Raid wont boot unless xp disk is in CDROM drive

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi All,

I am putting together a new computer with
a Supermicro PDSGE (i955 chipset with Award BIOS)
with a Pentium D and an LSI SATA-150-4 (hardware)
RAID controller.

Problem: the computer won't boot. I hangs at
"boot from CD:". But, if the XP Pro disk is
in the computer, and the "press any key to boot
from CD..." is ignored, it does boot (from the
RAID controller, not the CD-ROM).

Before I speak to both Supermicro and LSI, I
was wondering if someone would explain to me
the boot mechanism involved with the XP Pro
disk?

Extra info:
1) I have the latest BIOS'es installed for
both the motherboard and the RAID card.

2) Still won't boot with CD-ROM drive physically
removed from the system

3) I have drained CMOS and reset optimal settings
in BIOS

4) I tried the SATA 150-4 in both a 32 bit and
a 64 bit slot -- still no boot

5) Bios set to boot: cdrom, hard disk, other devices

6) Boots fine off an old LSI MegaRAID 466 RAID
card with to 8 GB RAID 1 drives in a 23 bit slot

7) no symptom change with on board hard drive
controller on or off


Many thanks,
--Tony
aewell@gbis.com