Two problems resulting from failed dual boot install

[Guest]

I partitioned a new 200Gb SATA drive with two primary and two logical.
Installed XP (SP2) thoroughly to 1st primary including full Microsoft
security and IE 7 updates - total of 79. Then I installed new Vista Home
premium to 2nd primary partition intending a dual boot system. Installation
hung at first reboot and to even get back my XP OS I had to complete a full
repair using the XP installation disk. However, the repaired XP had reverted
to IE6 - easily fixed from PC Pro DVD. That left 77 updates to reinstall.
Every one failed. Why?

Second question is Why did the Vista installation place all the files in the
selected primary partition but then failed to boot completing the
installation?

 

[Chad Harris]

I'm a little confused by the post. Is Vista booting now or not? Which OS
had "77 updates left to install and why isn't MSFT Update finding what has
to be installed and setting it up?

When you installed Vista, was XP already installed? It's much better and
there are less complications when you install the older Windows OS first on
a dual boot.

I ususally try to run Vista setup from the XP desktop on a dual boot, and
then the bios won't change your drive letters which to me is hardly a big
deal.

If Vista is not booting Lysander, I'd use these steps:

You can try a restore point to before this happened or you try the steps
below if you have a Vista DVD:

Pressing F8 repeatedly when you seem the firmware screen may be is a generic
way to launch Windows RE on some OEM Vista computers.

Startup Repair will look like this when you put in the Vista DVD:

http://www.vistaclues.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/click-repair-your-computer.png

You run the startup repair tool this way (and system restore from here is
also sometimes effective):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925810/en-us

How To Run Startup Repair In Vista Ultimate (Multiple Screenshots)
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/vistaultimate/repairstartup/index.htm


I'm going to give you a bunch of links and most of them you won't have to
use, but they are alternative ways to fix Vista.

Right now I want you to put in the DVD and restart. It will automatically
take you to this on your screen:

http://www.vistaclues.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/click-repair-your-computer.png

That will allow you to go to the Vista setup that has a Repair link on the
lower left corner>click it and then you'll see a gray backgrounded list and
I want you to click Startup Repair from it and follow the directions.

The gray screen after you click the first link in the above pic will look
like this:

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winvista/images/repair/staruprepair/Image17.gif

Click Startup Repair, the link at the top and after it scans>click OK and
let it try to repair Vista. It will tell you if it does, and if not

This should work, but if not,then you can follow the alternative ways to fix
this including booting into Safe Mode by tapping the F8 key and using System
Restore.

Directions and links for alternative ways to fix this are below, but I hope
you won't need them:

If you have any questions on getting the Startup Repair done, just post
them.

If you have a Vista DVD try Startup Repair. If that doesn't work, try
SafeMode>System Restore from the Recovery Environment, and you always have
the F8 advanced options ( five of them including Last Known Good
Configuration) and a repair install (with the DVD) as well.

In addition you can use the Bootsect tool to manually repair the boot sector
by accessing the command prompt from the DVD or from F8 and typing at the
prompt:

****Ten Methods to Repair BSOD No Boots or Serious Problems in Windows
Vista****

***Startup Repair and System Restore from the Win Recovery Environment on
the DVD***

Although MSFT's Official Party Line as expressed by the Win RE team is that
Startup Repair is only to fix startups, like a lot of features rtm'd that
have broader application, so does Startup Repair. I have used it many times
to fix major systemic problems in Vista when it would still boot
successfully, and am talking with them to try to find out why they seem to
bill it as only fixing startup problems.

You can run Startup Repair by putting your Vista DVD in after theanguage
screen in setup. You can also run System Restore from the same
location.

You run the startup repair tool this way (and system restore from here is
also sometimes effective):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925810/en-us

How To Run Startup Repair In Vista Ultimate (Multiple Screenshots)
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/vistaultimate/repairstartup/index.htm

Note The computer must be configured to start from a CD or from a DVD. For
information about how to configure the computer to start from a CD or from a
DVD, see the information that came with the computer.
2. Restart the computer. To do this, click Start, click the arrow next to
the Lock button, and then click Restart.

This usually means that you enter bios setup by whatever key or keys
(sometimes there is more than one key that will do it for your model--go to
pc manufacturer site) and configure CD to be first in the boot order (this
will allow you to boot from the Vista DVD as well):

See for ref:
Access/Enter Motherboard BIOS (applies to Vista as well)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Boot Order in Bios (Set Boot from HD 1st)
http://www.short-media.com/images/mm/Articles/build_computer/bios/bios03.jpg

Note If you cannot restart the computer by using this method, use the power
button to turn off the computer. Then, turn the computer back on.

3. Set your language preference, and then click Next.

Note In most cases, the startup repair process starts automatically, and you
do not have the option to select it in the System Recovery Options menu.

4. Click Repair your computer.

5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click the operating system
that you want to repair, and then click Next.

6. In the System Recovery Options menu, click Startup Repair to start the
repair process.

7. When the repair process is complete, click Finish.

Additional References for Startup Repair With Screenshots:

How to Use Startup Repair:

***Accessing Windows RE (Repair Environment):***

1) Insert Media into PC (the DVD you burned)

2) ***You will see on the Vista logo setup screen after lang. options in the
lower left corner, a link called "System Recovery Options."***

Screenshot: System Recovery Options (Lower Left Link)
http://blogs.itecn.net/photos/liuhui/images/2014/500x375.aspx

Screenshot: (Click first option "Startup Repair"
http://www.leedesmond.com/images/img_vista02ctp-installSysRecOpt2.bmp

How To Run Startup Repair In Vista Ultimate (Multiple Screenshots)
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/vistaultimate/repairstartup/index.htm

3) Select your OS for repair.

4) Its been my experience that you can see some causes of the crash from
theWin RE feature:

You'll have a choice there of using:

1) Startup Repair
2) System Restore
3) Complete PC Restore
___________________

In addition you can use the Bootsect tool to manually repair the boot sector
by accessing the command prompt from the DVD or from F8 and typing at the
prompt:

Bootsect.exe is available from the \Boot\folder of the Windows Vista DVD and
can be run from within System Recovery or Windows XP on a dual boot.


1. Use Bootsect.exe to restore the Windows Vista MBR and the boot code that
transfers control to the Windows Boot Manager program. To do this, type the
following command at a command prompt: Drive:\boot\Bootsect.exe /NT60 All

In this command, Drive is the drive where the Windows Vista installation
media is located.

Note The boot folder for this step is on the DVD drive.
2. Use Bcdedit.exe to manually create an entry in the BCD Boot.ini file for
the earlier version of the Windows operating system. To do this, type the
following commands at a command prompt.

Note In these commands, Drive is the drive where Windows Vista is
installed. . Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /create {ntldr} -d "Description
for earlier Windows version"

Note In this command, Description for earlier Windows version can be any
text that you want. For example, Description for earlier Windows version can
be "Windows XP" or "Windows Server 2003".
.. Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=x:

Note In this command, x: is the drive letter for the active partition.
.. Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
.. Drive:\Windows\system32\Bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} -addlast

3. Restart the computer.
____________________________
******Using the BootRec.exe Tool

Using the System Recovery Tool from the Repair link on the DVD after the
language choice in the lower left hand corner you can select command prompt
and you have the following options:

Bootrec.exe (You can use this tool to recover Vista even when you do not
receive the error message that is the title of the 2nd linked MSKB below):

How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to
troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

Error message when you start Windows Vista: "The Windows Boot Configuration
Data file is missing required information"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927391/en-us
_____________________________________________________________
***Using the F8 Environment or a Repair Install from the DVD:***

Pressing F8 repeatedly when you seem the firmware screen may be is a generic
way to launch Windows RE on some OEM Vista computers.

See for ref:
Access/Enter Motherboard BIOS (Applies to Vista as well)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

Boot Order in Bios (Set Boot from HD 1st)
http://www.short-media.com/images/mm/Articles/build_computer/bios/bios03.jpg

Repair Install (for XP or Vista)
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

Repair Install (Method 2): (for XP or Vista)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/315341

***Taking Full Advantage of the F8 Options (Windows Advanced Options Menu)
by starting the PC and tapping F8 once per second when the firmware screen
with the pc manufacturer's name shows a few seconds after restarting***:

The F8 options in Vista are the same as XP, and the link for Safe Mode Boot
options is labled XP by MSFT but they are the same for Vista (they haven't
updated to add Vista to the title as they have with several MSKBs that apply
to both).

Again, pressing F8 repeatedly when you seem the firmware screen may be is a
generic way to launch Windows RE on some OEM Vista computers.

You could also:

Think: I have 4 different ways to get back my XP at F8 and try 'em in order.
1) Safe Mode 2) Safe Mode with Cmd to Sys Restore which is simply a cmd
prompt in safe mode 3) Safe Mode with Neworking 4) LKG or Last Known Good
Configuration


Try to F8 to the Windows Adv Options Menu>try 3 safe modes there (I don't
use WGA) and Last Known Good>then I go to Win RE in Vista. That gives you a
choice of Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking,and Safe Mode with Command
Prompt.

These methods are outlined in

A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP/and Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding System Restore from MSFT:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/plan/faqsrwxp.mspx


System Restore can be run from the Win RE recovery environment from the same
link as Startup Repair, and sometimes it will work from one F8 safe mode
location or from the Win Recovery Environment when it won't work from other
locations.


How to start the System Restore tool at a command prompt in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304449


Repair Install: (This option has the best chance of succeeding and it
preserves everything in your OS--you do not lose anything with this option):

Make sure the DVD you have is a Vista DVD. Many OEMs will send you a
Recovery DVD and it may restore you to factory settings, but a high
percentage of the time it does not in my experience.

Pitfalls: If the DVD came from friend or relative or P2P, you may have
problems. P2P besides being illlegal in many countries including the U.S.
can be corrupt. If CD came from friend or relative, they may have given
you the CD to use but if product key is in use, MSFT is not going to accept
it for activation. Make sure you clean the CD carefully using proper
cleaning fluid and strokes that radiate from center like spokes on a wheel.

Again a repair install has the most likely chance to succeed in XP, (and can
work in Vista) but you need
to have a Vista DVD.

First, in order to do a Repair Install You must boot to the bios setup and
position booting from the "CD" first in the boot order--it probably will not
say DVD but might.

Booting to Bios Setup:

For 85% of PC's and all Dells you can tap the F2 key to reach bios setup.

How To Enable DVD/CD Rom Support (put CD boot first) in bios setup boot
order:

http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_enable_cdrom_support_i.htm

Screen Shot of bios setup boot order:
http://www.poy.net/proxy/bios2.jpg

Repair Install Does Not Lose Anything; you may need to try 2-3 times but
that's rare.

How To Repair Install (Applies to Vista as well as XP)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341#XSLTH3127121122120121120120

Screen Shot Repair Install
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdrepair/indexfullpage.htm

Good luck,

CH

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your reply and I do fully appreciate the lengths to which you
have gone in trying to help me. I'll try to make my first post clearer.

I rebuilt my PC with an GigabyteGA-P35C-DS£R board and 4Gb of DDR2 RAM
adding a new SATA 200Gb hdd. My first post described what was meant to be
the first, clean load of my old OS, Windows XP Home and then as a dual boot
option Vista Home Premium. Though I am retired and not an IT trained guy, I
do know enough about partitioning new drives and for years used FDISK for
doing so. This time however, I used the XP CD aware that the best technique
is to load the old OS first. I created four equal sized partitions on this
new hdd with the first two as primary and the last two as logical partitions.
I already had a 150Gb ATA/IDE hdd used for file storage and not OS's.

My XP installation went fine and I used to doing that having had the OS for
a few years and built several PC's for the family in the meantime. That was
fully updated using MS Windows Update and there were over 80 in total.

My drives then when booted to XP are
Disk 1. (150Gb IDE)
C: (System)
E:
F:

Disk 0
WINXP-SYS D: (Boot)
H: VISTA-SYS
I: XP_APPLICS
J: VISTA_APPS

Things went badly wrong when installing Vista to drive H. It ran smoothly
completing expanding files, installing them etc when it went for the first
reboot to run Vista for the first time, THAT was the process which stalled
at the DOS screen listing all the PCI devices. That is the point at which if
"boot to CD" is configured in BIOS, you are invited to hit any key. The
installation simply stopped at that point. Worse, I could not even get it to
boot to the perfect XP installation I had managed earlier.

I tried again but formatted drive H before doing so. The result was exactly
the same.

I did then manage to retrieve XP by doing a repair installation from the XP
CD. This OS now works but it has defaulted to IE 6 for example. THAT is the
XP installation which now runs OK but to which I simply cannot apply Windows
Updates. They are downloaded and the machine goes through the motions of
installing them only to drop out telling me that they have not been
installed. NONE OF THE 77 OR SO ATTEMPTED!!!!! I have installed IE 7 from CD
and if I download individual KB numbers, I can install each one manually.

So I now have an XP installation which is severely compromised and I cannot
get Vista to install without screwing everything up.

Finally, though I have no idea how to use it fully, I downloaded
VistaBootPRO 3.3 which tells me that I have THREE OS's installed. See:

There is currently 3 OS(s) installed on your system.
The current boot timeout is: 3

Default OS: Microsoft Windows Vista

Entry 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Earlier Version of Windows
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Boot Drive: C:
System Bootloader: \ntldr

Entry 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {default}
Boot Drive: H:
Windows Drive: H:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {08315b6e-42b8-11dc-973b-d05bccd6a037}
Boot Drive: H:
Windows Drive: H:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

------------------------------------------------------------------

Left to my own very limited knowledge resources I would totally repartition
the 200GB drive and start again but I have done that three times and even ran
out of XP activation attempts. If I eventually got to a clean, dual boot
system I would think it worth it but I am now seriously considering
forgetting trying to install Vista at all and just sticking with XP which I
must have for one or two legacy pieces of software without which I am sunk.

I hope that makes things clearer. In the meantime I will try to digest the
wide range of options and process you have offered to see if I can get to a
solution that way. To be honest, I cannot soo much chance of even cleaning
up XP if I am unable to install MS Updates as my PC gives absolutely no error
code numbers to use tackling that rather incidental problem.

 

[John Barnes]

Do not have your IDE drive connected when installing. The BIOS of many
boards gets confused with both connected. When you get to the section about
where to install Vista, delete the partition you want to install on, then
create and format the partition. As to the XP, you probably have an SP1
disk with a system that wasn't sure whether it was SP1 or SP2 because of the
updates you had applied manually.

 

[Guest]

Interesting John but I had arrived at that solution thinking that it seemed
likely that the tywo may not mix. All my software is legitimate, licensed
stuff and the installation CD for XP, DVD for Vista are original and bought
by myself.

If I do remove the IDE hdd and install on the SATA drive then XP will be on
primary partition C: and Vista on primary partition D:. If I then installed
a second SATA hdd, then the Vista partition would become E: wouldn't it.
Would it then do to simply change the drive letter using XP administration
tool?

My Gigabyte mobo has 8 SATA ports. All are said to be SATA 3Gb/s Cxs but 6
of them are controlled by ICH(R whilst the other four are controlled by
GIGABYTE SATA2. I haven't a clue what is the difference. Are you able to
enlighten me? The first 6 are orange coloured and the other four are purple
so that must be significant.

Is the hierarchy of the SATA drive determined by which port it is connected?

 

[John Barnes]

Partition enumeration is done by the os for DOS level and by each operating
system according to its own rules. Generally they follow the Win2K rules in
the knowledge base. Vista installs using the letter C for an installation
from the DVD and the letter assigned to the partition by a Windows operating
system that Vista is installed from. You can change the drive letters of
any drive not the system or boot drive within a Windows system. Generally
the enumeration will be the first primary partition, the CD drives, then the
logical partitions and then the remaining primary partitions.