Can't boot Vista64 without DVD

[wallrunnerm15]

i currently have xp sp3 on one drive and wanted to install vista on a completely new drive. I booted from the DVD to do a clean install of vista onto the new drive. I received no errors or whatnot during installation. However, when i removed the DVD from the drive, i get a system disk error and am unable to boot the OS. When I put the disk back in, vista loads perfectly. Any suggestions?

 

[QuixoticOne]

Reboot into the BIOS setup program and check the boot priority of the drive(s) and make sure the HDD with vista on it is "first" and is enabled for booting.

See if your BIOS offers a manual "select what device to boot from" menu option if you hit the right key during booting... if so, try explicitly picking the vista drive and see if that helps.

If none of that works, you'll have to check that the partition with vista on it is "ACTIVE" i.e. has the bootable flag set in the partition table, and you may need to fix / rewrite your MBR (master boot record). You can boot from the Vista DVD get a command prompt and do this stuff but I forget the exact key sequence and commands to do it.

 

[wallrunnerm15]

the vista drive is the first one to boot from, i will try to do a fixmbr from the vista dvd and see if that helps.

 

[QuixoticOne]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392
How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista

There is also a diskpart utility (command line) inside Vista, and if you get to the command prompt after booting the Vista install disc you can use it:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/...ista-2000-2003-and-xp/

 

[wallrunnerm15]

i tried using the startup recovery tool from the vista dvd, but it returned no errors to correct. i'll try using bootrec.exe when i get home from work tonight. am i doing something wrong?

 

[QuixoticOne]

No, that should cover it.

Use diskpart or whatever to make SURE the vista boot drive partition is set to 'ACTIVE' with the bootable flag in the partition table.

Maybe your BIOS is flaky and isn't trying to boot the right drive despite appearances? Increase the drive time-out / spin-up delay? Try booting with only one physical drive even connected?

You could try clearing your BIOS/CMOS RAM with the motheboard jumper temporarily activated (with the system power cord physically unplugged and the PSU set to off for the duration the jumper is set).

Double check every single BIOS screen for any drive mode / priority / RAID / whatever related settings. Try hitting the key in the bios boot process to enter any RAID setup BIOS menus and make sure anything in there is set to OFF / non-raid / IDE mode / boot from the expected drive etc.

Originally posted by: wallrunnerm15
i tried using the startup recovery tool from the vista dvd, but it returned no errors to correct. i'll try using bootrec.exe when i get home from work tonight. am i doing something wrong?