Clean up a messy startup situation

Hi Bob,

Thought some more about this:

Perhaps what has you confused is the boot disk status of the F partition, that has 98 on it (after switching drives). The system sees a OS on it, which is as it should be, that was your boot disk.

I have a dual XP boot system. This is what mine looks like, D drive/partition has a 2nd XP on it, the C drive/partition is also an XP and that's where the MBR is.

I used to have WinME on drive C in a WinME/XP dual boot config - bought a new HD, installed XP on it and used the RC to create a new boot.ini on it. I added the D XP to it. I re-used the old C drive which became Drive I, formating it after I did all the stuff with the new config and had it working - just in case of trouble, I could reverse the process. Later I did format it, wiping out WinME.

Regards - Charles

 

I'm going to jump in here, better have a new look at bobmc32 attached Disk management link , his XP hdd (Disk #1) has not Primary Partitions on it. He must leave his Win98 disk as drive c: . Or did I miss read a post some where.

 

Hi TopFarmer,

his XP hdd (Disk #1) has not Primary Partitions on it.
Xp is on Disk 0, partition C - after the HD switch - and is a primary partition, look down at the bottom, dark blue color = primary.

He must leave his Win98 disk as drive c: . Or did I miss read a post some where.
You missed the use of the Recovery Console to create a boot.ini on C.

Regards - Charles

 

Ok, went thru the RC exercise again.

Think using the /REBUILD option is better:

Iterate through all the Windows Installations and allow the user to choose the installation to add.

Regards - Charles

 

Hi charlesvar and all


In bobmc32 first post he states C drive with Win98 is the boot drive ,ie hdd with primary partition .

He has only one drive with a primary partition and it will always be drive #0 , be it in the master or slave IDE position and will of course have his boot files on it. His comp is set in bios to boot to the first hdd with a active primary partition . Changing hdd Master/slave setting will have not effect in his case. (correct am I not ?) {if i "m wrong will be willing to learn}

I have not got figured out if the "boot" is the drive with the OS or boot files on it, or which one is "system ".

my last post or it might get to confusing for bobmc32.

 

Charles - Trying to absorb and I'll have to check out the "\rebuild" as I'm not at all familiar with that one. I am gonna let you and Topfarmer settle this before I even think about it anymore. and also a little I appreciate all comments so far.

 

Hi Bob,

When you did the Disk Management, was it with the drives switched?

Is XP now on the 1st partition of the C drive, Disk 0?

If the answer is yes, you're ok to either to do the /REBUILD, choosing XP only, or the add same.


Top Farmer,
He has only one drive with a primary partition and it will always be drive #0 , be it in the master or slave IDE position and will of course have his boot files on it.
Not of course have the boot files on C because the drives were switched, and using the Recovery Console to create one on C which is the whole point of this execise. Right now, Bob has changed the BIOS to boot from the XP cd first in order to access the RC.

You're confusing a middle step - which is to create a boot record on C. Later, when that's done, it'll be as you describe.

The point of all this is to get rid of 98 as painlessly as possable, so keep that in mind and read thru this thread again.

Regards - Charles

 

Charles - Yes, the Disk Mgt attachment was done after switching jumpers and connectors of the drives.
I posted earlier that when I booted to RC i saw a list of DOS commands such as:
\add
\rebuild
\scan
\list
\disableredirect
\redirect [Port Baud rate] : [Use BIOS settings]
Now , I boot to the XP CD to a window with 3 options:
. To set up WinXP now
. To repair a WinXP install using RC
. To quit
I select the second option by pressing R>next window:
1: E:\Windows
2: F:\Windows
3: H:\Windows
Cursor to choose which of the 3.

Have I missed something? Is this normal?

 

I select the second option by pressing R>next window:
1: E:\Windows
2: F:\Windows
3: H:\Windows
Cursor to choose which of the 3.

Have I missed something? Is this normal?
I'm assuming that R>next window means RC is asking which installation to boot into.

I know what you have on F - that should be 98.

What have you got on E and H? Looks like you have windows installations on them.

You can allow booting into F:\Windows. Then do the bootcfg /REBUILD - provided your sure that its XP on C at the moment and that one of the choices when the RC looks for installations, that the one on C comes up.

I'll be around the rest of the night (my time - 6:30 PM).

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Bob,

Thinking about this, I don't think there is an XP installation on what is now C partition, otherwise the RC would have listed it.

From your 1st post: Win98 is on C drive of a 3 partition drive of 80GB and Win XP is on F of a 3 partition 80 GB.

I think you installed XP on the what was originally the F drive, but not on the F partition.

At this point, lets go back to square one - reverse the drives to their original config, then do the following:

Boot into XP > right click on My Computer > properties > Advanced tab > in the Startup and Recovery section > settings > right under Default Operating System > click on the Edit button and copy/paste that text file into your post, should start with [boot loader].

That'll tell us which partition XP is booting from.

Regards - Charles

 

What I meant was:
Now , I boot to the XP CD to a window with 3 options:
. To set up WinXP now
. To repair a WinXP install using RC (Press R for the Recovery Console)
. To quit

E and H have some b/u of windows from the past.
You said:

Therein lies the rub, the problem. When I look at C in My Computer it appears that it is the same as it was before the switch of jumpers and cables. Same goes for when I look in F in My Computer.

Ok, you just posted #30 before I could get this into the thread so we will go from your post.

 

Hi Bob,

Therein lies the rub, the problem. When I look at C in My Computer it appears that it is the same as it was before the switch of jumpers and cables. Same goes for when I look in F in My Computer.
Ok, that would explain things, wondering how you were doing the Disk Management & My Computer - should have caught on sooner.

This I can't help you with Whatever you're doing physically isn't working, the only thing I can think of is to switch the drive positions physically, not just the cable connectors/jumpers. Are they on a single cable or do each have a cable of their own?

The next time you switch the drives, keep 98's drive un-connected, that'll solve that problem.

But lets go back to doing what I layed out in post 30 - want to make sure of XP's boot partition.

Regards - Charles

 

Charles - Umm, I've run into a, hopefully, small mechanical (hardware) problem. In process of switching the connectors back to original setup, the receptacle in the WD drive into which the cable plugs is is trying to come out of the HDD itself. The plug has always been aggravatingly tight and the receptacle started to come out instead of the plug. I've got to figure a way to separate them without sucking the receptacle out of the HDD. . I'm posting from my old HP 333MHz machine. If I can get that done, I will proceed.

 

bobmc32

Could your last reply about a troublesome connector on one of the HDs be connected in anyway to Drv1 only showing 51.33gb in the image file in reply #15 ?

I may be assumming incorrectly but I am thinking that shoud be a 60gb HD.

BillyBob

 

BillyBob - To tell the truth, I don't know and when I origianlly looked I overlooked that little detail. That third volumn in disk0 should read DRV1 vol3 and the third volumn on disk 1 should read DRV 2 Vol3. That screen shot was taken before this connector problem cropped up and just after the connectors and jumpers were changed. Both disks are 80GB disks divided into approximate thirds.
Charles - Both drives are on the same cable. I will continue when I've figured out how to separate that connector from the drive with destroying the drive.

 

Uhh, I think I'm dead in the water! I believe we have just witnessed the death of a HDD. What with that little exercise in futility I just described about removing the HDD connector and the receptacle moving outward (1/16" to 1/8 ") might have killed the HDD and that was the System drive! I retraced all steps to reconnect as it was when recently working, attempted to boot and get on boot "Primary Master Drive: None "(That's the one!)....then "Error loading OS_ ". I will fiddle with it more in the morning but the situation looks pretty grim as of now. I think I just tested the water with both feet.

 

Hi Bob,

Really sorry to hear this, what an end to a frustrating night for you.

Regards - Charles

 

Charles - Keep the dual boot thread in mind. I suppose it came to me in the night but it might not be the HDD but the cable instead. I might have buggered it while struggling to unplug (I'm usually pretty gentle with hardware, but ??). Anyway, this morning (Early early for me - I guess the problem woke me up) I thought I might apply a little Super Glue around the outer perimeter of the receptacle then try to get the plug out. Thanks for your sympathies and I'll be back if I can get it working again.

 

Hi Bob,

Ok, thanks, because right now I'm beating myself up over this.

One of the things I should have mentioned was taking the drives out of their mounts and physically switching their locations in order to avoid straining the cable connectors.

Regards - Charles

 

I do not care for the bad news this early in the AM. But I do have to admit here that the figures from the image file and the 141gb it shows just DID NOT make sense. And Drv2 adds up to 97.65.

If both HDs are 80GB then what post #15 shows as 141gb beside the image file should actually be 160gb.

51.33 + 97.65=148.98. Drv1 is under and Drv2 is over according to the image file.

Now. Wait for other to post their thoughts but, The cause of this problem may well be in trying to switch HD positions. These new systems are so darned fussy that one itty-bitty mistake can KILL it.

I understand that cable position is very important now. And if you changed positions, that may not have helped any.

Jumper settings are ( and always have been and I understand even worse these days) One mistake can kill an HD. Or I have heard a System.

BillyBob