Solved BIOS boot priority / windows loading off different drive

hey guys,
following on from my other thread, http://www.eightforums.com/installa...ndows-8-w-new-motherboard-cpu.html#post204582

i ended up managed to be able to boot into windows after i swapped out my motherboard and CPU to the new ones and everything seems to be working as it should, windows automatically installed the intel drivers and all my old programs and settings are there perfectly.

interesting thing is, that i can only boot into windows if i select my backup drive as #1 boot device in the BIOS, the SSD isnt even on the list.

the thing i don't understand lies in that, if i select my SSD as priority, where the directory of windows is installed, i get a bootmgr missing error - i've tried the various methods of recovering this using the cmd and a windows installation disc.

This isnt a huge issue but it's really tripping me out as to why this is occurring???

ps. i initially had some issues getting windows to boot so i installed a clean windows8 on this backup drive, i didnt change any settings at all. was only making sure that the SSD was being recognized and i hadn't corrupted it somehow. is it possible that the backup drive boot manager is directing it to the SSD or, i really have no idea.

cheers to anyone that has thoughts on this,

Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2598-screenshots-files-upload-post-eight-forums.html



Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums

better size; imgur: the simple image sharer

also, to clarify, the 1TB (disk 3) drive is the one i installed windows8 on just so i could boot,

Looking at your screenshot, Disk 0 C: is a Upgrade or clean install,

As you have three ACTIVE drives, do you have three OS's installed?

also, to clarify, the 1TB (disk 3) drive is the one i installed windows8 on just so i could boot,

Click to expand...

Your boot files are on Disk 3.

Always best to install with only one HDD/SSD in place.

C: was the original window8 install that i had before i put in a new motherboard. it was an upgrade from windows7, i did not re-install anything on here recently.

disk 1 has nothing but movies, when i was stuffing around in cmd is probably tried to restore the bootmgr on it accidently.

disk 2 has just files on it, has been wiped clean since the last time it had an OS on it.

disk 3 was the clean install of windows 8, but even if i try to boot into this it goes straight to C:.

just saw your edit; so disc 3 has the boot files, that point to the SSD? why wouldnt it boot up the clean install of windows? - and yeah ill take out the other 2 drives if i do this again, make it less confusing

If you would like the SSD boot.

Physically disconnect the Disk 1,2 & 3 HD Drives.
Make the Windows 8 SSD, disk0 & first HD boot in BIOS.Also connected to the first Sata port on the MOBO.
Than do a Auto Repair first,

How to do a Auto Repair:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html
Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times - Windows 7 Help Forums



When Windows is booting OK, replace Disk 1,2,3 HD Drives back in, & make sure you mark the HD Drive INACTIVE:
Partition - Mark as Inactive - Windows 7 Help Forums

thank heaps, ill give it a go tomorrow.

that's the answer i was looking for, but any chance you can explain why this was happening? that's cool if you can't really, just always interested in knowing why things do what they do.

so pretty much, doing the recovery will hopefully restore and fix the bootmgr files on the SSD as they cant be applied to any of the other drives. then mark the other drives as inactive so they can't be booted from?

Two things.

1)
Disk drive numbers may not correspond as expected to the SATA channel numbers when you install Windows on a computer that has multiple SATA or RAID disks

Microsoft said:

When you set up one of the operating systems that are listed in the "Symptoms" section on a computer that has multiple hard disks, you expect the disk assignment numbers to match the corresponding SATA or RAID channel numbers. If you experience mismatched channel assignments, you may set up the operating system on the wrong drive, or you may try to format the incorrect drive partition. Therefore, you may lose important data.

Additionally, when you install Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, or Windows 7, the installation creates a system partition alongside the Windows partition by default. The system partition is created to accommodate a Bitlocker requirement. Bitlocker requires that the boot files and Windows files are located on separate partitions. If the preselected default hard disk is not changed, the system partition is created on the disk that is detected as Disk 0.

Click to expand...

2) Only one ACTIVE drive is needed.


Always best to install with only one HDD/SSD in place.