Hardware Specs.
Intel D945GNT Motherboard (BIOS 3992)
Intel P4 3.06Ghz
Netlinx DDR2 RAM 4x512MB 533Mhz
Western Digital 40G 7200 SATA WD400BD-75JMC0 Plugged into SATA port 1
Seagate 40G 7200 SATA ST340014AS Plugged into SATA port 2
For the last 8 or so months I have been running XP Pro SP2 installed on the
WD drive (SATA port 1) as my main Working OS. On a regular basis I switch the
boot drive within the BIOS to the Seagate drive (SATA port2) in order to
install different OS and software packages as a test platform.
When I boot from the drive plugged into SATA port 1 (the WD drive) the drive
presents as the "C:" drive and the drive plugged into SATA port 2 (the
Seagate drive) presents as the "D:" drive. When I switch the boot drive in
the BIOS, the drive letters reverse... When I boot from the drive plugged
into SATA port 2 (the Seagate drive) the Drive presents as the "C:" drive and
the Drive plugged into SATA port 1 (the WD drive) presents as the "D:" drive.
I can disconnect the WD from SATA port 1 and continue to use the Seagate
drive with the previously installed OS without consequence. I have installed
Windows 2000 Professional and Server, XP Pro and Windows Server 2003 on this
"second" drive in this "dual boot" configuration many times without affecting
my main working XP Pro installation on the WD drive in SATA port 1.
Vista, on the other hand, seems to be having a tough time with the "second"
drive install. I can begin the install and it collects the initial info
(product key, etc.) and begins copying and extracting all of the files. When
the Pc boots for the first time after the first part of the installation, I
get a blinking cursor in the upper left corner and the system sits. I left
the system for about an hour and upon return the cursor was still there but I
noticed the occasional HD activity light, so I left the system for another
hour. When I returned I had the "login" prompt and was presented with the
Vista desktop. Once I was working withing the GUI the performance was
admirable. I rebooted the PC and it again presented the blinking cursor for a
little over an hour before getting to a desktop. Out of curiosity I unplugged
the WD drive from port 1 and plugged the Seagate into port 1, updated the
BIOS and booted the PC. It still took about an hour for the welcome screen to
appear. Ok, the wife was out of town for the weekend so I had lots of time on
my hands. I reinstalled Vista on the Seagate drive while it was plugged into
SATA port 1 (left the WD drive unplugged) this time there was no blinking
cursor and no delay. From a cold boot to a working desktop takes less than 1
minute. Ok, now I have to get to the bottom of this. I unplugged the Seagate
from SATA port 1, plugged the WD into SATA port 2, updated the BIOS and began
the Vista install. Again there was the long (1+ hour) delay and the blinking
cursor. I did this a few more times using SATA ports 3 and 4 with the same
results.
In a nut shell, If Vista is installed on either drive plugged into SATA port
1 it performs and boots quickly. If Vista is installed on either drive while
plugged into any port other than port 1 regardless if there is a drive
connected to port 1, there is a tremendous boot delay.
I can duplicate this if there are any logs someone wishes to review.
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