Autochk.exe Not Found, Causing Endless Boot Loop

I have really had a time getting XP PRO installed. Because of some hardware conflicts, I slipstreamed SP1 with the XP PRO installation, created a bootable CD, and tried again. This time the install went off w/o a hitch, or so it seemed. (I'm setting up dual booting between XP and my 98SE). With the SP1 as part of the installation, it went smoothly. After looking around in XP for awhile, I put it to bed. The next day, I tried booting with XP and I received the message "autochk program not found -- skipping Autocheck " , the machine closed down, and rebooted to the same message over and over.

Now, I had had this same problem initially on bootup after installation before slipstreaming the SP1. A friend had e-mailed me his copy of autochk.exe, which belongs in the \Windows\System32 folder. I just now was able to boot into XP with the install CD, and took a look in \Windows\System32. Sure enough autochk.exe is there. The version says 5.1.2.2600.1106 - from SP1. The copy I received from my friend is a 2001 dated version 5.1.2600.0. I don't think the file itself is the problem.

The only thing I've been able to find so far on Autocheck refers to NT or 2000, and seems to indicate something to do with NTSF formatting. I've formatted my XP partition with FAT32.

Anybody wanna jump in here with some ideas?

 

How did you partition the drives? Are you using the XP boot loader or something else? Sounds like the XP partition is being hidden.

 

I used PMagic 7.0 to format the partition, and yes, it is Hidden FAT32...doesn't it need to be so as to not interfere with 98SE?

 

I think I have solved the problem. Thanks, Dorfman, for your post, which started the wheels rolling in my pea brain. I had been setting the XP partition to ACTIVE only when I was doing the installation, not understanding that it had to be ACTIVE to boot correctly. I had Boot Magic installed, but had not really understood its use. So, I used my Partition Magic Recue Disks to set the XP partition to ACTIVE, and it booted into XP with no problems. I now understand that Boot Magic does this for me, when it gives me a choice at boot-up between my 98SE and XPPRO OS. I am then taken to the regular option list, where I have to choose between the two a second time. Is there a way to delete this repeat step of the process and have only the Boot Magic option?