W8 and the BIOS Boot Sequence Problem

[Ken429]

I think I'm losing it! When I have the GA-Z77X-UD5H system set up to boot from an SSD with W7 on it the BIOS works like it should - if there is a disk in one of the optical drives it will try to boot from that drive. That is the way I have the BIOS setup. However, when I boot an SSD with W8 the BIOS gives me an error if there is no disk in one of the optical drives. I have to go in and change the boot sequence in the BIOS to load the Windows Boot Manager first! The W8 installer must have made that change cause I did not know I had a problem until recently. I thought maybe the BIOS had gotten screwed up along the way but as soon as I go back to W7 and reset the BIOS correctly all is well. I have been playing with W8 for a few weeks and just now stumbled into this problem when I wanted to try booting from a Acronis 2013 Recovery Boot CD. Am I the only one with this issue?

Now, for the dumb question - what Function Key should I press during the BIOS portion of the boot process to try and override the boot device. I know I should be able to find that information somewhere but I've never had to go that route and can't seem to find it in the manual. Thanks in advance.

[wazza300]

its f12 to load the boot menu,then you choose what drive or os to boot into

tried doing a startup repair with win8 disk? it might fix the issue with th dvd drive

[Ken429]

wazzo300,

Thanks for the information. F12 does the job. I have BIOS screen shots showing that when I have the Boot sequence set up for the BIOS to check the Optical drive first and then the Boot SSD as a second choice it works for W7 as it should. But as soon as I say try to boot from an SSD with W8 the boot drive or the Windows Boot Manager (A new BIOS boot choice with W8?) must be the first choice else I get the infamous "BootMgr is missing". I don't understand how W8 can come into play since the BIOS is the guy checking the Optical drive before it does anything else if it is the first Boot Choice Option. Although the BIOS seems to be aware of the "Boot Manager Option" in W8. I can be happy with the F12 solution if I need to boot from something other than the W8 SSD but...it don't seem like all is as it should be?

I see you converted to Gigabyte MB?!

Also, how come I stopped getting email notification of thread responses? Is it me again or a system issue?

[wazza300]

seems strange,tried with all the other drives disabled and just dvd drive #1 and win8/ssd#2? and see if it boots from win8 and not the dvd drive,and yeah back on with the gigabyte slippers

[Ken429]

Wazza300,

Disabling all but the Optical drive and the W8 SSD was the first thing I tried when I noticed the issue - had no effect. W8 is on a OCZ SSD and W7 is on a Mushkin SSD. I connect via the SATA cable which one I want to use. I wanted to keep the variables to a minimum. I'm actually starting to like W8 and had not switched the system back the W7 for several weeks.

You did not answer my other question - why do I no longer get email notification from Tweaktown?

[wazza300]

i dont know,the server plays up from time to time,mr.tweak is the only one who can access the server to sort it out,however im still getting email notifications? using ie9

checked all your spam or junk folders?

[Ken429]

You're correct. Comcast must have decided for me that all forums except Acronis and Corsair are SPAM! I switch my email address to GMail and all is OK again - at least for today!