Saturday, June 04, 2005
Switching PC boot-up from C: to A: drive
Question : My computer boots directly from the C: drive and bypasses the A: drive after I had installed a CD-RW drive. How do I make my computer boot from the A: drive first?
Answer : The manual that comes with the mainboard should show you how to change the boot order. In most cases, the basic input/output system (BIOS) can be accessed by depressing the Del or F2 key after the system is turned on.
The actual key that should be depressed to access the BIOS will depend on the type of BIOS on the PC. In many cases, a message will be displayed on the bottom- most part of the display. This message will provide some indication as to which key should be pressed to access the BIOS set-up firmware.
After that, it's just a matter of poking around in the BIOS menu to look for an option called Boot Order, or something similar.
There are basically three types of BIOS firmware on the market: Intel's custom-made ones or Award's modular ones.
For Intel boards, select Boot and then Boot Device Priority. From here, set 1st Boot Device to Removable Device, and 1st Removable Device to Floppy Disk Drive (1st Floppy Drive). After this, select Exit, Exit Saving Changes and Yes.
Award's modular BIOS settings vary greatly from version to version. In some earlier versions, select BIOS Features Setup and then "A, D, C" or "A, C, D" from the Boot Sequence option. Later versions may have a First Boot Device option (in which case it should be set to Floppy).
In either case, hitting the Esc key, selecting Save and Exit Setup and then hitting the "Y" key in response to the question "Save to CMOS and Exit (Y/N)?" should save the new settings.
Answer : The manual that comes with the mainboard should show you how to change the boot order. In most cases, the basic input/output system (BIOS) can be accessed by depressing the Del or F2 key after the system is turned on.
The actual key that should be depressed to access the BIOS will depend on the type of BIOS on the PC. In many cases, a message will be displayed on the bottom- most part of the display. This message will provide some indication as to which key should be pressed to access the BIOS set-up firmware.
After that, it's just a matter of poking around in the BIOS menu to look for an option called Boot Order, or something similar.
There are basically three types of BIOS firmware on the market: Intel's custom-made ones or Award's modular ones.
For Intel boards, select Boot and then Boot Device Priority. From here, set 1st Boot Device to Removable Device, and 1st Removable Device to Floppy Disk Drive (1st Floppy Drive). After this, select Exit, Exit Saving Changes and Yes.
Award's modular BIOS settings vary greatly from version to version. In some earlier versions, select BIOS Features Setup and then "A, D, C" or "A, C, D" from the Boot Sequence option. Later versions may have a First Boot Device option (in which case it should be set to Floppy).
In either case, hitting the Esc key, selecting Save and Exit Setup and then hitting the "Y" key in response to the question "Save to CMOS and Exit (Y/N)?" should save the new settings.
