Sounds like the BIOS is set to boot with external drive before the internal drive. This is more of a feature than a bug as it might be useful later for troubleshooting. I would just avoid booting with the external powered up.
If you must check the BIOS most machines tell you as they boot up what key to hit. My HP here uses the Esc key. I used a dell that used a function key. The option to look for is something like the boot order. Keep at least any CD/DVD rom booting before the HD. If you can add a big Hard drive in place of the 80GB. 500 GB is around $100 some places. I usually use an external case that I can change the hard drive in for external drives. This way you can do a backup and put it on the shelf for later. I'm guessing F and G are media card slots or USB slots where something like a thumb drive had been plugged in. On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 10:29 PM, Robert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have posted here before about my college student daughter giving her > desktop computer to my high-school student because the college student > got a MacBook Pro. The desktop was a local custom build PC. It has > Windows XP Pro OS. > > Strange things are happening with the new computer. (The college > student added several programs to the computer.) > > (1) You would think that the internal hard drive of 240 GB would be > enough for a college student, but in fact almost all the drive space is > used up in video & audio files. In order to make a backup, I added an > external (USB) hard drive of 200 GB. Whenever I try to boot the > computer with the hard drive connected, it won't boot, saying that it is > trying to boot from the CD drive. When I switch off the external hard > drive, it boots. I can't find a way to go into the bootup menu to see > why this is happening. Any suggestions for going to the bootup or BIOS > menu? > > (2) When I try to back up drive D: (drive C: and drive D: are on the > same 160 GB internal hard drive, partitioned equally between the two > drives -- drive C: are programs, drive D: is data) using Windows backup, > the program terminates saying that drive D: is write protected. I can't > find a way to verify or change this write protection. I wonder why > write protection on drive D: prevents a backup to the external hard > drive, assuming that write protection for drive D: actually exists. > Drive C: backs up OK using Windows backup. > > BTW, there is a second physical internal hard drive, drive H:, that is > the remaining 80 GB. My Computer reports two more drives that don't > exits: drives F: and G: that are removable drives that don't exit as > far as I know. When clicked upon either, a message appears to insert > media into the drive that doesn't exit. > > What to do? > > > ************************************************************************* > ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** > ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** > ************************************************************************* > -- John Duncan Yoyo -------------------------------o) ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
