SATA DVD Burner as Bootup

[achatter]

Probably a situation that has already been addressed before. I have the FOXCONN 975XAB board. Trying to upgrade from XP to Windows 7. I have an IDE DVD Drive and a SATA DVD Writer that I purchased new. I am trying to bootup from either one of these drives - went into the BIOS and changed it to boot from CDROM, CDROM, Hard Drive. When booting up it shows the "press any key to boot from CD..." I keep hitting many keys but nothing happens - the DVD Drives do not show any activity and ultimately it tries to boot from the Hard Drive.

Any suggestions?

 

[jaquith]

Welcome to Tom's Forum!

In most cases have the SATA DVD in the first, Primary HDD/SSD in second priority, then whatever other drives after. IF that fails then disconnect the IDE DVD.

However, booting Windows 7 to install on an already existing OS requires a little more; see -> http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-clean-install-windows-7-over-windows-xp.html

IMO it's best to backup you data on another drive, then fully-reformat and install Windows 7. Install Apps and then your data.

 

[achatter]

Thank you for your prompt response!

My BIOS boot sequence is not giving me an option to select the SATA DVD first. It just has Floppy, LS120, CD ROM, HDD etc. That's why I chose CDROM, CDROM and then Hard Drive. I am also trying to do a clean install, but can't even get to the Windows 7 Setup, as it won't boot up from the DVD Drives. I will try disconnecting the IDE drive to see what happens.

 

[achatter]

I just now disconnected the IDE drive. BIOS shows the SATA DVD Drive as recognized, but when I add CDROM, then HDD to the boot sequence, it tries to boot from it, asking to press a key to boot from it, but then goes directly to the hard drive.
I think I am running the latest BIOS. Should I try resetting the BIOS? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[jaquith]

First, BIOS try changing the SATA -> IDE to AHCI and reboot.

Otherwise try the IDE instead of the SATA DVD. The problem is the DVD itself and not necessarily the MOBO.

A last resort(s) is to try either a USB install {must use MOBO's USB from I/O}, borrow someone's DVD, or use a 'Donor PC' to install Windows.

 

[achatter]

Best answer selected by achatter.

 

[achatter]

Thanks. For some reason I got it to work by having a USB DVD ROM attached while the SATA DVD was running. Without the USB DVD, it wouldn't boot up from the SATA DVD. That's the way I got Windows 7 installed and now I am happy with it!!!

Thanks for the alternatives!