Re: Boot.ini question

Antoine Leca <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Antoine Leca <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

Which is the underlying problem. I very much
prefer experimenting a bit with slightly longer lists.

Thats a lousy way to test the claim that the rdisk()
parameter refers to the entry in the boot order list.

Remark: As I said long ago, I do not agree with that claim in general,

Your problem.

just in particular, not common, cases.

That is just plain wrong.

The only sensible way to test THAT claim is with the simplest
config of 3 hard drives, with the only boot.ini on the drive at
the top of the boot order list and swapping the order of the
two other drives which are below that in the boot order list

Well, results are quite funny.

Computer A, MSI-7032 (2004), AMI BIOS, K8M800 chipset
(from memory, I do not have the computer handy.) The IDE
disks "below the first" do not show up in any list. End of this test.

That does however show that Timmy's claim that the rdisk()
param is the ordinal in the hard drive boot order list is just
plain wrong, most obviously with a bios that doesnt even
have a hard drive boot order list at all. And as I pointed out
repeatedly, that was the case at the time that the ntldr system
was introduced, hardly any if any bios had a hard drive boot
order list. Most at most had a boot order list that just
allowed for a single hard drive, just the C: drive.

Computer(s) B, several Dell (2001-2005, Latitude 8100/4300/4600,
Optiflex 115/150/260/270), so derivatives of Phoenix. The only list
where the disks "below the first" show up is the "Boot menu"
(obtained with F10), which allows to select a different disk to be
the first one for that boot only (by renumbering the disks, giving it
the 80h ribbon). No way I can find to change the order of the disks
"below the first."

I have also a PowerEdge830, but it only has one IDE channel,
and lacks the F10 feature (or I missed it); at any rate I did not
spot any list where the IDE disks can be reordered.

Computer T, Dell XPS [Tim]. There _seems_ to be a
"Hard Disk Boot order" list, which is fully editable, and
the positions there determine the BIOS ordinal numbers.

Does it determine what the rdisk() param refers to tho.

I do not have currently a (recent) Award computer with
several disks handy, sorry; nor did I test the case where
the 80h disk does not have the valid (active) MBR yet forces
a Int18 to boot the 81h disk (this one could be interesting.)

In fact, I would be interested by what you folks understand
as "the boot order list", _including_ all bootable IDE disks ;-).
OK, I already got Tim's :-) no need to reiterate.

Also, I notice some BIOSes list HDD-1 to HDD-3 along with the
traditionnal A:, C:, CD-ROM, PXE etc. in the "IPL table"; (I should
resurrect some oldtimers since I seem to remember seeing this once);
but this is NOT universal behaviour as we can see from the above...
Perhaps reserved to the high-end boards? (I said that because I
understand I conducted all my tests with value-for-money computers.)

By the way, on computer A, the SATA disks are enumerated as several
BCV (clearly, main BIOS dated 2004 does not know about SATA), so I
can reorder them; as you select any of them, _all_ the SATA disks get
the lowest numbers; something similar occurs with USB, although it is
quite of brocken (there is only one BCV, even when it detects several
devices).

That is, not only the relative position for the IDE
disks is not editable, but the various lists for the
varying controllers behave as monolithic entities.

What matters is what the rdisk() parameter for those drives
is determined by. I bet its the physical drive on controller ordinal,
not varying with what is done with the boot order in the bios.

Again :-), the best position is, it varies.

So Timmy's original claim that it doesnt is
just plain wrong, like we all keep telling him.


.

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