Re: Please help me solve new BIBM/Win 10 Install Weirdness?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2018 1:10 am
Hi, Brian! Thanks for bearing with me!
This post is, I'm afraid, going to be annoyingly long ( :oops: ), but I'm gonna try to keep this post from being TOO disorganized, but I probably won't succeed entirely, because I've tried a few different things and it's confusing even to myself...
I think it will be helpful to define some nomenclature. Instead of numbering the SSDs, I'll identify them by manufacturer. The Samsung SSD has a capacity of approx 112 GB. The Samsung consists of exactly two partitions: An empty 31 MB FAT16 partition which will eventually contain BIBM but doesn't yet, and the entire remainder of the SSD, 111.8 GB, containing the new 64-bit Win 10 Pro 1809 system partition. There is no unallocated space on it. It is NOT in EMBR format, just normal MBR.
The Crucial SSD has a bit more than twice the capacity of the Samsung. It contains exactly three partitions, in the following order: The BIBM partition, a 64-bit Windows 7 Pro system partition, then a 64-bit Windows 10 1703 partition. There is no unallocated space on this SSD either. The Crucial SSD IS an EMBR disk.
Recent History Part 1: Until today, I was continually able to successfully boot into the new Win 10 system on the Samsung SSD. Note that I was ONLY able to boot into the new Win 10 AS LONG AS the Crucial SSD came FIRST in the BIOS boot order. If I set the BIOS boot order such that the Samsung came first, it would NEVER boot correctly; I would get an error message to the effect that no operating system could be found.
I do not understand why this boot order is necessary, but VERY weirdly, if I boot into the Win 7 system on the Crucial, a lot of things don't work correctly! :o For example, many applications -- both 32-bit and 64-bit -- simply will not launch. I'll double-click them, and NOTHING happens. If I navigate to the application's location, select it then right-click, the context menu will NOT show "Run as administrator" or otherwise indicate that the system knows it's an application. How bizarre is that? The control panels will work, and if I double-click "Computer", that will work normally also. WTF??
As a completely wild guess, perhaps the Windows 10 1809 installation process clobbered something in that partition, maybe like a boot manager thingie, which is why it is absolutely necessary that the Crucial SSD comes first in the boot order if I'm going to successfully boot the new Win 10. Bob only knows!
This is the right time to talk about the system's BIOS. The mobo is an ASUS Z87-A, and it has the most recent BIOS firmware (which is now about 3 years old or so). In the Boot section of the BIOS settings, here are the relevant menu items and how I have them set.
Fast Boot and Hardware Fast Boot are DISABLED.
I have Launch CSM Enabled, and here is how the sub-items are set:
(1) Boot Device Control: Legacy OPROM only
(2) Boot from Network Devices: Ignore
(3) Boot from Storage Devices: Legacy OPROM first
(4) Boot from PCI-E/PCI Expansion Devices: Legacy OPROM first
The above CSM settings mandate that I have Secure Boot set to "Other OS" (the other option is Windows UEFI).
But now we come to something that I think may be EXTREMELY important to understanding why this situation is so fu/cked up: In the "Hard Drive BBS Priorities" (aka Boot Order), for the first time I can recall ever seeing this, there's an entry labeled "Windows Boot Manager", as if that's a separate hard drive! I suppose it's possible that it's been there before and I simply didn't notice it, but I don't think so: I think this never appeared prior to installing 1809 (as opposed to earlier releases of Windows 10).
...
Sorry, Brian. I suffer from a couple of chronic diseases, and one of them just hit me hard. I have to stop posting for today. Let me just briefly say that today I remved EVERY other storage device except for a completely unformatted 500 GB disk drive and the Win 10 1809 installation flash drive. The install was successful, but again there was no C:\Boot folder created and instead the BCD was created under C:\Windows\Boot
G'night.
This post is, I'm afraid, going to be annoyingly long ( :oops: ), but I'm gonna try to keep this post from being TOO disorganized, but I probably won't succeed entirely, because I've tried a few different things and it's confusing even to myself...
I think it will be helpful to define some nomenclature. Instead of numbering the SSDs, I'll identify them by manufacturer. The Samsung SSD has a capacity of approx 112 GB. The Samsung consists of exactly two partitions: An empty 31 MB FAT16 partition which will eventually contain BIBM but doesn't yet, and the entire remainder of the SSD, 111.8 GB, containing the new 64-bit Win 10 Pro 1809 system partition. There is no unallocated space on it. It is NOT in EMBR format, just normal MBR.
The Crucial SSD has a bit more than twice the capacity of the Samsung. It contains exactly three partitions, in the following order: The BIBM partition, a 64-bit Windows 7 Pro system partition, then a 64-bit Windows 10 1703 partition. There is no unallocated space on this SSD either. The Crucial SSD IS an EMBR disk.
Recent History Part 1: Until today, I was continually able to successfully boot into the new Win 10 system on the Samsung SSD. Note that I was ONLY able to boot into the new Win 10 AS LONG AS the Crucial SSD came FIRST in the BIOS boot order. If I set the BIOS boot order such that the Samsung came first, it would NEVER boot correctly; I would get an error message to the effect that no operating system could be found.
I do not understand why this boot order is necessary, but VERY weirdly, if I boot into the Win 7 system on the Crucial, a lot of things don't work correctly! :o For example, many applications -- both 32-bit and 64-bit -- simply will not launch. I'll double-click them, and NOTHING happens. If I navigate to the application's location, select it then right-click, the context menu will NOT show "Run as administrator" or otherwise indicate that the system knows it's an application. How bizarre is that? The control panels will work, and if I double-click "Computer", that will work normally also. WTF??
As a completely wild guess, perhaps the Windows 10 1809 installation process clobbered something in that partition, maybe like a boot manager thingie, which is why it is absolutely necessary that the Crucial SSD comes first in the boot order if I'm going to successfully boot the new Win 10. Bob only knows!
This is the right time to talk about the system's BIOS. The mobo is an ASUS Z87-A, and it has the most recent BIOS firmware (which is now about 3 years old or so). In the Boot section of the BIOS settings, here are the relevant menu items and how I have them set.
Fast Boot and Hardware Fast Boot are DISABLED.
I have Launch CSM Enabled, and here is how the sub-items are set:
(1) Boot Device Control: Legacy OPROM only
(2) Boot from Network Devices: Ignore
(3) Boot from Storage Devices: Legacy OPROM first
(4) Boot from PCI-E/PCI Expansion Devices: Legacy OPROM first
The above CSM settings mandate that I have Secure Boot set to "Other OS" (the other option is Windows UEFI).
But now we come to something that I think may be EXTREMELY important to understanding why this situation is so fu/cked up: In the "Hard Drive BBS Priorities" (aka Boot Order), for the first time I can recall ever seeing this, there's an entry labeled "Windows Boot Manager", as if that's a separate hard drive! I suppose it's possible that it's been there before and I simply didn't notice it, but I don't think so: I think this never appeared prior to installing 1809 (as opposed to earlier releases of Windows 10).
...
Sorry, Brian. I suffer from a couple of chronic diseases, and one of them just hit me hard. I have to stop posting for today. Let me just briefly say that today I remved EVERY other storage device except for a completely unformatted 500 GB disk drive and the Win 10 1809 installation flash drive. The install was successful, but again there was no C:\Boot folder created and instead the BCD was created under C:\Windows\Boot
G'night.