Changing boot order in Windows 10?

[mattdanielc]

Hi guys,

I've inherited my friends old PC (mine had died) which he bought a few years back for a media centre but never used it.

He has given me his old hard drive (according to the drivers - last updated in 2006) and I've also popped my new SSD in there too - and installed Windows 10 on the SSD.

The PC (i5 2500k) runs fantastic when it finally loads - but it's stuck on this screenshot for just under 2 minutes before it finally loads Windows. I was under the impression that SSD should load in seconds not minutes? Therefore I can only guess the boot order needs changing as the other hard drive is so old and I guess slow and I believe I do remember seeing it was first in boot order when I installed Windows.

According to the screenshot I should press DEL or F7 etc to enter the boot menu but it doesn't react when I press these buttons. I've tried holding them down, repeatedly pressing them etc.

According to this website you access the boot menu differently in Windows 10. But I can't see where you access the boot order??

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi guys,

I've inherited my friends old PC (mine had died) which he bought a few years back for a media centre but never used it.

He has given me his old hard drive (according to the drivers - last updated in 2006) and I've also popped my new SSD in there too - and installed Windows 10 on the SSD.

The PC (i5 2500k) runs fantastic when it finally loads - but it's stuck on this screenshot View attachment 7825 for just under 2 minutes before it finally loads Windows. I was under the impression that SSD should load in seconds not minutes? Therefore I can only guess the boot order needs changing as the other hard drive is so old and I guess slow and I believe I do remember seeing it was first in boot order when I installed Windows.

According to the screenshot I should press DEL or F7 etc to enter the boot menu but it doesn't react when I press these buttons. I've tried holding them down, repeatedly pressing them etc.

According to this website you access the boot menu differently in Windows 10. But I can't see where you access the boot order??

From within windows you can try to get to bios by going to settings/update and recovery/recovery/uefi options or something like that. That should then restart the windows boot options where you choose "troubleshoot/advanced options/uefi firmware boot". That should then restart into the bios.

 

[mattdanielc]

thanks! Will try that tonight

 

[Frank100]

Hi,

It looks like it is staying at the BIOS stage for some time before it actually goes looking for your SSD to boot from, so it's not that the SSD isn't a fast means of booting it's a case of it doesn't start looking there soon enough.

Getting into the BIOS shouldn't be a problem. The fact you can't is a bit of an issue.

The way the boot process runs is when you turn on the power the BIOS takes over pretty much straightaway. It runs a number of checks and these can take some time, potentially a couple of minutes if it is not set to fast boot and if it is set to run memory checks first and a number of other things. If these sorts of things are set to load/check they will do that before the BIOS starts to query what disks it has and whether the boot sector contains a Master Partition Table, or in the case of GPT partitioned disks, a pointer to which sector to find its version of the Master Partition Table.

Once it gets to the primary disk and it reads the partition list it looks for an active partition, which has hex 80 at the start of the entry for that partition, when it finds that entry it reads where that partition starts and then looks for boot code there. Assuming there is the necessary boot code Windows starts to load. If the other disk is set as the first boot device but of course doesn't contain any active partitions this will slow the process down a little but not by a minute or more. In this scenario it would still boot from your actual OS disk as long as it is listed in the boot order before it gets to network boot.

I think your BIOS is running some of the checks I mentioned and that's what is slowing it down. I cant explain from the brief details why it doesn't respond to the keyboard though. If you can get into the BIOS then see what checks/tests it is running, enable fast boot and to save those few extra seconds make sure your SSD is at the top of the boot order. The second disk doesn't even need to be in the boot order.

Frank100

 

[Lez501]

Disconnect all drives, including DVD drive and see if that allows access to bios. If it does, add one drive at a time and see what happens.

 

[mattdanielc]

Hi guys thanks for the suggestions. I've never disconnected drives before - the max I've ever done is add some ram so I'm a bit hesitant to do that - but will if it gets it quicker ! I tried spyder tracks suggestion but sadly there was no option to get into bios as can be seen in these pictures: and the startup option gives you

 

[Frank100]

Hi,

Try the disconnect all the drives option as suggested. Whilst the computer is powered off just remove the power and data leads from the back of your two disks and the DVD drive. If you want to be thorough about which leads went where just tape the leads up next to the device you unplugged them from to keep them safe. Data and power leads are different and they only go in one way round, so it is easier than you might think.

See if you can get into the BIOS now.

Let us know how that goes.

Frank100

 

[mattdanielc]

Thanks mate - I will be unplugging them tonight to see what happens.

I tried the same process on my virtually brand new windows 10 laptop this morning - I can access the BIOS fine. I have different options as shown here:
my laptop - my PC -

It seems that my laptop has UEFI firmware, but the PC I've installed Windows 10 on is a legacy BIOS as can be seen here:

View attachment 7854

So in theory I guess the only way to access the BIOS is via the traditional boot up. As backed up by How To Geek:

"UEFI applies to new computers. You won’t see the UEFI Firmware Settings option here if you installed Windows 8 or 10 on an older computer that came with a BIOS instead of UEFI — you’ll just have to access the BIOS in the same way you always have."

However like I said in my OP - nothing happens when I hit F2 or DEL or F7 so I'm kind of stuck...I just can't get into the BIOS and it makes no sense to me why I can't. Hopefully you guys are right and by disconnecting the drives I might be able to.

I wish I'd installed Windows 7 ISO instead of Windows 10

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks mate - I will be unplugging them tonight to see what happens.

I tried the same process on my virtually brand new windows 10 laptop this morning - I can access the BIOS fine. I have different options as shown here:
my laptop - View attachment 7853 my PC - View attachment 7856

It seems that my laptop has UEFI firmware, but the PC I've installed Windows 10 on is a legacy BIOS as can be seen here:

View attachment 7854

So in theory I guess the only way to access the BIOS is via the traditional boot up. As backed up by How To Geek:

"UEFI applies to new computers. You won’t see the UEFI Firmware Settings option here if you installed Windows 8 or 10 on an older computer that came with a BIOS instead of UEFI — you’ll just have to access the BIOS in the same way you always have."

However like I said in my OP - nothing happens when I hit F2 or DEL or F7 so I'm kind of stuck...I just can't get into the BIOS and it makes no sense to me why I can't. Hopefully you guys are right and by disconnecting the drives I might be able to.

I wish I'd installed Windows 7 ISO instead of Windows 10

It could be if you're using a wireless keyboard? If so, it's possible, the keyboard connection isn't being made soon enough into the boot to register for bios entry.

 

[mattdanielc]

Hi guys - update - took both drives out and it still takes 2 minutes on that screen in the OP - then just loads a blank black screen. It still wouldn't react to F7 etc...!

Looks like I'm stuck?!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi guys - update - took both drives out and it still takes 2 minutes on that screen in the OP - then just loads a blank black screen. It still wouldn't react to F7 etc...!

Looks like I'm stuck?!

Are you using a wireless keyboard?

 

[mattdanielc]

Are you using a wireless keyboard?

Nope - it's a Logitech Illuminated K740 Wired USB Keyboard

It just doesn't make sense! My friend booted up the PC before I put Windows on it - he got to the BIOS fine.

So it's either Windows 10 Education (the ISO I used) or my graphics card which is causing this..

 

[Frank100]

Hi,

It can't be to do with Windows because you get the delay even without the disks in and as I think I said in a previous post at the point the BIOS splash screen appears the BIOS hasn't even started looking for an active partition yet let alone start loading the boot code from that partition in order to find out what it is.

As it's an older computer you might have PS2 keyboard and mouse sockets on. If you can track down a PS2 keyboard from a friend that would be worth trying. Also motherboards sometimes have more than one USB controller on them so some ports might be controlled by one controller and other ports by another. Try different USB sockets if you haven't already in case one of those controllers is not set to enabled on startup. It will still work in Windows but it would mean you couldn't use that/those ports with a USB keyboard at the BIOS stage. Also try another USB keyboard as an option. It seems unlikely DEL and F7 are faulty but it's not impossible.

I also don't think it's the graphics card particularly as you can boot into Windows if you are patient enough to wait for the 2 minutes.

Good luck

Frank100

 

[ubuysa]

Nope - it's a Logitech Illuminated K740 Wired USB Keyboard

It just doesn't make sense! My friend booted up the PC before I put Windows on it - he got to the BIOS fine.

So it's either Windows 10 Education (the ISO I used) or my graphics card which is causing this..

Hi,

It can't be to do with Windows because you get the delay even without the disks in and as I think I said in a previous post at the point the BIOS splash screen appears the BIOS hasn't even started looking for an active partition yet let alone start loading the boot code from that partition in order to find out what it is.

As it's an older computer you might have PS2 keyboard and mouse sockets on. If you can track down a PS2 keyboard from a friend that would be worth trying. Also motherboards sometimes have more than one USB controller on them so some ports might be controlled by one controller and other ports by another. Try different USB sockets if you haven't already in case one of those controllers is not set to enabled on startup. It will still work in Windows but it would mean you couldn't use that/those ports with a USB keyboard at the BIOS stage. Also try another USB keyboard as an option. It seems unlikely DEL and F7 are faulty but it's not impossible.

I also don't think it's the graphics card particularly as you can boot into Windows if you are patient enough to wait for the 2 minutes.

Good luck

Frank100

I'm going to disagree with Frank100 (sorry buddy). If you could enter the BIOS setup before you added your graphics card (that's what I'm reading between the lines) then it could well be your graphics card, however unlikely it sounds. Pull the graphics card and try to enter the BIOS setup on boot, see what happens....

It's not going to be Windows I don't think, the BIOS executes long before we even know what OS is going to be booted. The only other change you've made is the graphics card.

 

[SpyderTracks]

From memory on an older BIOS, it had an option to apply usb inputs pre post, if that wasn't selected then usb wouldn't function before posting, so usb input wasn't recognised to access the bios.

 

[NilSatis]

First thing I would do in this situation is assume something in the bios is corrupt or confusing the boot order; so I would reset CMOS by taking out the battery or by moving jumpers to do so (google how). This should reset the bios to default and allow you to access it. If this still doesn't work then the battery could be completely dead. Replace it and try and boot again. Once in Bios, make sure the SATA mode is set to ACHI and not IDE; and the boot order is set to firstly your DVD drive and secondly the main hard drive with the os on it.
If you think the gpu is an issue, simply open the pc up and remove it while booting; but problems of this kind will usually result in a blank screen or a failure to boot at all depending on what is wrong.
Spyder is right above about the usb inputs, but I doubt this will have been changed by anyone --it might however have been corrupted. Resetting Cmos will make sure it is back to default in any case

Edit: just seen it eventually goes to a black screen....this does as Ubuysa indicated suggest it may well be the gpu after all. Start the pc without it.