Mutli-boot won't boot with IDE drive attached.

[#1]

Puzzling me.
SATA drives. Multi OSes across two of them. Booting any OS no problem.
Attach IDE drive, OSes on primary SATA drive (that contains the first 'C:' OS) boot fine. OS on other SATA drive won't boot:
"Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. ..."
Had an instinct it was because of the IDE drive, so disconnected it and other drive OS boots fine.
Looked into BIOS, thinking I might have to change something there and can't see anything that might be applicable. Anybody have any ideas?

[#2]

Your problem is almost certainly the boot sequence in the bios - the default will probably be CD then IDE then SATA
What motherboard do you have

[#3]

Hi Jim.
My boot sequence doesn't seem to have any capability to specify whether it's IDE or SATA. Options are: Floppy, LS120, Hard Disk, CDROM, ZIP, USB-FDD, USB-ZIP, USB-CDROM, USB-HDD, Legacy LAN, Disabled.
I've looked at so many things today that I've forgotten already, so I'll have to shut down and restart to check, but I'm sure that when I checked earlier that for Hard Disk Boot Priority, the IDE disk is listed last. What I do remember is that in Standard CMOS Features the IDE drive is listed first on Channel 0 Master, but there is no option to alter their positions. I have no idea if that part is even relevant.
Anyway, my MB is Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3/S3. I'm gonna pop off briefly and have another look in the BIOS.
EDIT:
Having checked again Hard Disk Boot Priority, it is as I said. The listing is:
1. Ch2 M (This is my first drive (SATA) with the main C:\ OS on it, and another OS installation which boots fine too)
2. Ch2 S (This is another SATA drive)
3. Ch3 M (This is my third SATA drive with the OS which will not boot when the IDE drive is connected)
4. Ch0 M (This is the IDE drive)
5. Bootable Add-in Cards.

[#4]

That is the standard Gigabyte listing
Did the IDE drive have an operating system on it at some point
Why have you got two drives on the same SATA port as that M/B only has 4 specified as 0,1,2 and 3 with one as master and the other as slave - that isn't correct as you can't have master/slave on SATA - something is screwed there
Which operating systems do you have

[#5]

No, the IDE drive has never had an OS on it.
Why have I got two SATA drives on the same port? Search me, Jim. All I know is that each SATA drive has it's own SATA cable, each connected to a separate socket on the motherboard. I was a bit surprised myself to see 'slave' in reference to SATA, too.
EDIT:
Just had another check in Standard CMOS Features, and this is how it lists my drives:
IDE Channel 0 Master [serial number] (the IDE drive)
IDE Channel 0 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 1 Master [None]
IDE Channel 1 Slave [None]
IDE Channel 2 Master [serial number] (SATA C:\ drive)
IDE Channel 2 Slave [serial number] (another SATA drive, no OSes)
IDE Channel 3 Master [serial number] (another SATA drive with non booting OS)
IDE Channel 3 Slave [serial number] (bdrom drive)

[#6]

Went back to my first thought and messed around with the jumper on the IDE drive; it made no difference. I even tried changing which plug I used on the IDE cable, though I was sure it wouldn't make any difference with the one IDE drive. I still can't boot to the other SATA OS. Does anybody have any further ideas?

[#7]

It just may be worth looking at the actual boot loader in the primary drive - it may be looking in the wrong place

[#8]

Is the SATA controller operating in some IDE mode, so that SATA drives appear as IDE drives to the operating system?

[#9]

Jim, how do I look at the 'actual boot loader'? Unless you mean checking the boot.ini, which is the first thing I did (knowing it was right anyway - remember, the other SATA OS boots fine without the IDE drive). In either event, disk in or disk out, disk management has the other SATA OS drive as the same numbered drive. It doesn't change drive number.
ejs, I'm not entirely sure what you mean or how to check. If you refer to the OnChip SATA Controller in the BIOS, that is set to default (Native IDE). The other options for it are RAID and AHCI. I have no idea what AHCI is about, but as for RAID, I don't think I can use that (something about requiring an even number of drives and as I sometimes swap drives in and out, and came to basically understand years ago that RAID is notoriously problematic I resolved to stay away from it).

[#10]

ACHI may help but changing at this stage isn't entirely straightforward http://expertester.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/how-to-enable-ahci-windows-xp/

[#11]

How are you choosing which OS to boot? Is it the BIOS menu, then the bootloader menu if you pick the drive with 2 operating systems on, or are they all on one bootloader menu?

[#12]

Quote from: Oldjim

ACHI may help but changing at this stage isn't entirely straightforward http://expertester.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/how-to-enable-ahci-windows-xp/

I've bookmarked that, so thanks. I'll hold off, however, from actually doing it. I don't know that I want or need to set this AHCI driver up and I'm more reticent not having a clue what it's about. Having read the item though, I need to root out my MB drivers disc again and have a look on it because I'm sure I installed SATA controller when I set up the system two years or so ago. Anyway, I want to have a look and see if there is anything on the disc to do with these mysterious AHCI drivers.

Quote from: ejs

How are you choosing which OS to boot? Is it the BIOS menu, then the bootloader menu if you pick the drive with 2 operating systems on, or are they all on one bootloader menu?

I'm booting via the normal MS bootloader, which references the listings in my boot.ini file of 3 OSes on 2 SATA drives, after my TrueCrypt bootloader clears the way following correct password input. As a point of clarity: whether I have the TC bootloader being used or not, the problem still exists, so I'm sure it can't be tied to the use of TC.

[#13]

So the problem is that the bootloader on the first SATA drive won't load the operating system on another SATA drive, although it can load the systems on the same drive.
I'm guessing the problem has something to do with there being more than the usual 4 IDE drives (as far as Windows is concerned, all the drives are IDE). I'm guessing that the boot.ini entry for the OS on the other drive needs changing but I don't know exactly how.

[#14]

When the IDE drive is connected, yes, that is the problem exactly. I don't, however, have more than four hard drives presently connected. I have three SATA and one IDE. Unless that includes the BDROM. If it does and the 'more than four' is relevant, I could always do a test and disconnect the BDROM and then see if it will boot to the other OS on the other SATA drive.
As to changing the boot.ini I looked at that first because my first thought was the addition of the IDE drive had changed the disc numbering/priority. It hadn't and doesn't change.
I had a look on my MB drivers disc and the only drivers I can find all appear to be RAID drivers, or "AHCI compatible" RAID drivers, despite the disc menu saying "SATA" drivers in such and such a directory, they are RAID. Beside that, there are three lots, which is just even more confusing for me.

[#15]

Quote from: Oldjim

ACHI may help but changing at this stage isn't entirely straightforward http://expertester.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/how-to-enable-ahci-windows-xp/

It's a lot easier if you do it this way!
I used this method when I made my change to SATA drives!