Disabling a 2nd bootable hard drive in a nForce 2 Motherboard

Details;
nForce2 motherboard (Abit NF7-S V2),
XP Pro w/ sp3 (but I doubt it matters),
IDE hard drives on the same bus,
Non RAID setup,
SATA ports not used,2nd IDE channel has a Optical drive on it.

There is the entry in the Bios to set any of the four IDE devices to "None", but doing so has no affect upon the next boot in the Bios. The drives still show up in the boot screen, so I doubt it's a Windows issue.

I have two bootable drives (1st partition each), and want to isolate one or the other (only on occasion) for different reasons, but I would rather not go through the hassle of opening up the case and pulling th cable(s).

Anyone else have this issue?

 

Yes, but that isn't the issue, it's the lack of the ability to completely 'hide' the drive from the O/S without opening the full case cover and physical disconnecting it, which I don't want to do.

The Bios is ignoring the "None" state setting of that drive that was set in the Bios. It sees the drive no matter what. I'm assuming it's some lame flaw in the Bios firmware (possible because of age) and hoped someone had a workaround.

 

wouldn't it be easier to have it setup for dual boot? or do you not want xp to see it?

 

Dual boot as in two O/S's in the same partition??
If so, I could never see the purpose/advantage of this since everything is in the same partition. If it gets attacked or the actual HDD craps out, you are SOOL.

I want the ability for the Bios not to report the drive is there. This works on a nForce5 MB w/ SATA drives and a auxiliary IDE drive.

 

Not the same partition. Dual booting (or Multi-boot for more than 2) operating systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi_boot

 

I wanted a KISS system.

Anyway, here are screen shots of the Bios. take note of the 'primary master' image and the choice labeled "None". Unless "None" means something else here.

 

You might want to look into these units or similar ones. Buy 2, one for each drive.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MB123AK-B-UO&cat=CSE

 

Interesting. Thanks, but I would rather have the above work.

 

You could try to find an updated BIOS version for your mobo (for example)...you might have to drill down, see what version you're running presently, see if an update is available that addresses this problem...

Be advised, of course: updating ('flashing') a motherboard's basic input/output system always carries risks...

 

AFAIK, I have the last Bios for this MB.

 

I do have the last Bios for that MB. I didn't know Abit was out of business.