them from the secondary drive
pjmcm
4 Posts
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September 7th, 2009 11:00
Thanks again, although it's beginning to sound like this "easy answer" is going to be more trouble than it's worth!
I have a couple of other options to try before just giving the PC to our IT techs to blast the SATA drive with the correct image. Who would have though home-working can be such a pain?
Peter