OS can't boot up, help!!!

[adrian]

Hi,
I've asked this question before, but i still couldn't solve the problem,
could anyone please help me.
Originally, i got win2000 and winXP installed, and it works fine. Later
on, when I installed the win2000 adv server, then the previous OS can't boot
up again. Someone told me that it's because I overwrote the boot files, but
what kind of boot files have been overwritten? And how can I solve the
problem? Thx

Adrian

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Adrian,

You overwrote the WinXP boot files (ntldr, ntdetect.com, boot.ini) with the
Win2000 versions, and they do not recognize a WinXP installation (it didn't
exist when they were written). You will find them on the root of the boot
partition. You need to boot the WinXP CD and run fixboot and possibly
bootcfg /rebuild.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Andrew Lomakin [MCP - WinXP]]

fixboot command writes a new boot sector --won't help
bootcfg rebuilds boot.ini structure ---won't help
boot from XP cd into recovery console
erase ntldr and ntdetect.com from boot drive (previously unhiding them)
and copy ntldr and ntdetect.com from XP CDROM\i386 folder onto boot drive
root

 

[adrian]

Thx a lot.
I've just overwrote the ntldr and ntdetect.com, and then I got another
error, saying that "the following file is missing or corrupt:
system32\hal.dll."
What's the file for? Should I overwrote that as well? Thx.

Adrian

 

[Andrew Lomakin [MCP - WinXP]]

are you sure your boot.ini file is correct and you specify /winnt directory
for win2k, not /windows?
boot into XP and check if your win2k system32 directory contains the
following files:
ntoskrnl.exe
hal.dll

 

[adrian]

Hi,
What do you mean by "specify /winnt directory for win2k, no /windows?"
There's a folder name /windows in my winXP, and a folder name /winnt in my
win2000....

And how can I find out whether the boot.ini file is correct? I did a bootcfg
/rebuild from the recovery console before, I guess the boot.ini file is
correct...

Also, I couldn't boot into winXP, as it got the following error message:
"the following file is missing or corrupt:
system32\hal.dll."
But when I boot into win2000, and I go to the windows\system32 folder of
winXP, I found both ntoskrnl.exe and hal.dll files are both in that
directory. What do they do? Should I replace it from the winXP cdrom? Thx
for your help.

Adrian

 

[Andrew Lomakin [MCP - WinXP]]

You can try, but i guess it won't help....run disk check on your windows XP
partition, and paste boot.ini file contents into here pls....still think it
boot.ini's fault

 

[adrian]

Hi,
Here is the boot.ini file content:
[boot loader]
timeout=2
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced
Server" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="winXP" 3
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="win2000" 1
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

There's duplicate here, since I've run the bootcfg /rebuild before, I don't
understand why it doesn't overwrite the file but just append on it, so the
winXP and 2000 professional has been duplicated. Now the only OS can boot up
is the win2000 adv server. So .... what should I do next? Thx.

adrian