Loading vista

[chassi]

Hi guys..wonder if someone could give me some guidance on the following problem.
A few days back, it looked like I might have to reload Vista....When I put the supplied Vista DVD in the either of the 2 optical drives, the operating system appeared to boot up as normal from the hard disc. When I go into Setup,
the boot order is as follows:-

1.CD-ROM
2.SONY DVD ROM
3.HARD DISK

This is a bit strange as the 2 optical drives that are fitted are

SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615.
SAMSUNG SH-S183 DVD/CD WRITER.

The SAMSUNG was fitted by the company I bought the pc from about 3 months after the purchase because the original SONY DVD Writer would only burn CD'S
& not DVD's.
The Sony was EIDE but the SAMSUNG is SATA. The Bios does'nt appear to give any details about the SAMSUNG drive so it seems its not been included in the list of boot devices & I do not know how to fix that.
If I put the VISTA DVD in either the SONY or SAMSUNG drive's , the system appears to ignore it & boots from the HARD DISC.
If I put the Vista disc in the drive once the operating system is running I get a screen with details of the existing partition & a message
at the bottom saying "If changes to the partition are required - then to boot from
the installation disc". I want to be able to do this to be able to wipe the hard drive & reformat so
that I can create 3 partitions as opposed to the 1 that exists at present....I tried using VLITE to create an SP1 Slipstreamed DVD but I have the same problem.
The SAMSUNG drive itself though works fine burning DVD's & CD's
The SONY drive also works ok

 

[Brink]

Hello Chassi, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You may need to update your Samsung CD/DVD drive's firmware to the latest SB03 version. You can go Samsung's website below and download and install the Download Full (blue one) option.

ODD Support

After have it install, click it's shortcut to run the program. It will place a CD icon in your Notification area on the the taskbar. If it does not detect a new firmware version automatically for you, then right click on the CD icon and click Manual Search. Next, click on the Automatic Upgrade button and Download Now to have it install the correct firmware for you.


Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[chassi]

Shawn..Tks yr response...Checking my PC log that I keep...I updated to SB03 in August 2007

 

[Brink]

Ok Chassi,

If something is wrong with Vista as to why you need to reinstall it, then you may be able to a Repair (upgrade) install since the drives work in Vista.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html


Afterwards, you can use Disk Management to shrink C: to D: , then D: to E: for three partitions. Drive letters will vary of course. You can also do this if there is nothing wrong with your installation of Vista and just want to shrink the partitions.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/95398-disk-management-shrink-partition.html


Back to the DVD drives now. If they are not listed correctly in Device Manager, then you might uninstall the drives and restart the computer to see if Vista will install them correctly afterwards. You might also check to see if having the latest motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers install will help with the drives at boot.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[OldBloke]

In addition to the useful info Shawn wrote...

Which of these is true:
(a) when you boot with the Vista DVD inserted, it shows the prompt "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD..." but ignores your keypress and boots the hard disk anyway.

(b) it doesn't show the "Press any key..." prompt and just boots the HD.

If (a) is true, that's fairly common. At least you know the BIOS is booting the optical drive, because the "Press any key" prompt is on the DVD, not in the BIOS.
The program at the start of the Vista DVD doesn't have as many keyboard and USB drivers available to it as a fully installed Vista system, so it can't know that you pressed a key.
It can be fixed by using a keyboard with the old PS/2 type of plug, or sometimes by changing a BIOS setting for legacy USB or keyboard support.

If (b) is true, you know the BIOS is not booting the optical drive. It could be the DVD drive's fault (such as its firmware needs updating) but that seems unlikely to happen with both optical drives. Maybe you need to update the motherboard's BIOS.

Can you change the boot order from
1.CD-ROM
2.SONY DVD ROM
3.HARD DISK
to
1.SONY DVD ROM
2.CD-ROM
3.HARD DISK
There's no logical reason for that to be better but it's worth a try.

Another trick to try:
Disconnect one of the optical drives temporarily while installing Windows. If the remaining optical drive doesn't boot the Vista DVD, connect the other one on its own.

Generally, when installing Vista or XP, it's better to only have essential hardware connected (one optical, one HD, no printers or USB devices, etc). You can connect your other devices later.

 

[chassi]

Tks for your advice guys..Re - "which is these is true", its "a", I do get the prompt
"Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" but its ignored & just boots from the Hard Drive. I will investigate further when time permits & get back to u. Many tks again

 

[chassi]

Brink/Shawn...I tried an old keyboard with PS/2 plug & it worked...got the message
"Windows is loading files" & then the screen with 3 options:- Language to Install, Time/Currency Format, Keyboard or Input Method...Fantastic...Cannot thank you enough. (This was using the SONY DVD-ROM by the way..Will not worry too much about the SAMSUNG DRIVE now)

 

[Fumz]

In addition to the useful info Shawn wrote...

Which of these is true:
(a) when you boot with the Vista DVD inserted, it shows the prompt "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD..." but ignores your keypress and boots the hard disk anyway.

(b) it doesn't show the "Press any key..." prompt and just boots the HD.

If (a) is true, that's fairly common. At least you know the BIOS is booting the optical drive, because the "Press any key" prompt is on the DVD, not in the BIOS.
The program at the start of the Vista DVD doesn't have as many keyboard and USB drivers available to it as a fully installed Vista system, so it can't know that you pressed a key.
It can be fixed by using a keyboard with the old PS/2 type of plug, or sometimes by changing a BIOS setting for legacy USB or keyboard support.

If (b) is true, you know the BIOS is not booting the optical drive. It could be the DVD drive's fault (such as its firmware needs updating) but that seems unlikely to happen with both optical drives. Maybe you need to update the motherboard's BIOS.

Can you change the boot order from
1.CD-ROM
2.SONY DVD ROM
3.HARD DISK
to
1.SONY DVD ROM
2.CD-ROM
3.HARD DISK
There's no logical reason for that to be better but it's worth a try.

Another trick to try:
Disconnect one of the optical drives temporarily while installing Windows. If the remaining optical drive doesn't boot the Vista DVD, connect the other one on its own.

Generally, when installing Vista or XP, it's better to only have essential hardware connected (one optical, one HD, no printers or USB devices, etc). You can connect your other devices later.

I'm going to adopt you...

 

[Brink]

Brink/Shawn...I tried an old keyboard with PS/2 plug & it worked...got the message
"Windows is loading files" & then the screen with 3 options:- Language to Install, Time/Currency Format, Keyboard or Input Method...Fantastic...Cannot thank you enough. (This was using the SONY DVD-ROM by the way..Will not worry too much about the SAMSUNG DRIVE now)

Your welcome Chassi,

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

Shawn