Problems With Xp Boot Loader

[froycard]

Greetings...

I would like to post this new thread regarding this simple issue:

I have a hard disk with several partitions: C, D, E, F... I installed WINDOWS XP on partition D (NTFS) and then I installed WINDOWS ME on partition C (FAT-32). After doing this, I am not able to set up a correct boot loader to boot WINDOWS ME and WINDOWS XP.

For accessing Windows ME, I have to use a boot floppy disk and execute: SYS C:, so after booting I am able to start Windows ME. But I cannot start Windows XP now.

To access Windows XP, I have to use the XP install disk and go into recovery options and run command: BOOTCFG, BOOTFIX, etc. Then I am now able to start Win XP, but not able to start Win ME.

This sucks, and I know I shoulda installed ME first and then Windows XP. However, I don't think I have to reinstall windows XP so that I have a working BOOT LOADER. I have been messing with BOOT.INI file so that I have a graphical option to boot any OS, but when I try to start WIN ME, I gave a system error (file HAL.DLL corrupted, although I double checked that file exist on the partition D).

After this long description, is there a way to adjust my boot.ini so that I am able to boot either OS (ME or XP). Further info available on request.

:eek:

Froy

[DMR]

You really should have installed ME first; the recommended order of installation in a multi-boot setup is oldest OS first.

If you post your boot.ini file here we might be able to suggest a fix.

[froycard]

I appreciate your quick reply.

You may be right, but I don't think I have to get thru all the pain to reinstall Windows XP, plus OFFICE and the rest of the softwares already installed. There must be a way to set up or tweak this BOOT.INI file easily.

Anyway, here is it, my BOOT.INI:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows ME"

-------------
Remember, I have WINDOWS ME on C and WINDOWS XP on D partition, and just one hard disk.

Regards

Froy

[DMR]

To start with, for your partition setup, this:

multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

should be this instead:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

although that may not be all there is to it: When you installed XP on the second partition, it probably installed some critical boot files to the first partition. By installing ME on the first partition after XP was installed, you would have overwritten some of the XP boot files with ME's versions. This is why it's always recommended that you install the newest OS last; older OSes may not be natively aware of XP.

[alc6379]

Dave's right about the disk(0) side of things under XP. I've got a little more to add, though:

In Windows Me/9x based OSes, it's started using DOS, as those "OSes" really aren't OSes-- they're just GUIs for DOS. To start ME, the line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows ME"

should actually be changed to:

C:\="Windows ME"

The reason for this is because loading to C:\ uses the bootblocks located there, so DOS can load up Windows ME. That should enable you to multiboot Windows ME and XP. So, your file would look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Windows ME"

Let us know if that works for you.

[DMR]

Thanks Alex- looks like you're right about that. I wasn't at my multi-boot Win 98/2K Pro/XP Pro system (well OK- it also has three distros of Linux on it as well, but who's counting, right...) when I posted, but I'm looking at my boot.ini on that system now and my entry for Win 98 is:

C:\ = "Windows 98"

so your equivalent entry for ME should work. Just to put this out there though- I did perform my Windows installs in the recommended "oldest to newest" order.

[alc6379]

Just to put this out there though- I did perform my Windows installs in the recommended "oldest to newest" order.

Indeed. This I cannot stress highly enough. Even if the original poster fixes this issue with boot.ini, it's always the best practice to go oldest to newest, or to at least go "9x-est to NT-est" ;)

[froycard]

Indeed. This I cannot stress highly enough. Even if the original poster fixes this issue with boot.ini, it's always the best practice to go oldest to newest, or to at least go "9x-est to NT-est" ;)

Hi guys, I am the original poster, and thanks anybody for helping me with this issue,,,

BAD NEWS: It doesn't work.

I modified the BOOT.INI according to some poster's suggestions and corrected the wrong lines, and now it looks like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL"
c:\="MICROSOFT WINDOWS MILLENNIUM"

When my computers boots, it shows me a menu: 1. Windows XP and 2 Windows Me... But when I try to select option 2, it simply loops back to the menu to select OS again, it doesn't load up WINDOWS ME. So here I am again on Windows XP.

What's wrong, gurus??

Sorry :rolleyes:

Froy

[alc6379]

Well, you're probably going to have to reinstall, then.

What has happened is that your XP install has written its own boot blocks to the DOS/ME partition. When you do as you've done, the MBR now looks to NTLDR for the files. NTLDR is usually in C:\ , regardless of what partition you installed XP on.

Personally, I'd just go back and do it "right", anyways. As it stands now, you'll probably want to redo your install, so you can ensure that the XP bootloader correctly picks up your ME install, and you don't have to fool with boot.ini anymore.

[froycard]

Amazing, so I have to reinstall Windows XP in order to have a working XP BOOT LOADER?

It doesn't really make any sense at all to me, even Linux have nice tools to set up LILO, and works pretty well and without much hassles and hurdles.

Well, I guess there is not other way but to reinstall Windows XP, right?

[DMR]

It doesn't really make any sense at all to me, even Linux have nice tools to set up LILO, and works pretty well and without much hassles and hurdles.

The difference there is that third-party boot loaders such as lilo and Grub are pretty much independent of the operating systems they can boot. Those bootloaders don't care if they're booting Windows, Linux, BSD, etc., nor do they really care what particular versions of those operating systems you have. Also, the files those bootloaders use don't integrate/conflict with any of the boot programs/files used by Windows.

Your problem may lie with the bootsect.dos file, and you might be able to avoid a full reinstall by recreating that file. Here's the deal: when you use the Win 2k or XP bootloader to boot a previous, non-NT based OS like Win 9.x or ME), the bootloader reads information in the bootsect.dos file for instructions on where to find and how to boot the older OS. I'm not positive about this, but my guess is that because ME was not already installed when you installed XP, the bootsect.dos file that XP created during its installation process doesn't contain any information about the ME install. That might cause XP's loader to fail on ME, because bootsect.dos is the file the boot process jumps to when you choose the ME option in boot.ini.

Again, I'm not sure if rebuilding bootsect.dos will work, but if you want to give it a try you can find more info on the process in some of the links returned by this Google search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&q=bootsect.dos&btnG=Search

[alc6379]

It doesn't really make any sense at all to me, even Linux have nice tools to set up LILO, and works pretty well and without much hassles and hurdles.

To add more to it, the reason why it's so painless is because Linux was designed from the get-go to coexist with other operating systems. I doubt there will ever be a day that Microsoft will do this-- they don't really want to make it easy for you to boot any other OS on a computer running Microsoft Windows. Ask Be, Inc. and the OEMs who tried to load BeOS and Windows from the factory...

[j3k2u]

My HP 753n desktop will turn on and clicks a few times but wont boot up

[j3k2u]

My HP 753n desktop will turn on and clicks a few times but wont boot up

CAN SOMEONE HELP ME

[goldeagle2005]

CAN SOMEONE HELP ME

Dude, you need to start your own thread. This ensures that everyone gets their share of attention.

Regarding your post, we need more details

[goldeagle2005]

I appreciate your quick reply.

You may be right, but I don't think I have to get thru all the pain to reinstall Windows XP, plus OFFICE and the rest of the softwares already installed. There must be a way to set up or tweak this BOOT.INI file easily.

Anyway, here is it, my BOOT.INI:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows ME"

-------------
Remember, I have WINDOWS ME on C and WINDOWS XP on D partition, and just one hard disk.

Regards

Froy

You should reinstall Windows ME and then install XP. In both cases, choose the upgrade option, and not the Clean Install option. This way, you won't lose any of your settings or any programs you may have installed.

[DMR]

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