Can't boot up xp pro

Hi ... I have windows xp pro sp2 install on my computer and it was working just fine until I decide to try to install windows 2000 on a different partition , Now I can only boot up my computer in 2000 pro only , This is what I have done , I had xp pro on my only partition ( c drive 80gb ) So I thought to use partition magic 8 to create another partition which I did , that work out ok too , So what I done next was to boot off the 2000 pro disk and do the normal way of loading windows , I got to the point to choose which drive I would like to install 2000 pro , I selected the partition which I just created and did the installment process , Afterward I did all the drivers updates which I now have 2000 pro running fine but , When I when and restarted the computer and select xp pro system it wouldn't load , I got a screen that had to do windows 2000 pro , So I mess aroundith the recovery console , What I try to do was a fixboot but , I don't think that work , Now when my computer loads up I used to have just the 2 operating system ( xp pro and 2000 ) Now after messing with the recovery I see 5 options to boot up from , They are fixboot , n , 2 , 2000 pro and xp pro , Can someone explain to me what I have done wrong ? Or better yet can someone please explain what I need to do now to correct my problem ? I would really appreciated If I am able to load xp up again ... Thanks

PS : when windows 2000 is loaded I am able to view all the content of my c drive

 

Your problem lies with the fact the WinXP boot files, the ntloader, has been replaced on your system with the Win2000 ntloader files, which are unable to boot WinXP. You will find these files in the root of your XP install and what you need to do now is replace the Win2k files with XP ones.

Look on your C: drive for these two files
ntldr
Ntdetect.com
They are hidden system files so you will need to unhide such files before you can see them.
Then download this Zipped file http://home.btconnect.com/Brian-S/XPboot.zip and copy just those two files to replace the two on you system.

However just to be safe I suggest that you first put the 3 files in that download on a floppy disk and boot the computer from it to see if it does take you into your XP install. You will have to freshly format a floppy disk in your Win2k install, then copy the files to it.

Once you have XP back then copy the contents of your boot.ini into a post here so that we can help remove the extra boot choices you now have

 

Hi ... Thanks for your quick response ... I don't have a flop drive ,Can I burn those 3 files onto a disk and boot off cd rom with the disk in the rom drive , Will that still work ? Also if it is possible to burn on a disk what option do I need to have selected when burning onto a disk ? I have nero 7 demo ...

Thanks for helping !

 

Sorry Terry but I don’t believe it will work from a CD.

Pete, does the bootcfg command replace the ntldr and Ntdetect.com files?

 

Hi , Thanks any ways McTavish ... PeteC after I have done bootcfg /rebuild and it done its scan , it show that I have 2 install windows version but , Now I have this option to make ,

(1) C:\WINDOWS
Add Installation to boot list? ( yes/No/All ) :

If I select yes ? what should I add afterward , same goes with No and All ?

Thanks for your assistance !

 

The load identifier is just the name you want to appear on the boot menu for the OS.
So type XP Pro and Win2000 respectively – or something similar.
For the next option ‘OS Load Options:’ type /fastdetect for Win2000
For your XP install it will depend on what service pack you have installed. If it has no service pack or just SP1 then type just /fastdetect If you have SP2 then type /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn note the space after fastdetect.

 

Hi ... Ok I'm a little confuse here , At the moment I have to make a selection and that is this from this option that I am viewing at the moment

(1) C:\WINDOWS
Add Installation to boot list? ( Yes/No/All ) :

What do I select there above ? Or am I in the wrong command altogether ? Thanks

 

Sorry Terry, looks like you are right. You said you had two Windows installs found, so type A for all and then you will get the load options.

 

Terry, you are using the bootcfg /rebuild option?

 

Ok this isn't going to well for me , I have mess this up pretty good now , Now when I load my computer i am given now 8 options to choose from , How can I remove all but the windows 2000 and xp pro options ? At the moment I have

D:\WINNT
C:\WINDOWS
/fastdetect for win2000
microsoft windows 2000 pro
microsoft windows xp pro
fixboot
1
n

Can you tell me how to remove those option above first before I do anything else ? Thanks

 

Terry, the bootcfg command or indeed any command I know of in the recovery console will not replace the two files you need to. All bootcfg will do is modify the boot.ini file and so your boot menu.

You have to replace ntldr and ntdetect.com to get your XP install bootable again. You can either do it manually as I described or do a full repair install on your XP OS.

Sorting your boot menu is no real problem. Look in your C drive for the hidden boot.ini file. It will be right there when you open the C: drive, next to the Windows, Program Files and Documents and Settings folders. Double click it and it will open in notepad. Copy and paste the contents into your next post.

Edit:- you may be able to extract the two files from your XP CD from the recovery console, don’t know, never tried it.

 

Ok if that is my only option to do a repair ? Because I have no flop drive , Then I would rather do both a nice clean installment , Yeah I know I will lose all my data , its cool , So how or whats the best way to install 2 clean operating system ( xp pro / 2000 pro ) ? Which should I install first ? Thanks

 

Woah, slow down and don’t panic. If you are prepared to do a full reinstall then you have nothing to loose in attempting to replace those two files yourself. You don’t need a floppy to do that. Just download them from my link and drag them onto the C: drive icon and then accept the popup box offer to replace the existing files. That’s it.

Remember, just the ntldr and Ntdetect.com files from my download.
Not the boot.ini file, we’ll sort that later. I’ll write you a new one you can download.

 

Ok I will give it a try , Your right I have nothing to lose , When I download these file , Should they just go into the c drive ? Or in the i386 folder or windows folder which both are listed under the c drive ? Thanks

BTW I just went to view the hidden files under my c drive and those 2 files that you want me to download are listed in my c drive

 

Sorry Terry, just had some visitors.
Yeah you will find those files right there on the C: drive and not inside any other folder.
Those are the ones to replace with the two from my download. Once you have replaced them you should be able to boot XP again.

 

Hi ... Well It look like I need to reinstall now , after I downloaded from your link and rebooted , I now see this on my monitor

Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. could not read from the selected boot disk. check boot path and disk hardware . Please check the windows documenation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information.

its ok , I want to go ahead and do a clean install , I could use a clean install any ways , so my question is , How or whats the best way to install 2 operating system on a 80gb hard drive , which windows do I install first ? xp or 2000

Thanks for helping McTavish I really appreciate it

 

Are you still getting the boot menu and have you tried various options?

 

Hi ... I done the recovery options again and , this time I got to load windows xp but , When it started to load I have to choose from which operating system , Only thing this time was I have 3 options to choose from and they where 1 , 2 or windows xp , Now I choose 1 which load windows xp , How can I correct the order now ? because if I select the windows xp it wouldn't work , I had to choose number 1 to load it

 

Ah, I’m glad of that, I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out what went wrong.
Ok, now I need to see your boot.ini file. You’ll find it right next to those other hidden files. Double click it and it will open in NotePad. Just copy and paste the whole contents into a post.