Dual Boot Woes (long version)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ed H
  • Start date Start date
E

Ed H

Hey:

I want to write the long version, sorry, but I'm hoping to solve this
dilemma. I've been through all
that is below three times the past week. I've used Partition Magic for years
and loved it, and on this computer I've had XP home running on two
partitions with no problems. I've installed, formatted and installed
incident free. It's Boot Magic that I'm new to, I always used PQboot, and it
may be coincidence but this scenario has happened each time I've tried the
following procedure.

With my computer running great once again and my HD partitioned: [F: Boot
Magic (FAT32), C: Win XP Home, Win XP Home (hidden), Extended partition
containing D: Backups]. I wanted to install my new Win XP Pro on the hidden
drive so that I could learn to use it before I subject the family to it.
First, I disabled Boot Magic then I uninstalled it and finally, formatted
the volume. I checked to see if I could dual-boot using PQboot, a tool of
Partition Magic, all was fine. So using PM, I formatted the hidden partition
and again I checked to see if I could reboot--all was fine. Then I set the
formatted partition as active, restarted the computer and expected it to
stop at a black screen with a blinking white dot just as I've always seen it
in the past. But instead there was a message saying NTLDR is missing. I
decided to go ahead with the install anyway, all went fine till the first
boot. Suddenly the monitor went black, my HD winded down to a halt and then
a blue screen, 'a fatal error has occurred.' I had to power off the PC to do
anything.

I decided to insert the PM floppies into A:\ and I formatted the partition
holding the new install and set my other OS as active, rebooted, now the
screen says, 'could not load windows hal.dll is missing or corrupted.' I
didn't know how to fix it from there so I decided to re-install windows, at
boot-up I see that there are 2 windows Home Editions listed, exactly the
same way. I try one, my new installation opens to the desk top. I installed
PM and decided to delete the hidden partition and the F: partition and have
C: assume the unallocated space. I re-boot-- all is okay!

It seems to me at this point that there can be no trace of Boot Magic to
place blame on it. I tried again, this time using PM's 'add a new operating
system' wizard, which I've used many times very successfully before. Waited
for the black screen and blinking dot--there it is! But now Cntl+Alt+delete
is not working so that I can't reboot. I don't get it, the NUM LOCK light is
on, my keyboard has power. So I shut the computer off, booted with the CD,
all was fine until the first boot--blue screen! Used PM's floppies to set my
old OS active, boot--a window showing two XP installations. I check
one--crash. Had to reinstall all over again and all is fine now.

But I do want to be able to dual boot, I hope I can figure this out. Thanks
for all your time and trouble.
 
I think most of your problem stems from the fact that you are trying to use
BM to boot to XP programs.
BM is NOT compatible with XP - if you have two active XP OSs, it will
automatically modify the boot.ini file to something like -

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home"
/fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home (#1)"
/fastdetect

which then gives you the boot option during startup.

Get rid of BM if you can, convert the F partition it generated to NTFS &
absorb it into your D partition.

--
johnf
Hey:

I want to write the long version, sorry, but I'm hoping to solve this
dilemma. I've been through all
that is below three times the past week. I've used Partition Magic for
years and loved it, and on this computer I've had XP home running on two
partitions with no problems. I've installed, formatted and installed
incident free. It's Boot Magic that I'm new to, I always used PQboot,
and it may be coincidence but this scenario has happened each time I've
tried the following procedure.

With my computer running great once again and my HD partitioned: [F:
Boot Magic (FAT32), C: Win XP Home, Win XP Home (hidden), Extended
partition containing D: Backups]. I wanted to install my new Win XP Pro
on the hidden drive so that I could learn to use it before I subject
the family to it. First, I disabled Boot Magic then I uninstalled it
and finally, formatted the volume. I checked to see if I could
dual-boot using PQboot, a tool of Partition Magic, all was fine. So
using PM, I formatted the hidden partition and again I checked to see
if I could reboot--all was fine. Then I set the formatted partition as
active, restarted the computer and expected it to stop at a black
screen with a blinking white dot just as I've always seen it in the
past. But instead there was a message saying NTLDR is missing. I
decided to go ahead with the install anyway, all went fine till the
first boot. Suddenly the monitor went black, my HD winded down to a
halt and then a blue screen, 'a fatal error has occurred.' I had to
power off the PC to do anything.

I decided to insert the PM floppies into A:\ and I formatted the
partition holding the new install and set my other OS as active,
rebooted, now the screen says, 'could not load windows hal.dll is
missing or corrupted.' I didn't know how to fix it from there so I
decided to re-install windows, at boot-up I see that there are 2
windows Home Editions listed, exactly the same way. I try one, my new
installation opens to the desk top. I installed PM and decided to
delete the hidden partition and the F: partition and have C: assume the
unallocated space. I re-boot-- all is okay!

It seems to me at this point that there can be no trace of Boot Magic to
place blame on it. I tried again, this time using PM's 'add a new
operating system' wizard, which I've used many times very successfully
before. Waited for the black screen and blinking dot--there it is! But
now Cntl+Alt+delete is not working so that I can't reboot. I don't get
it, the NUM LOCK light is on, my keyboard has power. So I shut the
computer off, booted with the CD, all was fine until the first
boot--blue screen! Used PM's floppies to set my old OS active, boot--a
window showing two XP installations. I check one--crash. Had to
reinstall all over again and all is fine now.

But I do want to be able to dual boot, I hope I can figure this out.
Thanks for all your time and trouble.
Click to expand...
 
BM is NOT compatible with XP - if you have two active XP OSs, it will
automatically modify the boot.ini file to something like. . .
Click to expand...

Is that true? The manual litsts XP as a OS, and even gives a detailed
process for setting up to boot using nfts partitions. That would explain a
lot however. Thanks
 
I'm using BM on three computers with WinXP, NTFS. It doesn't change the
boot.ini.

Brian



johnf said:
I think most of your problem stems from the fact that you are trying to use
BM to boot to XP programs.
BM is NOT compatible with XP - if you have two active XP OSs, it will
automatically modify the boot.ini file to something like -

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home"
/fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home (#1)"
/fastdetect

which then gives you the boot option during startup.

Get rid of BM if you can, convert the F partition it generated to NTFS &
absorb it into your D partition.

--
johnf
Hey:

I want to write the long version, sorry, but I'm hoping to solve this
dilemma. I've been through all
that is below three times the past week. I've used Partition Magic for
years and loved it, and on this computer I've had XP home running on two
partitions with no problems. I've installed, formatted and installed
incident free. It's Boot Magic that I'm new to, I always used PQboot,
and it may be coincidence but this scenario has happened each time I've
tried the following procedure.

With my computer running great once again and my HD partitioned: [F:
Boot Magic (FAT32), C: Win XP Home, Win XP Home (hidden), Extended
partition containing D: Backups]. I wanted to install my new Win XP Pro
on the hidden drive so that I could learn to use it before I subject
the family to it. First, I disabled Boot Magic then I uninstalled it
and finally, formatted the volume. I checked to see if I could
dual-boot using PQboot, a tool of Partition Magic, all was fine. So
using PM, I formatted the hidden partition and again I checked to see
if I could reboot--all was fine. Then I set the formatted partition as
active, restarted the computer and expected it to stop at a black
screen with a blinking white dot just as I've always seen it in the
past. But instead there was a message saying NTLDR is missing. I
decided to go ahead with the install anyway, all went fine till the
first boot. Suddenly the monitor went black, my HD winded down to a
halt and then a blue screen, 'a fatal error has occurred.' I had to
power off the PC to do anything.

I decided to insert the PM floppies into A:\ and I formatted the
partition holding the new install and set my other OS as active,
rebooted, now the screen says, 'could not load windows hal.dll is
missing or corrupted.' I didn't know how to fix it from there so I
decided to re-install windows, at boot-up I see that there are 2
windows Home Editions listed, exactly the same way. I try one, my new
installation opens to the desk top. I installed PM and decided to
delete the hidden partition and the F: partition and have C: assume the
unallocated space. I re-boot-- all is okay!

It seems to me at this point that there can be no trace of Boot Magic to
place blame on it. I tried again, this time using PM's 'add a new
operating system' wizard, which I've used many times very successfully
before. Waited for the black screen and blinking dot--there it is! But
now Cntl+Alt+delete is not working so that I can't reboot. I don't get
it, the NUM LOCK light is on, my keyboard has power. So I shut the
computer off, booted with the CD, all was fine until the first
boot--blue screen! Used PM's floppies to set my old OS active, boot--a
window showing two XP installations. I check one--crash. Had to
reinstall all over again and all is fine now.

But I do want to be able to dual boot, I hope I can figure this out.
Thanks for all your time and trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
You may have some remnants of BM present. I assume you did the install from
WinXP, installing to your F: drive (which should have been FAT, not FAT32).
Try this.





"To fix this issue, you must remove all BootMagic-related items from your
system, including all items related to the product GUID for BootMagic. The
product GUID for BootMagic is {B838AD63-FD0C-482C-B124-7116748BAC45}.

1. From the operating system where BootMagic is installed, go to C:\Program
Files\InstallShield Installation Information and remove the directory
{B838AD63-FD0C-482C-B124-7116748BAC45}.


2. Go to the Temp directory (for example, C:\Windows\Temp if you are using
Windows 98, or C:\Documents and Settings\<username used to install
BootMagic>\Local Settings\Temp if you are using Windows XP) and remove the
directory {B838AD63-FD0C-482C-B124-7116748BAC45}.


3. Remove the directory where BootMagic was installed (i.e., F:\Btmagic.pq).
(already done)


4. Run Regedit, start by highlighting My Computer, do a global search for
the product GUID {B838AD63-FD0C-482C-B124-7116748BAC45}, and remove all
matching key entries."

Brian




Ed H said:
Hey:

I want to write the long version, sorry, but I'm hoping to solve this
dilemma. I've been through all
that is below three times the past week. I've used Partition Magic for years
and loved it, and on this computer I've had XP home running on two
partitions with no problems. I've installed, formatted and installed
incident free. It's Boot Magic that I'm new to, I always used PQboot, and it
may be coincidence but this scenario has happened each time I've tried the
following procedure.

With my computer running great once again and my HD partitioned: [F: Boot
Magic (FAT32), C: Win XP Home, Win XP Home (hidden), Extended partition
containing D: Backups]. I wanted to install my new Win XP Pro on the hidden
drive so that I could learn to use it before I subject the family to it.
First, I disabled Boot Magic then I uninstalled it and finally, formatted
the volume. I checked to see if I could dual-boot using PQboot, a tool of
Partition Magic, all was fine. So using PM, I formatted the hidden partition
and again I checked to see if I could reboot--all was fine. Then I set the
formatted partition as active, restarted the computer and expected it to
stop at a black screen with a blinking white dot just as I've always seen it
in the past. But instead there was a message saying NTLDR is missing. I
decided to go ahead with the install anyway, all went fine till the first
boot. Suddenly the monitor went black, my HD winded down to a halt and then
a blue screen, 'a fatal error has occurred.' I had to power off the PC to do
anything.

I decided to insert the PM floppies into A:\ and I formatted the partition
holding the new install and set my other OS as active, rebooted, now the
screen says, 'could not load windows hal.dll is missing or corrupted.' I
didn't know how to fix it from there so I decided to re-install windows, at
boot-up I see that there are 2 windows Home Editions listed, exactly the
same way. I try one, my new installation opens to the desk top. I installed
PM and decided to delete the hidden partition and the F: partition and have
C: assume the unallocated space. I re-boot-- all is okay!

It seems to me at this point that there can be no trace of Boot Magic to
place blame on it. I tried again, this time using PM's 'add a new operating
system' wizard, which I've used many times very successfully before. Waited
for the black screen and blinking dot--there it is! But now Cntl+Alt+delete
is not working so that I can't reboot. I don't get it, the NUM LOCK light is
on, my keyboard has power. So I shut the computer off, booted with the CD,
all was fine until the first boot--blue screen! Used PM's floppies to set my
old OS active, boot--a window showing two XP installations. I check
one--crash. Had to reinstall all over again and all is fine now.

But I do want to be able to dual boot, I hope I can figure this out. Thanks
for all your time and trouble.
Click to expand...
 
My last post referred to BM 8. Here is the GUID for BM 7


E9B100F7-F36F-40E7-93D6-BB4C5377AAE4

Brian






Brian K said:
You may have some remnants of BM present. I assume you did the install from
WinXP, installing to your F: drive (which should have been FAT, not FAT32).
Try this.





"To fix this issue, you must remove all BootMagic-related items from your
system, including all items related to the product GUID for BootMagic. The
product GUID for BootMagic is {B838AD63-FD0C-482C-B124-7116748BAC45}.

1. From the operating system where BootMagic is installed, go to C:\Program
Files\InstallShield Installation Information and remove the directory
{B838AD63-FD0C-482C-B124-7116748BAC45}.


2. Go to the Temp directory (for example, C:\Windows\Temp if you are using
Windows 98, or C:\Documents and Settings\<username used to install
BootMagic>\Local Settings\Temp if you are using Windows XP) and remove the
directory {B838AD63-FD0C-482C-B124-7116748BAC45}.


3. Remove the directory where BootMagic was installed (i.e., F:\Btmagic.pq).
(already done)


4. Run Regedit, start by highlighting My Computer, do a global search for
the product GUID {B838AD63-FD0C-482C-B124-7116748BAC45}, and remove all
matching key entries."

Brian




Ed H said:
Hey:

I want to write the long version, sorry, but I'm hoping to solve this
dilemma. I've been through all
that is below three times the past week. I've used Partition Magic for years
and loved it, and on this computer I've had XP home running on two
partitions with no problems. I've installed, formatted and installed
incident free. It's Boot Magic that I'm new to, I always used PQboot,
Click to expand...
and
it
may be coincidence but this scenario has happened each time I've tried the
following procedure.

With my computer running great once again and my HD partitioned: [F: Boot
Magic (FAT32), C: Win XP Home, Win XP Home (hidden), Extended partition
containing D: Backups]. I wanted to install my new Win XP Pro on the hidden
drive so that I could learn to use it before I subject the family to it.
First, I disabled Boot Magic then I uninstalled it and finally, formatted
the volume. I checked to see if I could dual-boot using PQboot, a tool of
Partition Magic, all was fine. So using PM, I formatted the hidden partition
and again I checked to see if I could reboot--all was fine. Then I set the
formatted partition as active, restarted the computer and expected it to
stop at a black screen with a blinking white dot just as I've always
Click to expand...
seen
it
in the past. But instead there was a message saying NTLDR is missing. I
decided to go ahead with the install anyway, all went fine till the first
boot. Suddenly the monitor went black, my HD winded down to a halt and then
a blue screen, 'a fatal error has occurred.' I had to power off the PC
Click to expand...
to
do
anything.

I decided to insert the PM floppies into A:\ and I formatted the partition
holding the new install and set my other OS as active, rebooted, now the
screen says, 'could not load windows hal.dll is missing or corrupted.' I
didn't know how to fix it from there so I decided to re-install windows, at
boot-up I see that there are 2 windows Home Editions listed, exactly the
same way. I try one, my new installation opens to the desk top. I installed
PM and decided to delete the hidden partition and the F: partition and have
C: assume the unallocated space. I re-boot-- all is okay!

It seems to me at this point that there can be no trace of Boot Magic to
place blame on it. I tried again, this time using PM's 'add a new operating
system' wizard, which I've used many times very successfully before. Waited
for the black screen and blinking dot--there it is! But now Cntl+Alt+delete
is not working so that I can't reboot. I don't get it, the NUM LOCK
Click to expand...
light
is
on, my keyboard has power. So I shut the computer off, booted with the CD,
all was fine until the first boot--blue screen! Used PM's floppies to
Click to expand...
set
my
old OS active, boot--a window showing two XP installations. I check
one--crash. Had to reinstall all over again and all is fine now.

But I do want to be able to dual boot, I hope I can figure this out. Thanks
for all your time and trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Perhaps I should re-phrase what I said.

BM is NOT compatible with XP if XP is your primary boot OS.
if you have two active XP OSs, XP will automatically modify the boot.ini
file to something like. . .
 
Something else I've just remembered which would help to compound your
problem.
BM can only be installed on a FAT or FAT32 PRIMARY partition on the FIRST
disk, and the FAT or FAT32 partition MUST begin before the disk's 8 GB
boundary.
 
You were right, I've tried every combination imaginable and it is concluded
that WinXP does not like to dual boot with Win XP, home and/or pro.
Partition Magic and Boot Magic were not the culprits. Thanks everyone.
 
Back
Top