sp3 will not re boot with a firewire external hard drive a..

"Bill Drake" wrote:

> Hi. This problem occurs because windows exposes a BIOS bug.
>
> Some computer BIOS versions have the ability to boot from
> external devices. What this means is you have the capability to
> boot from an external USB or an external firewire disk-device
> that is running at boot.
>
> How this works is the BIOS assigns the external disk-device a
> lower Drive Letter than the partitions on the internal disk. As a
> result, when starting with the external disk or USB connected,
> control is passed to the Boot Sector on the external device,
> rather than the Boot Sector on the internal hard disk.
>
> If the Boot Sector on the external device is not active (and it
> should NOT be active for a non-OS partition), then the
> machine will stall at that point because it cannot continue the
> boot process unless an active partition is present.
>
>
> There are three solutions to this problem:
>
> 1. Check to see if a BIOS update is available for your system.
> Many times, the above is an oversight on the part of the
> BIOS manufacturer. The BIOS logic should recognize the
> external device has no boot loader available and set the
> system so the internal device with the active boot partition
> is used for the boot process.
>
> 2. Check to ensure your CMOS settings are correct for the
> BIOS on your computer. Some BIOS versions allow you
> to enable/disable the external USB/FW device boot feature
> or modify the detection parameters for this process.
>
> 3. Ensure the firmware in your external USB or Firewire
> device is up-to-date. The BIOS detection process for
> boot/non-boot capability depends on a valid handshake
> between the motherboard BIOS and the USB/FW
> firmware. Bugs here can also be part of the problem.
>
>
> Note: If none of the above solutions work, then your
> computer motherboard manufacturer or your
> USB/FW device manufacturer has decided
> to ignore this problem. At that point, you have
> to decide whether you are going to live with the
> problem - or you are going to nuke the company
> headquarters from orbit as the only valid response
> to pissing you off. <grin>
>
>
> Best I can do for now. <tm>
>
>
> Bill
>
>
>
> paul wrote:
> > Please help.
> >
> > I have 2 Identical computers. One which had the WD Firewire my book
> > attached and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems
> > re booting. The other which had the WD drive off during the sp3
> > installation will not reboot if it is later on at the time of the
> > boot. Once xp up and running WD drive can be attached as normal but
> > must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re installing sp3 with it
> > on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
>
>
>
>
I want to thank you, i went into my bios and turned off boot from usb
device, and I am up and running now, i do not have to unplug (or turn off my
external harddrive) to get my system to boot. again, thank you.

"paul" wrote:

> I am sure it is not the bios, all was well before sp3. Both my computers are
> identical with identical bios settings. One which had the WD Firewire my book
> attached and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re
> booting. The other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation
> will not reboot
> if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
> can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
> installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.

Paul try going into your bios and turning off boot from usb, and i believe
that this will solve your problems.

"paul" wrote:

> Please help.
>
> I have 2 Identical computers. One which had the WD Firewire my book attached
> and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re booting. The
> other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation will not reboot
> if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
> can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
> installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.

I have found that if you go into your bios and turn off boot from usb, then
this problem will disappear, let me know how it works.

"paul" wrote:

> I am sure it is not the bios, all was well before sp3. Both my computers are
> identical with identical bios settings. One which had the WD Firewire my book
> attached and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re
> booting. The other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation
> will not reboot
> if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
> can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
> installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.

Go into your bios and turn off boot from usb device, and see what happens,
it works for me.

"not sp3 issue" wrote:

>
>
> "paul" wrote:
>
> > Please help.
> >
> > I have 2 Identical computers. One which had the WD Firewire my book attached
> > and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re booting. The
> > other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation will not reboot
> > if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
> > can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
> > installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
>
> I have found that if you go into your bios and turn off boot from usb, then
> this problem will disappear, let me know how it works.


Above does not work. Firewire problem not a usb problem

"paul" wrote:

>
>
> "not sp3 issue" wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > "paul" wrote:
> >
> > > Please help.
> > >
> > > I have 2 Identical computers. One which had the WD Firewire my book attached
> > > and turned on all the time sp3 was installed has no problems re booting. The
> > > other which had the WD drive off during the sp3 installation will not reboot
> > > if it is later on at the time of the boot. Once xp up and running WD drive
> > > can be attached as normal but must be off for boot ups. Uninstalling and re
> > > installing sp3 with it on doesn't help still won't re boot with it on.
> >
> > I have found that if you go into your bios and turn off boot from usb, then
> > this problem will disappear, let me know how it works.
>
>
> Above does not work. Firewire problem not a usb problem
>


I may have found a solution. After upgrading to XP sp3 my computer would not
boot with my external firewire drive plugged in. So, after reading through
countless forums and knowledge bases I found the answer on Western digitals
site. The problem comes from sbp2port.sys, You have to revert to an older
version(5.1.2600.2180). I found this version in the uninstall directory on my
C drive. Just replace this version with the version SP3 installed and
everything works now. I can restart my computer now with my firewire drive
plugged in. I did this a few days ago and every thing seems to be working
fine. Good luck