MultiBoot User Guide
© Copyright 2006, 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
Product notice This user guide describes features that are common to most models. Some features may not be available on your computer.
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Table of contents 1 About the boot device order 2 Enabling boot devices in Computer Setup 3 Considering boot order changes 4 Choosing MultiBoot preferences Setting a new boot order in Computer Setup ...................................................................................... 6 Dynamically choosing a boot device using the F9 prompt ................................................................... 7 Setting a MultiBoot Express prompt ...............................................................
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1 About the boot device order As the computer starts, the system attempts to boot from enabled boot devices. The MultiBoot utility, which is enabled at the factory, controls the order in which the system selects a boot device. Boot devices can include optical drives, diskette drives, a network interface card (NIC), hard drives, and USB devices. Boot devices contain bootable media or files that the computer needs to start and operate properly.
The following list describes the factory setting for boot order in which drive letters A and C are assigned when MultiBoot is disabled. (The actual order varies by configuration.) ● ● Boot order for drive A boot devices: 1. Optical drive in an optional docking device or in an optional external MultiBay that contains a disc formatted as drive A 2. Optical drive in the internal MultiBay (select models only) that contains a disc formatted as drive A 3.
2 Enabling boot devices in Computer Setup The computer will boot to a USB device or a NIC device only if the device has first been enabled in Computer Setup. To enable a USB device or a NIC device as a boot device, follow these steps: 1. Open Computer Setup by turning on or restarting the computer, and then pressing f10 while the "F10 = ROM Based Setup" message is displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen. 2.
3 Considering boot order changes Before changing the boot order, note the following considerations: 4 ● When the computer restarts after the boot order has been changed, the computer attempts to start using the new boot order. ● If there is more than one type of boot device, the computer attempts to boot using the first of each type of boot device (except for optical devices).
4 Choosing MultiBoot preferences You can use MultiBoot in the following ways: ● To set a new boot order that the computer uses each time it is turned on, by changing the boot order in Computer Setup. ● To dynamically choose the boot device by pressing f9 while the “F9 = Boot device menu” message is displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen when the computer starts up. ● To use MultiBoot Express to set variable boot orders.
Setting a new boot order in Computer Setup To set a boot device order that the computer uses each time it is turned on or restarted, follow these steps: 1. Open Computer Setup by turning on or restarting the computer, and then pressing f10 while the "F10 = ROM Based Setup" message is displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen. 2. Use the arrow keys to select System Configuration > Boot Options, and then press enter. 3. Use the arrow keys to select Enable in the MultiBoot field.
Dynamically choosing a boot device using the F9 prompt To dynamically choose a boot device for the current start up sequence, follow these steps: 1. Open the Select Boot Device menu by turning on or restarting the computer, and then pressing f9 while the “F9 = Boot device menu” message is displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen. 2. Use the arrow keys to select a boot device, and then press enter. Your preferences go into effect immediately.
Setting a MultiBoot Express prompt To set the computer to display the MultiBoot startup location menu each time the computer is started or restarted, follow these steps: 1. Open Computer Setup by turning on or restarting the computer, and then pressing f10 while the "F10 = ROM Based Setup" message is displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen. 2. Use the arrow keys to select System Configuration > Boot Options, and then press enter. 3.
Entering MultiBoot Express preferences When the Express Boot menu displays during startup, you have the following choices: ● To specify a boot device from the Express Boot menu, select your preference within the allotted time, and then press enter. ● To prevent the computer from defaulting to the current MultiBoot setting, press any key before the allotted time expires. The computer will not start until you select a boot device and press enter.
Index B boot devices, enabling 3 boot order 1 C changing boot order 4, 6 Computer Setup Device Security 1 enabling bootable devices 3 setting boot order 6 setting MultiBoot Express prompt 8 D drive A boot devices 1 drive C boot devices 1 drives, boot order 1 L logical drive designations 4 M MultiBoot Express 1, 8 MultiBoot preferences 5 N Network Service Boot 3 NIC boot device 1, 3 P PXE server 3 10 Index
