operating system not found without vista dvd

When I try to boot up my laptop without the Vista Beta 2 DVD I created it gets to the point where it should load the OS but only has a cursor at the top-right corner. When the DVD is in there, it boots perfectly fine. Any suggestions?

Did you set your BIOS to boot from hard disk first?
-- Jane, not plain ;) 64bit enabled ;) Batteries not included. Braincell on vacation. "Burke" wrote in message

When I try to boot up my laptop without the Vista Beta 2 DVD I created it gets to the point where it should load the OS but only has a cursor at the top-right corner. When the DVD is in there, it boots perfectly fine. Any suggestions?

Burke--
When you have a Win2K, XP CD or Vista DVD they are bootable. They don't need any help from the bios setup settings as long as the entry for the optical device is set to automatic so the bios recognizes it properly. I've seen the entry set to off on boxes. There is no on when you enter the entry for the optical drive in any bios I've seen. I'm going to say this again because I see this from terribly bright knowledgable people all the time.
When do you need to set the bios boot order? When you're doing a repair install only. Repair Install is available in Win 2K and XP. Vista now uses Win RE. Vista also offers you an excellent opportunity to easily make an image backup. All you have to do is type "backup" in search at the start menu--another nice feature in Vista where it will find the Vista utility you need by simply typing a word close to its name in search.
In Vista it's been refined and purportedly made better and more powerful by Win RE's components. When it works it's excellent. But I haven't tried it enough times on enough different boxes to tell how well and often. I don't have any doubt they have--and I hope they are working to make it better. Desmond Lee PM and his team and the team's associated with Win RE are being very quiet about what they're doing a year after Vista's Beta birth, and how it works on any MSFT site in any technical depth.
Let's distinguish when we need to set the bios boot order. In Win 2K and XP, when one is going to do a repair install which is tantamount to an "uber system file check" then you need to set the bios order to "boot from the CD." A repair install assesses files and replaces them including corrupt drivers when it can. So does Startup Repair as a component of Win RE in Vista.
If you are just trying to boot into setup, normally all you need is that CD in 2K and XP and the DVD in Vista.
So here are two viable options--their may be more.
It seems that you're missing some files on that HD that are on that DVD. Booting to Vista works with the DVD; and it doesn't work without it. So we have at least four ways to get those files on the HD intact.
1) Win RE 2) If Win RE does not do it, then you can reburn the ISO. 3) Easy BCD or Boot Pro 2. 4) BCDEDIT from the Vista cmd prompt.
Those should do it, but if not, you can go after trying to repair the boot loader with Easy BCD or Boot Pro 2. Both sites come with screenshotted instrutions, and if those don't do it, you can try Vista's command line feature BCDEDIT.
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Win RE:
If you have a Vista DVD, there is a promising "feature" or utility in Vista called Win RE or Windows Recovery Environment.
***Accessing Windows RE (Repair Environment):***
1) Insert Media into PC (the DVD you burned)
2) ***You will see on the Vista logo setup screen after lang. options in the lower left corner, a link called "System Recovery Options."***
3) Select your OS for repair.
4) Its been my experience that you can see some causes of the crash from theWin RE feature:
You'll have a choice there of using:
1) Startup Repair 2) System Restore 3) Complete PC Restore
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Reburn Option:
1) Burn slowly. 4X should be fine. Some of this probably varies with the DVD writer and the media.
2) Make sure to select an ISO tab if there is one on the burning software, and make sure to close the session on the burn.
3) Try this tweak on your Windows XP drive and burn from there:
Get to Dev Manager by typing devmgmt.msc in run/win key + pause break or Rt.click My Computer>Prop>hardware tab>Device Manager if you like 5 steps instead of one cmd. If you're set to PMI here change to DMO and if set to DMO change to PMI using these 5 steps:
1) Click the + in front of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
2) Double Click the Secondary IDE Controller
3) Click Advanced Settings
4) Under Device 1  Next to Transfer Mode choose DMA (or vise versa)>Click OK
5) Reboot your System
6) Check your burn with a CRC utility and the links for this are below including the direct Taco Bell link. It is very classy, sophisticated, and very Wagner Edstrom/McCann Ericson esque for MSFT to adopt a Taco Bell url for their public Beta 2 CRC checker. Rock on Redmond Rednecks.
Obtain CRC Utility for Vista Beta 2 Here: (The CRC utility is a way to check the integrity of the ISO Burn which is probably where your problem lies--it's #1 on the list):
Here's a link: The CRC utility for Beta 2 is contained here (Scroll down to the bottom under "Additional Information"
Microsoft® Windows® Software Development Kit (SDK) for Beta 2 of Windows Vista and WinFX Runtime Components http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=13F8E273-F5EA-4B7B-B022-97755838DB94&displaylang=en
Additional Information:
To verify that your download of an ISO file for the Windows SDK Beta 2 build is not corrupt, download the CRC Utility. (Note: this is not a Microsoft application. Use at your own risk.)
To run the CRC test, open a command prompt and run the utility. providing it the name of the file (i.e. crc c:\6.0.5383.1.1.WindowsSDK_Vista_idw.DVD.Rel.img) The CRC utility will run two tests on the ISO: it will verify if the ISO is valid, and it will give the AutoCRC signature for the file. The AutoCRC signature for the Windows SDK Beta 2 ISO is 0x28434EEF. You should also confirm the size of the ISO is correct: 1.14 GB (1,229,355,008 bytes).
If it fails any of these three tests, re-download the ISO.
I really like the direct link to it though if you right click CRC here>left click Properties: http://tacobell.iexbeta.com/longhorn/crc.exe

___________________ Easy BCD or Vista Boot Pro 2:
Take a look at
Easy BCD http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/185
and
Vista Boot Pro2 http://www.pro-networks.org/vistabootpro/intro.php
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BCDEDIT
Go to the cmd prompt and type in BCDEDIT /? to see the switches. You can also drill into each switch.
Boot Configuration Data Editor Frequently Asked Questions http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/library/85cd5efe-c349-427c-b035-c2719d4af778.mspx
I think you'll get the problem solved by using Win RE.
Good luck; let us know.
CH
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"Burke" wrote in message

When I try to boot up my laptop without the Vista Beta 2 DVD I created it gets to the point where it should load the OS but only has a cursor at the top-right corner. When the DVD is in there, it boots perfectly fine. Any suggestions?