Windows 7 Will Not Boot When the Boot Disk is NOT in the CD Drive!

DoubleAKING · 24 Jul 2010

Hey everyone, i'm brand new to these forums! All the help I can get will be greatly appreciated! I use Win 7 Pro 64 Bit

So 2 months ago, I installed windows 7 pro with no problems at all. Fast forward to today, I decided to reformat because the boot would get stuck in the middle of trying to boot into windows, it wouldn't flash the windows logo. I didn't think much of it so I just reformatted. This is where my real troubles began.

So I reinstall windows 7 pro with no problems (the boot disk is in there the cd drive the entire time) I install my programs and what not and install my updates. All 100% Fine. Then I take out the boot disk and restart again... and I get this error message saying:

Nvidia Boot Agent 229.0525
Copyright 2001-2005 Nvidia Corp
Copyright 1997-2000 Intel Corp

Client Mac Address: 00 30 1B BC1F59 GUID: 12973077-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF
DCHP....

Then I press escape, then it says this:
PXE-EA0: Network Boot Canceled
PXE-M0F: Exiting Nvidia Boot Agent
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

So the first time I got this error, I just thought, Oh, something must have happened no big deal, so I reformatted again and again. But I kept on getting the same exact error. It'll load into windows just fine when my install disc is in the cd drive, but when I take it out, that error pops up. *My windows is authentic, each time I have been able to validate my copy.* I have tried installing from my hard drive and from the install disc with same error.*

This is my current set up:
Shuttle XPC SN27P2 (Barebone) Comes with motherboard, PSU, and case.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ @2.6GHz 65W
PNY XLR8 GTS 250
OCZ Reaper Memory 4GB PC-6400 DDR2-800
WD 74GB Raptor
WD 640GB Internal
WD 2.0TB Internal
WD 1.5TB External
WD 400GB External
Cavalry 1.0TB External
Shuttle 450 Watt PSU
Logitech G15 + MX518 + FuncPad 1030 Blk on Blk
Sony Optirac 18x DVD-/+RW drive
Dual Samsung SyncMaster 225BW 22" LCD Wide Screen Monitors

So how can I get windows to boot up with out having the boot disk in the cd drive...It worked the very first time I installed windows 7 on my PC... what changed to make this happen and how do I fix?!

Night Hawk · 24 Jul 2010

Welcome to the Seven Forums! DoubleAKing Try not to hit the post new thread button too hard since you made a duplicate thread.

The part referring to "PXE-EA0: Network Boot Canceled" suggests one of two things upon seeing that. 1)You configured some remote access by network or 2) the wake up by Lan option in the bios may be enabled. Since the drive was reformatted you can rule out the first item right away for still seeing the same after a clean install.

With some bioses the option for creating a backup of the bios to be stored on the main drive is present where the reformat would have removed that but not answered the original problem unless deleted from drive. You may want to look in the board's manual in the section on the bios setup to what options are present as well as looking how the boot order is configured.

From there the startup repair tool can help the mbr and boot sector information.

A Guy · 24 Jul 2010

It looks like your BIOS has the network card as the first boot item. I think you need to go into BIOS and set your boot priority. The OS HDD needs to be first (or second after the CD drive to make it easy to boot from bootable media without going into BIOS to change boot order). A Guy

DoubleAKING · 24 Jul 2010

@ NightHawk - Sorry for posting twice, won't happen again. The Shuttle Barebone didn't come with a motherboard manual that I could refer too. It just comes with a manual for the motherboard layout and set up guide. Any other suggestions?

@ A Guy - I have the boot order as this. Cd Rom -> Hard Disk -> Removable. This is how it was when I installed win 7 the very first time with no problems. I didn't change anything in the Bios between reformats. Currently, I only have my main HD where win7 is installed and my cd drive.

Everyone help! I need to get this PC working by July 27! SC2 gets released! :)

A Guy · 24 Jul 2010

Ok, let's change the boot order to just the OS HDD, see if it boots. If not, suggest opening the case and physically unplugging every drive but the boot drive (OS HDD). Again see if it will boot. You definitely have some kind of boot order problem. I see 5 HDDs are you using any kind of Raid setup? Try booting with just the OS HDD in the boot order. Also look through the BIOS for any mention of wake on LAN, or any LAN or boot priority or boot order settings. If you aren't familiar with BIOS, don't change anything and exit without savings and tell us what options you found. A Guy

gregrocker · 24 Jul 2010

Please post back a screenshot of your full Disk Management drive map expanded to full screen so that it shows the full map and all listings including size and space used. Use SNipping tool in Start Menu.

Night Hawk · 24 Jul 2010

DoubleAKing there's a good little freeware that's going to help you out quite a bit called System Info for Windows or SIW for short that will list the make and model board you have as well as other hardwares and even the programs you have installed. You can download that at SIW | System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala

That comes in two forms one that creates a desktop shortcut with the setup file and the other being a strictly stand alone you double click on when browsing to where you save it to. What we'll need here as well as you is the make and model in order to look up the board manufacturer's support page for the user manual. That will be a download in PDF format once looked up.

That's the one thing you will want to go through and keep onhand for sure!

Meanwhile simply looking through the bios in the advanced, integrated peripherals and if seen boot order section will make you familiar with the layout and various sections. In the boot the hard drives item when pressing enter typically brings up the list of drives for moving the default to the top of the list.

For guaranteed boot from hard drive only or "force booting" you set hard drive first and disable the rest which wil prevent any further problems. You may "card reader" or a network, Lan item presently set as first.