Problem in dual boot

Hi, I wonder if anyone can put my mind at rest here. I am running in dual boot 98SE and XP Pro XP is fine but my 98 SE got messed up when I installed a USB 2 PCI card including the drivers to make things worse I made the fatal mistake of having my PC running when I connected a extension USB cord to reach my Scanner and when I connected the two cords there was arching between the metal parts it upset my 98 SE.
What I was trying to find out is if I do a Windows over install 98SE will it affect the dual boot setup, I am using Acronis OS Selector and all that part works fine.
hoping for some some good news, but will accept any news
thanks
hawk22

 

The one affect for sure will be on the boot.ini file which is on C.

You will have to use the Recovery Console to repair it. The command in RC:

Bootcfg: "Automatically scans all local disks for Windows installations and configures and repairs entries in the operating system menu (Boot.ini) "

Before you begin, find boot.ini.backup - \WINDOWS\pss\ - and print w/Notepad to see what it looks like right now.

Double clicking on the file will give you a notepad .txt printable file.

Regards - Charles

 

charles thank you,
one thing I did not mention was that my 98SE with 3 partitions C - D - E are on a seperate HD, my XP Pro is F:\ each OS is on a different HD. I am sorry I should have mentioned that in the first place.
One thing though Charles you might be able to tell me also, I had been doing things in 98 trying to get it to work using Safe Mode it all seems to work ok in safe mode. It apears that some of the drivers got thrown out I have all my drivers backed up using WinDrivers I have MS Drivers backup and non MS Drivers backup also my C:\ drive is backed up all on E:\partition trouble is I dont know how to restore the things that need restoring. The main trouble maker seems to be Windows Explorer in normal mode. Ok in safe mode double clicking on the Icon on the Desktop opens up explorer minus any contents just the Torch searching but it can not find anything.
Also I dialed up the Internet (dial-up Modem) opened Internet Explorer all OK Homepage loadet fine but as soon as I entered a different webpage it hangs.
I have been told that it is possible to access a CD Rom drive in safe mode but I have not been able to find out how as this would be of tremendous help to reinstall corupted programs in safe mode, is this really possible in 98SE.
MY BIOS is set to boot from CD Rom first.
I am hoping that this added info might give some more insight into my troubled 98SE OS. Should I delete all the entries in the 98 Device Manager relating to my USB2.0 setup afterall that's when it all started.
It is really amazing that my XP setup is totally unafected by the mayhem next door in 98SE.
thanks and best regards
hawk22

 

I should have mentioned that no matter where XP is installed, the boot.ini is on C - that's where MS puts it. If you looked at the boot.ini backup, that's where the system gets the dual boot menu from. I have XP installed on Partition/Drive D.

As a rule, software installs can't be done in safe mode because the OS won't allow registry writes.

Not familiar with WinDrivers - someone who is can possibly help (is there a web site/help?) - this is critical for for re-install.

Sure, that's what I would have done and concentrated on that. I assume that XP is not having trouble with USB 2.0 drivers. The original 98 USB driver AFAIK handles the 2.0 device at the old speed.

The bottom line here is that you have a OS (XP) that works, so if you want and have the patience, work on 98 instead of reinstalling:

Roll back the drivers and update, either from MS or the backups or from web sites.

Repair IE - IE6 only - from the Add/Remove applet. Double click on the IE entry which brings up the repair dialog box. The choices are to repair or return to a previous config.

The only reason I'm dual booting is for insurance, if I hose XP - I don't panic and can think things thru. This of course works the other way around as well. You're in that position.

Regards - Charles

 

Another suggestion.

First save c:\boot.ini and ntldr and ntdetect.com files to a safe place. Then since win98se knows nothing of XP, I would disconnect f: and re-install/upgrade (depends on which cd you have) win98se, install the usb, then restore the, previously saved, xp boot.ini and ntldr and ntdetect.com files to the root of c: and reconnect f:

HTH