ASUS P5E3 Deluxe will not boot from Vista OEM DVD

[Martello]

I just put together a new system with the abovementioned motherboard, an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield, a GeForce GTX 280 and 2 gigs of Corsair XM3 memory. Unfortunately, my original hard drive with XP installed went bad somewhere between moving it from my old case to the new one (Thermaltake Armor). That's neither here nor there, but now I'm trying to boot the system from a Vista OEM DVD to install on one of my two remaining hard drives. The hard drive boots fine, but of course doesn't do anything for me since there's no OS on it. Then when I switch the boot priority to DVD first, it never gives an option to boot from the DVD on startup, instead going to the "windows 98 startup menu" the same as when the HDD is set as primary boot. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Kursah]

Is it an SATA DVD drive? Are you in RAID or ACHI mode? I noticed on my setup I couldn't boot from DVD's on ACHI mode...switched my SATA back to IDE (Compatability) mode in my BIOS...also another thing, there was a Bios upgrade to fix issues booting to Vista using a Q9XXX series processor...granted it's a DFI, but may be worth looking into for ya! Asus may have the same or similar update in a BIOS revision for that board.

 

[Martello]

It's in IDE compatibility mode. The only drive I have hooked up right now is IDE, and like I said it boots from that but it's no help since there isn't an OS installed on it. The DVD is also IDE so there shouldn't be an issue. How would I update the BIOS if I can't even boot the system?

 

[Kursah]

You don't need to boot the system to update BIOS if you have a floppy drive, or if your ASUS has the Flash-something-or-another in BIOS that can read from a USB drive...put the updated ROM on the USB drive on the PC you're using right now, then go into your BIOS on your Asus rig...go into the Flashmenu or whatever...my old P5B Deluxe had the feature, so I can only assume yours has a similar feature...updating BIOS from Windows is more dangerous than many realize...a lot of RMA's happen because of it, and should be seriously reconsidered to a more basic operating environment for less chances of failure.

Check your MB's owner's manual on how to update the BIOS, maybe check out Asus' website for your specific board, they may even have a section of forum over there dedicated to that board, which may be more helpful to ya as I'm not familiar with that Asus board from experience.

You get a Win98 startup menu when booting? If you have no OS installed...that wouldn't make much sense...maybe that's how you're explaining it and I'm taking it differently than you intend...I do that sometimes!

Is that a legal copy of Vista? No offense, just want to narrow down what issues you're having...are the HDD and DVD drives on the same IDE cable? I would assume yes...maybe switch them around on the cable since the very last plug is primary with the middle as secondary iirc...been so long since I've used IDE for more than a DVD drive.

Maybe try disconnecting your HDD and try to boot to your DVD only...sure it won't install but if it boots there may be issues there...do you have your jumpers on the HDD and DVD set to Cable Select? If not I recommend doing so, I've had the best luck with that on IDE drives.

Lemme know whatcha find out, if I get anymore ideas or thoughts I'll post em for sure!

 

[Frogger]

When you boot the rig is it set to 'Quick boot' or standard??

 

[Frogger]

if it's set to Quick you will see an asus pic ...if so hould down the tab to see the booting menu ....you should be able to hit 'F8" to select the bios boot menu & then select the DVD drive

 

[Martello]

I updated the BIOS using a USB key as suggested.

The drive I'm using is pretty old (probably why it's sister failed) and I think at some point it had Win98 installed.

It's a legal copy of Vista, just a System Builder's OEM version from Newegg.

I have the two drives set to master/slave, do you think switching to cable select will make a big difference?

I changed it to standard boot and pressed F8 and then selected the DVD drive, but it still does the screwed up 98 boot.

 

[Frogger]

C/S might help but prob not ... try unplug the hdd & see if it will boot for the disk

 

[Kursah]

I'd say try booting with just the DVD connected as I mentioned earlier and Frogger suggested above...to make sure you are even able to do so...then I'd still say set your jumpers to Cable Select...it's like Compatability mode. I've had issues in the past even when I forced Master and Slave, when I set the drives to CS (Cable Select) the issue went away....it was a long time ago on much older hardware (late 90's). CS is at least worth a shot, those jumpers on older IDE drives are easy...the jumper on the back of my SATA Seagate drive is micro-sized that selects SATA150 or SATA300.

I wouldn't think you'd have an issue even with an older IDE HDD or IDE DVD, but it's hard saying for sure. Keep us posted on what you've tried and what results you've attained.

 

[Martello]

I switched the jumpers to C/S and tried booting with just the DVD and also the DVD and HDD. Neither worked. The cursor just blinks for an unholy amount of time until I reset the computer. I put the Vista DVD in the drive of this laptop I'm using right now just to make sure the disc worked, and it did...but it took almost three minutes for the laptop to recognize it. I'm not sure what else to try, this is the most frustrating experience I've ever had with system building.

 

[Kursah]

Wow...my Vista disc boots very quickly...sure it takes a few minutes to load, but in seconds I see the Vista Load Up Screen...then it gets it's way to a GUI and menu for install. Do you have a different drive to try in your PC? Is the disc scratched or smudged? Is the printed/foil side scratched at all?

Do you have an XP CD you can try booting to?

 

[Martello]

No, the disc is fine. It's brand new fresh out of the case. The only alternate device I have is the DVD drive in my laptop, which I just tried the disc in again, and this time it loaded in seconds like it should. Still no luck in the desktop though. I can't imagine that anything's wrong with the dvd drive, it's only a couple of months old.

 

[Frogger]

let go about this another way hook up both in CS and let it boot to win 98 from there run the vista install from the drive to see if it will start to install if so do a full not the upgrade ...but me thinks it could be an issue with the player can you confrim that it works

 

[Kursah]

No, the disc is fine. It's brand new fresh out of the case. The only alternate device I have is the DVD drive in my laptop, which I just tried the disc in again, and this time it loaded in seconds like it should. Still no luck in the desktop though. I can't imagine that anything's wrong with the dvd drive, it's only a couple of months old.

There could be an issue with it...not sure what drive it is, list specs?

You should fill out your System Specs (go to User CP at the top, link on the left menu after that, then fill out, at the top make sure to select Allow To Show...this is a very helpful feature, more than many realise.)

I've never had a DVD drive fail in months, but i've had some drives that wouldn't read a disc right that other drives would, even though otherwise the driver performed flawlessly...that usually meant Firmware update time...which can be a pain.

Do you have another OS disc such as XP to try by chance?

 

[Martello]

The problem with that idea is that Win98 isn't actually (or at least not fully) installed on the HDD, it just thinks it is but then won't boot, siting registry or configuration errors. I'm starting to think that it's a problem with the DVD drive also, because the HDD can function in Command Line, and it doesn't recognize te drive. I can go between C as the HDD and D as the USB key, but there's no E, and the USB should be E anyway. Also, while the BIOS recognizes the DVD and shows the name of it, when I loaded the ASUS Flash program to update the BIOS, I tried to open the DVD out of curiosity and it didn't work. The thing is, this drive worked two days ago when it was in my old rig. I guess I'll just have to run out and buy another one tomorrow, and I'll probably go for a SATA model this time so I don't have to fool with jumpers.

And Kursah, I don't have another OS disc. The DVD-RAM drive is an LG RW, not sure exact model.

 

[Frogger]

put it in another rig & try it or put another player in the 'new' rig

 

[Martello]

I'll try that tomorrow, as I'm going to go to bed soon. Sad, I know, on a Friday night, still recovering from Ranger School.

 

[Kursah]

I have had a similar issue before, it was on an 865 chipset Abit board...I had to boot first with only one drive per IDE cable, shut down and hook up the second drive before it would detect correctly...but seeing you have already done something similar, that can't be the issue...

Next question, in BIOS what does it list under your IDE drives? Does it properly detect your drive? LG is an ok brand, I usually use Lite-On...but my SATA DVD is a Samsung (great drive btw). What mode is the DVD operating in if it lists it? Maybe remove the cables and check for bent/missing pins?

When you were switching hardware over, you must've been pretty careful, why you'd have two drives die is odd though...static charge or placed on a carpet or something maybe? Hard saying...do you have a different IDE cable to try maybe?

 

[Martello]

It shows both IDE drives and the SATA properly, listing the entire model name/number. The drive dying issue concerned and confused me also, but I'm thinking that it may have something to do with the IDE cable that came with the motherboard - after installing everything and trying to boot (and failing) I checked the IDE connections and saw that the master connector had ripped right off the cable and left the connector itself in the HDD. This is the drive that had my old XP install on it and now doesn't seem to work at all (tested it by putting it back in the old rig, no response whatsoever). I've never seen anything like that happen before, and the slave connector was plugged into the DVD drive that seems to be causing a problem. If there was some kind of surge or static damage, do you know of a way to fix it? I'd love to be able to recover that drive and just upgrade XP to Vista within the OS.
Needless to say, I'm using a different IDE cable now, the same one I had with the old system and which has lasted me a couple of years. I have another one I'll try though, just in case.

 

[Martello]

I got a new DVD-RAM drive and now everything works just fine. Thanks for all your help.

 

[EnglishLion]

I got a new DVD-RAM drive and now everything works just fine. Thanks for all your help.s

glad to hear that you've now got your problem all sorted out. just wanted to let you know that I've got the same motherboard so if you want to share ideas etc let me know. also check out my website for what I've worked out so far.

 

[Frogger]

I got a new DVD-RAM drive and now everything works just fine. Thanks for all your help.

glad to here