I sometimes see a "Select boot device." Why?

[polkaru]

I have some flaky hardware. I tried installing mdk9.1rc1 three times and it crashed three times. I then went back to mdk9.0... it crashed once then installed... but is very unstable. For some reason or another I can't change display settings--I'm stuck in 800x600... and never had that problem before.

My conclusion eventually was that the (linux) hard drive is kaputt... something that seems to be consistent with a disk accessing problem I've had (http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81708) and might explain the blue screening I experienced (http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=86944). The problem is I sometimes get a menu on booting that asks me which (hardware) device my machine should boot from (hda, DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, hdd, Floppy, SCSI Device). It totally doesn't make sense to me--it isn't consistent with the idea that my linux hard drive is broken--my machine boots off hda (the non-linux drive). Also, the menu I sometimes see is always complete (all the hardware is listed).

Currently, I feel like I'm just grasping at straws...

-I can't believe both my hard drives have a problem... yet at the same time wonder if they aren't both running hot (they are a bit warmer than what I'd say is comfortable to touch). Any ideas on how hot is hot for a hard drive?

-I wonder if my motherboard has a problem... or the disk controllers are flaky. Of course... neither I have any idea how to test...

-My computer seems happy with the DVD drive... I ran Knoppix for a while and my machine didn't crash (I had to take a holiday from Windows for a while--it just sucks so much).

-I replaced the power supply... it isn't the problem. I don't think it is a cooling issue; I have left my computer on overnight downloading.

-What does the boot device menu mean... problematic hard drive... motherboard? Annoying about this symptom is that is intermittent and I haven't notice an obvious pattern. What I have noticed is: (1) the boot device menu seems to be making more frequent appearances lately... and (2) its first appearance coincides approximately with the time I started having larger stability problems (in linux).

[mdwatts]

So the bios cannot detect the correct boot device and then displays a boot menu?

Have you checked all the IDE cables and power connections? Reseated all AGP/PCI cards?

[polkaru]

>So the bios cannot detect the correct boot device and then displays a boot menu?
Yes... except that the menu displays among the choices the boot device it should boot from (hda - a 30 GB QUANTUM drive). If what you just read doesn't seem to make sense you're not the only one that is confused.

>Have you checked all the IDE cables and power connections? Reseated all AGP/PCI cards?
I previously looked at the sound card (Creative - Sound Blaster Live! x-Gamer 5.1) & the tv tuner (ATI TV Wonder); individually I have removed them and run my machine without them to see if I get more stability. In neither case did I notice improved stability.

I disconnected the drive I have linux on (hdd)... the system is still very flaky.
I reseated the network card and graphics card... no improvement. The ribbon cables connecting the drives seem to be okay; I didn't detect any damage anywhere. I made sure the cables are properly plugged in and checked whether the power cables are properly seated.

I often crash while browsing; while a web page is loading. Recently I've been able to reproducablely crash my computer with CD Creator --whilst clicking through directories to select files for burning. I think the problem lies with the motherboard and/or its communication with the hard drive.

I feel like throwing my damned computer out the window.