I think my BIOS is so crap....

[speedy gonzales]

Hi All

I have a pain in the arse problem which has driven me mad for quite sometimes. Im not sure if it relates to my BIOS but i have a strong feeling it does. Here we go. I have a COMPAQ laptop EVO N800w, with BIOS family 648P4W ROM. It looks like this (which you should see that it support boot from USB Hard Drive - Shows on the Boot Order, and yeah thats the most recent revision which is 2004, available on COMPAQ website):

==============================

Manufacturer
Compaq
Product Name
Evo N800w
Serial Number
5Y33LDFXXXXXXX
Serial Port
Device hidden
*Device available
Parallel Port
Device hidden
*Device available
Infrared Port
Device hidden
*Device available
Wireless Network Button
*Disable
Enable
Floppy Drives
Device hidden
*Device available
Floppy Boot
Disable
*Enable
Legacy Diskette Write
Disable
*Enable
CD-ROM Boot
Disable
*Enable
Network Service Boot
Disable
*Enable
Asset Tracking Number

Enter Ownership Tag

Boot Order
USB Hard Drive
Notebook Multibay 1
Hard Drive (C)
Network Controller
Notebook Multibay 2
USB Floppy
USB LS-120 Drive
USB CD ROM
PCI Slot A
PCI Slot B
PCI Slot C
MultiBoot
Disable
*Enable
QuickBoot
Disable
*Enable
Num Lock State at Power-On
*Disable
Enable
Multiple Pointing Devices
Disable
*Enable
Intel® Speedstep™ Technology
*Enable
Disable
USB Legacy Device Support
Disable
*Enable
Fan Always on while on AC Power
*Disable
Enable

=====================================================

I also have a IDE 80GB Western Digital HD with USB enclosure and with Win XP on it and i am currently trying to boot my laptop using this device. The USB drive works fine on other PCs (I've tried it on 5 different PCs with different settings). It booted like a charm when i set it as a Boot device, bottom line, its live and kicking.

The problem happened when i tried to boot my laptop with it. I keep seing this error message "ERROR LOADING OPERATING SYSTEM" and judging from the behaviour, my laptop didnt even bother to look for any OS on it, as if there is nothing plugged on the USB port at all.

I have been pulling my hair and googled it up and managed to find similar cases where i actually need to do a very simple action; to set access mode in BIOS from Auto to Large or LBA or vice-versa, but as you can see from above list, my;so called up to date revised in 2004; BIOS does not have that option, it does not even have any option to do things to the primary Hard Drive.

I have also been told that COMPAQ uses HD emulation for USB devices (in non windows environment), does it mean that i need to play about with Master/Slave setting on both HD? Having said that, i am not sure if thats the case because as i mentioned above, this external USB works on other PC.

Any help would be much appreciated. Ta

[edwin]

Error loading operating system means it tried to start windows but since the install is for a completely different hardware configuration, it crashes.

So, you need to reinstall windows on that harddisk when it is actually attached to the laptop.

[speedy gonzales]

Hi Edwin, thanks for your suggestion,...

I have to admit the XP i have on my external USB was installed on other machine, so you are spot on, but I think i also did what you've suggested as well and again it didnt work. The error message i had was the same "ERROR LOADING,.." despite of installation was done on my laptop,...

Now looking at my BIOS thingie, do you reckon is it actually support USB boot at all? because i started to doubt that ability regardless the fact that it does have an option to boot from USB Hard Disk,...