Boot problems - "Error loading operating system"

[Andrew Stucken]

I installed another OS hoping to dual boot with Windows and now I am getting
an error message: "Error Loading Operating System" when I try to boot into
Windows.

I have used the fixmbr command in XP Recovery Console but it has not solved
the problem. When I was asked which installation I wanted to go to, not
knowing what to put, I hit '1' and Enter. Should I have been entering the
command at C: prompt or c:\windows

Can anyone help please?

TIA

Andrew Stucken

 

[R. McCarty]

What was the other Operating System ? How many physical disks does
your system have in it ?

The key thing at this point is to go SLOWLY and do not randomly do
operations to the PC.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I installed another OS hoping to dual boot with Windows and now I am
getting
an error message: "Error Loading Operating System" when I try to boot into
Windows.

I have used the fixmbr command in XP Recovery Console but it has not
solved
the problem. When I was asked which installation I wanted to go to, not
knowing what to put, I hit '1' and Enter. Should I have been entering the
command at C: prompt or c:\windows

Can anyone help please?

TIA

Andrew Stucken

What is this "other OS"?

Try booting the machine with a WinXP floppy boot disk. You
can make it like so:
- Format a diskette on some WinXP/2000 PC.
- Copy these files from the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to it:
* ntldr
* ntdetect.com
- Using a text editor, create the file a:\boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this diskette and try all four options.
If none work, report what you see on the screen.

 

[Andrew Stucken]

To answer the questions, I have one physical hard disk, paritioned into two
partitions: one containing Windows and oen not/

The other OS is Ubuntu 'Gutsy Gibbon'.

I will try to find a machine with a floppy drive. BTW can I use a USB drive
instead?

I installed another OS hoping to dual boot with Windows and now I am
getting
an error message: "Error Loading Operating System" when I try to boot into
Windows.

I have used the fixmbr command in XP Recovery Console but it has not
solved
the problem. When I was asked which installation I wanted to go to, not
knowing what to put, I hit '1' and Enter. Should I have been entering the
command at C: prompt or c:\windows

Can anyone help please?

TIA

Andrew Stucken

What is this "other OS"?

Try booting the machine with a WinXP floppy boot disk. You
can make it like so:
- Format a diskette on some WinXP/2000 PC.
- Copy these files from the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to it:
* ntldr
* ntdetect.com
- Using a text editor, create the file a:\boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this diskette and try all four options.
If none work, report what you see on the screen.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You can use a USB flash disk, provided that you can
convince your BIOS to boot off it. Alternatively you
can temporarily rip a floppy disk drive out of some other
machine and connect it to your machine, or burn a
bootable CD on the other machine.

To answer the questions, I have one physical hard disk, paritioned into
two
partitions: one containing Windows and oen not/

The other OS is Ubuntu 'Gutsy Gibbon'.

I will try to find a machine with a floppy drive. BTW can I use a USB
drive
instead?

message

I installed another OS hoping to dual boot with Windows and now I am
getting
an error message: "Error Loading Operating System" when I try to boot
into
Windows.

I have used the fixmbr command in XP Recovery Console but it has not
solved
the problem. When I was asked which installation I wanted to go to, not
knowing what to put, I hit '1' and Enter. Should I have been entering
the
command at C: prompt or c:\windows

Can anyone help please?

TIA

Andrew Stucken

What is this "other OS"?

Try booting the machine with a WinXP floppy boot disk. You
can make it like so:
- Format a diskette on some WinXP/2000 PC.
- Copy these files from the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to it:
* ntldr
* ntdetect.com
- Using a text editor, create the file a:\boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this diskette and try all four options.
If none work, report what you see on the screen.

 

[Andrew Stucken]

I bought an external floppy drive, created a boot disk as instructed - and it
worked!!

I booted straight into my existing Windows installation. Thankyou, this has
really solved a headache.

Is it possible to now set up booting straight from the hard disk , please?

You can use a USB flash disk, provided that you can
convince your BIOS to boot off it. Alternatively you
can temporarily rip a floppy disk drive out of some other
machine and connect it to your machine, or burn a
bootable CD on the other machine.

To answer the questions, I have one physical hard disk, paritioned into
two
partitions: one containing Windows and oen not/

The other OS is Ubuntu 'Gutsy Gibbon'.

I will try to find a machine with a floppy drive. BTW can I use a USB
drive
instead?

message
I installed another OS hoping to dual boot with Windows and now I am
getting
an error message: "Error Loading Operating System" when I try to boot
into
Windows.

I have used the fixmbr command in XP Recovery Console but it has not
solved
the problem. When I was asked which installation I wanted to go to, not
knowing what to put, I hit '1' and Enter. Should I have been entering
the
command at C: prompt or c:\windows

Can anyone help please?

TIA

Andrew Stucken

What is this "other OS"?

Try booting the machine with a WinXP floppy boot disk. You
can make it like so:
- Format a diskette on some WinXP/2000 PC.
- Copy these files from the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to it:
* ntldr
* ntdetect.com
- Using a text editor, create the file a:\boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this diskette and try all four options.
If none work, report what you see on the screen.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Congratulations! Your report confirms that there is nothing
wrong with Windows itself, only with the boot environment.

You should now adjust the hidden file c:\boot.ini to reflect
the boot line that was successful when booting from the
floppy disk (Item 1, 2, 3 or 4).

You should also click Start / Run / diskmgmt.msc so that
you can mark your primary partition as "active".

I bought an external floppy drive, created a boot disk as instructed - and
it
worked!!

I booted straight into my existing Windows installation. Thankyou, this
has
really solved a headache.

Is it possible to now set up booting straight from the hard disk , please?

You can use a USB flash disk, provided that you can
convince your BIOS to boot off it. Alternatively you
can temporarily rip a floppy disk drive out of some other
machine and connect it to your machine, or burn a
bootable CD on the other machine.


message

To answer the questions, I have one physical hard disk, paritioned into
two
partitions: one containing Windows and oen not/

The other OS is Ubuntu 'Gutsy Gibbon'.

I will try to find a machine with a floppy drive. BTW can I use a USB
drive
instead?




:


message
I installed another OS hoping to dual boot with Windows and now I am
getting
an error message: "Error Loading Operating System" when I try to
boot
into
Windows.

I have used the fixmbr command in XP Recovery Console but it has not
solved
the problem. When I was asked which installation I wanted to go to,
not
knowing what to put, I hit '1' and Enter. Should I have been
entering
the
command at C: prompt or c:\windows

Can anyone help please?

TIA

Andrew Stucken

What is this "other OS"?

Try booting the machine with a WinXP floppy boot disk. You
can make it like so:
- Format a diskette on some WinXP/2000 PC.
- Copy these files from the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to it:
* ntldr
* ntdetect.com
- Using a text editor, create the file a:\boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this diskette and try all four options.
If none work, report what you see on the screen.