Odd, minor issue

[Anonymouse]

I tried installing Photoshop Elements 6 in Win 8 compatibility mode. It seemed to install OK, shortcut and everything...but when I rebooted as requested it just hung there. Whatever it did, it must've been drastic (though Linux, of course, still booted).

NOTE TO ALL 11 USERS: DO NOT, EVER, INSTALL PS6!!!

Then I had a brainwave. The drive was in fact cloned from my original 2TB drive. Okay, I thought, I know that works, so clone it again!

I did (took ages), and it's working.

But not quite smoothly.

When it boots up from power down, it first tries to reboot from 2 network options (as it did when I first installed the 2TB drive to clone it - at the time I dismissed it as an unimportant oddity), and fails. Then it goes on to Windows, which boots up fine. Not to worry, I thought, that's the UEFI misbehaving. So I got into it via Windows and changed the boot order. As a test once it'd booted up to Windows, I powered down and then powered up.

It still did it. Okay, it's a minor niggle, as it does work, but how do I tell the UEFI it should definitely boot up from Windows first? More to the point, how do I get it to remember that setting?

[Jaymoss]

There may be boot drive order and boot device priority maybe that is incorrect? like the old days of having CD Rom as a first boot option so it might read Network as first device rather than Hard Disk , so one setting tells the system to boot from a specific drive first the other a specific device type ie network hard drive removeable and so on

[Anonymouse]

Yes, there is a priority - but I selected Windows Boot as the first option. It shouldn't even look at IPv4 or IPv6 given that Windows Boot works, but it didn't remember my putting it first. This happens on waking up from hibernation, too.

I sent an email to PC Specialist; they supplied the (custom-built) laptop, and they've been very helpful. I suspect I may need to take it to Currys or Scan to replace the CMOS battery. I think I can replace it myself, but I need PC Specialist to tell me where it is and what type.

[Anonymouse]

It's a standard CR2032. I've replaced it.

And the laptop is still trying to boot from IPv4 and IPv6 first. Colour me confused. What else might be wrong?

OTOH, this is business as usual (if that's the right word in this context) for me.

SFC and chkdsk report no errors...and it's still doing it.

[Jaymoss]

laptop make a model ?

[Anonymouse]

No, a custom job c/o PC Specialist, as was my Win 8 laptop. I recommend them - fast, v. helpful after-sales service and the laptop is well-designed; there's just a panel to take off for access to the hard drive (apparently you can choose between M2 and 2.5" drives, there are spaces for both - try both, 2.5 as a spare? Hmm, I might, if it'll work), RAM and CMOS battery - plus the heatsink isn't too near the DVD player, as one I once had was. Taking out the laptop battery is simple (or it was once I figured it out!).

[Anonymouse]

For once, I've won!

I discovered the problem: the UEFI wasn't saving my changes. I was going to Boot Manager instead of Setup Utility, using the arrow keys to move down to Windows Boot, but when I pressed Enter it just went straight to Windows without pausing. So of course it did the same again on reboot. Computers are very literal - they do exactly what you tell them AND NO MORE. Essentially I wasn't saying 'save the changes', so it wasn't saving them.

Instead I accessed Boot from Setup, accessed EFI - and disabled IPv4 and IPv6. More importantly, this LET ME SAVE THE CHANGES. Once I rebooted it went straight to Windows.

As a test I powered down and then up. Booted as normal, no messages about failing to boot from IPv4 and IPv6. I set it to Hibernate, it went to sleep, I woke it up, it booted as normal. Being thorough, I did it again, and again it booted up normally.

Phew! I thought it was something weird!