problems with Win XP SP3 Booting

[Char Jackson]

If you running 2 hard disks,
in the same ribbon cable,
one Jump is master and one Jump is slave
or one Jump is slave and one Jump is master,
for with 2 hard disks who first do not matter,

But if Running 3 hard disks the same do,
For the fist one Jump have to be master,
and the Sec. one Jump have to be slave,
And the third one have to be cable select,
on the some cable ribbon,
But that for 3,
and you have to label the hard disks too......

I'm struggling to make sense of your Haiku. Are you saying there's
such a thing as an IDE cable that accommodates three hard drives?

 

[jim]

On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:12:28 -0600, in

Mr. Jim


All we need was the name and Make of you hard disks...
to help you setup the Jumps on your hard disks........

If you running 2 hard disks,
in the same ribbon cable,
one Jump is master and one Jump is slave
or one Jump is slave and one Jump is master,
for with 2 hard disks who first do not matter,

But if Running 3 hard disks the same do,
For the fist one Jump have to be master,
and the Sec. one Jump have to be slave,
And the third one have to be cable select,
on the some cable ribbon,
But that for 3,
and you have to label the hard disks too......


But it's good to see you have it up and runing
So have a good day.........

Thank you.

I have the jumper settings.

jim

 

[jim]

I hope you don't mind this top post.
I probably did not explain things all that well.
Everything is working now.

I start the computer in something less than two minutes i am at Desktop
and ready.
There is no boot menu involved.
There is no sign on.

I appreciate your interest.

jim


On Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:40:28 -0500, in

<< snipped >>
Sorry if too confusing. From your first reply:

"There is a problem. I have 3 drives. Each has a boot.ini.
The problem has been that the preferred C disk has a tendency to become
disabled, so i have installed a fully featured OS on the next drive on the
ribbon which boots when that happens. Both OS's are XP.
I have found that the "fix" for the disabled disk is to unplug it, start
the computer, shut it down, and replug it. So far, that sequence of
actions has had the effect of re-enabling the preferred disk.

jim"
I can't tell how things ARe NOW and how they were when you built each OS.
Each might be called C but what is/was the config?
What I was expecting was info like this.

'Using store-bought XP CD' ,or 'Dell Restore CD' etc, then

"3 drives: 2 are IDE, 1 SATA
XP#1 is IDE cable - 0
XP#2 is IDE cable -1
XP #3 is Sata
I have problems booting XP#2"

and then I wanted to get into the boot.ini file ON each drive ( seems like
you've been all over BIOS). Also, when you install XP, is it froma RESTORE
DISK or a store-bought version ?

because IF ( in my example) XP#2 was the only drive or primary at the
time,
then it's boot.ini points to the PRIMARY IDE port. So when connected to
port
#1 the boot.ini STILL tells it to boot to 0.

See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022
as example of boot.ini parameters, how to specify which drive to boot.

I read the article. Thanks. i use a file manager named ZTREE and have
easy access to the boot.ini files. (I also use Ztree for mass-copies,
duplicating paths, and selective copies, duplicating paths....and many
other things.)

This is a copy of my boot.ini currently being used, it is cut'n'paste,not
a retype:

[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
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

******************************
Jim - you have 3 bootable disks and 1 boot option ?
"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS"
Where do you decide which drive to boot ?
WHY do you USE multiboot if all XP ?
This is gonna be confusing so take it a line at a time.

******************************
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
change the 0 and 1 to reflect each device position (start at cable 0 and
part 1)
I can boot XP from a few drive/partitions. I had XP on an IDE drive and then
I upgraded to a bigger SATA drive years ago. I put away the IDE drive.
When I test software, I add the IDE disk back.

In my BIOS I can change boot order - whichever one is FIRST becomes C.
SO if testing - make IDE first and it is C - testing works fine
Not testing SATA is first - It is C.
When I boot SATA drive first, this is ITS boot.ini:
( I'll number the lines for reference )

[boot loader]
timeout=5
1.default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
2.multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Pro C"
/FASTDETECT /NoExecute=OptIn
3.multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Pro on
IDE1 Part #2" /FASTDETECT=OPTIN
4.multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Pro on
SATA Drive E:" /FASTDETECT
******************************
1,2 = SATA partition 1 = XP (daily) ( C
3 = IDE drive (1) , partition 2 = my old XP drive boot (C
4 = Test XP environment for SATA drive (E ( partition 2)
******************************

At various times over the last 5 years, all 3 disks have been the primary
master. All 3 were installed from the same full install disk.

They were each C ? , or were they configured as they are as install on each
drive ? I'm gonna stop here to review something that you might know, but
just in case... If I were gonna config the box:

Current installation:

C..Primary Master.......Western Digital 120Gig -- call it wd120
D..CD/DVD RW
E..Primary Slave.........Seagate 250Gig -- call it SEA250
F..Secondary Slave....Western Digital 80Gig -- call it wd80

None are jumpered.

All are IDE and on a single ribbon cable.

WD120 is Win XP, SP2.
SEA250 is Win XP, SP3.
WD80 is Win SP2

When you install windows it looks at the current config and builds THAT
envionment. So if windows exists on drive 0 (0,0,1) and you install XP on
drive #2, then then new install looks and reasons:
C has windows on it
D is a CD , so the drive lettering for this install could be C,D or E right
?
E it is.
When XP boots boot.ini will have TWO entries
You can boot the new install or boot original disk

Boot original and windows is on C
Boot new install and the drive letter is E

You just can't move the cable / install around AND have Windows work.
Nor can you remove c - then drive E lettering is bad.

You say you use a third party boot app - I've never heard of it, BUT ....
IF each install "sees windows on C" , that would become a problem.
If I boot my IDE 1 drive, Windows lives on drive E, not C.
C still has windows but it's "another install" . When you boot E, C is just
"another drive".

http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/bootini.htm

******************************
<<snipped>>