Vista 64 - strange boot up

[Paul Graham]

Running Vista 64 - clean install on formatted HD.
One of the other HDs (I have three) had XP Pro installed.
Now I can't reformat the XP Pro HD, as Vista refuses to delete the main
system folders. If i unplug the XP HD before boot up, I get an error message
saying that BootMgr is missing. The same thing happens if I fail to keep the
Vista CD in the drive whilst booting up. Arrrgh!

I did have a problem with the Vista Boot Manager appearing, asking which
version of Windows I wanted to run (I dont want a multiboot system - I left
XP on "just in case" things went wrong with the Vista install), but I've
managed to get that changed so,
supposedly, it only recognises that Vista is the only OS. (I used a program
called VistaBoot).

Any suggestions for this? Thanks
Paul

 

[mikeyhsd]

sounds like the XP disk is the primary BOOT disk for the system and the vista boot manager resides there as well as the xp boot manager.

if you format the xp disk wiping out the vista boot manger you will then have to REPAIR the vista install to restore the vista boot manger.
not a big deal, jut be aware that is what will happen.
how about swapping the 2 drives and then doing a repair on the vista drive to make it the boot drive.


(e-mail address removed)@sport.rr.com

Running Vista 64 - clean install on formatted HD.
One of the other HDs (I have three) had XP Pro installed.
Now I can't reformat the XP Pro HD, as Vista refuses to delete the main
system folders. If i unplug the XP HD before boot up, I get an error message
saying that BootMgr is missing. The same thing happens if I fail to keep the
Vista CD in the drive whilst booting up. Arrrgh!

I did have a problem with the Vista Boot Manager appearing, asking which
version of Windows I wanted to run (I dont want a multiboot system - I left
XP on "just in case" things went wrong with the Vista install), but I've
managed to get that changed so,
supposedly, it only recognises that Vista is the only OS. (I used a program
called VistaBoot).

Any suggestions for this? Thanks
Paul

 

[Paul Graham]

I tried disconnecting the XP drive altogether, booting from Vista CD, and
trying a repair but it flagged up no errors.
Rebooting caused the system to once again scream for its bootmgr, until I
powered off, replugged the XP drive and restarted.

Extreme case: if I disconnected all but the Vista drive and did a complete
reinstall etc., would I still be able to "activate" Vista again, after I had
already done so on the first install? You know what M'soft are like! ;-)

(Running Ultimate 64 version, by the way)
Paul

----- Original Message -----
sounds like the XP disk is the primary BOOT disk for the system and the
vista boot manager resides there as well as the xp boot manager.

if you format the xp disk wiping out the vista boot manger you will then
have to REPAIR the vista install to restore the vista boot manger.
not a big deal, jut be aware that is what will happen.
how about swapping the 2 drives and then doing a repair on the vista drive
to make it the boot drive.


(e-mail address removed)@sport.rr.com
Running Vista 64 - clean install on formatted HD.
One of the other HDs (I have three) had XP Pro installed.
Now I can't reformat the XP Pro HD, as Vista refuses to delete the main
system folders. If i unplug the XP HD before boot up, I get an error message
saying that BootMgr is missing. The same thing happens if I fail to keep the
Vista CD in the drive whilst booting up. Arrrgh!

I did have a problem with the Vista Boot Manager appearing, asking which
version of Windows I wanted to run (I dont want a multiboot system - I left
XP on "just in case" things went wrong with the Vista install), but I've
managed to get that changed so,
supposedly, it only recognises that Vista is the only OS. (I used a program
called VistaBoot).

Any suggestions for this? Thanks
Paul

 

[mikeyhsd]

if that is an option and you do not care about the xp, then format all the drives and install vista on the real "C" drive.

if you disconnect/turn off in bios the "C" xp drive and install vista again to the vista drive, you will have to select drive to boot from via the bios every time you reboot.

reinstalling vista again SHOULD pose no problem with activation.
worse case is to call MS and explain that you had to do a reinstall.

(e-mail address removed)@sport.rr.com

I tried disconnecting the XP drive altogether, booting from Vista CD, and
trying a repair but it flagged up no errors.
Rebooting caused the system to once again scream for its bootmgr, until I
powered off, replugged the XP drive and restarted.

Extreme case: if I disconnected all but the Vista drive and did a complete
reinstall etc., would I still be able to "activate" Vista again, after I had
already done so on the first install? You know what M'soft are like! ;-)

(Running Ultimate 64 version, by the way)
Paul

----- Original Message -----
sounds like the XP disk is the primary BOOT disk for the system and the
vista boot manager resides there as well as the xp boot manager.

if you format the xp disk wiping out the vista boot manger you will then
have to REPAIR the vista install to restore the vista boot manger.
not a big deal, jut be aware that is what will happen.
how about swapping the 2 drives and then doing a repair on the vista drive
to make it the boot drive.


(e-mail address removed)@sport.rr.com
Running Vista 64 - clean install on formatted HD.
One of the other HDs (I have three) had XP Pro installed.
Now I can't reformat the XP Pro HD, as Vista refuses to delete the main
system folders. If i unplug the XP HD before boot up, I get an error message
saying that BootMgr is missing. The same thing happens if I fail to keep the
Vista CD in the drive whilst booting up. Arrrgh!

I did have a problem with the Vista Boot Manager appearing, asking which
version of Windows I wanted to run (I dont want a multiboot system - I left
XP on "just in case" things went wrong with the Vista install), but I've
managed to get that changed so,
supposedly, it only recognises that Vista is the only OS. (I used a program
called VistaBoot).

Any suggestions for this? Thanks
Paul

 

[Paul Graham]

thanks mikey
I tried again with the Repair option after disconnecting the XP disk.
The upshot was that it took three separate "Repairs" before Vista was happy again.

Also, I noticed that there was a huge amount of disk activity afterwards, and a very slow and "juddery" system for a couple of days - (I have an AMD 64 duo 5000/ 2 gigs RAM, 8800GTS grahics card, 900gigs disk space so I shouldnt be running slow...). I resisted fiddling though, and left Vista to its own devices plus a couple of standard restarts and now I'm running even faster than before - yay!!!
Thanks for your advice
Paul
if that is an option and you do not care about the xp, then format all the drives and install vista on the real "C" drive.

if you disconnect/turn off in bios the "C" xp drive and install vista again to the vista drive, you will have to select drive to boot from via the bios every time you reboot.

reinstalling vista again SHOULD pose no problem with activation.
worse case is to call MS and explain that you had to do a reinstall.

(e-mail address removed)@sport.rr.com

I tried disconnecting the XP drive altogether, booting from Vista CD, and
trying a repair but it flagged up no errors.
Rebooting caused the system to once again scream for its bootmgr, until I
powered off, replugged the XP drive and restarted.

Extreme case: if I disconnected all but the Vista drive and did a complete
reinstall etc., would I still be able to "activate" Vista again, after I had
already done so on the first install? You know what M'soft are like! ;-)

(Running Ultimate 64 version, by the way)
Paul

----- Original Message -----
sounds like the XP disk is the primary BOOT disk for the system and the
vista boot manager resides there as well as the xp boot manager.

if you format the xp disk wiping out the vista boot manger you will then
have to REPAIR the vista install to restore the vista boot manger.
not a big deal, jut be aware that is what will happen.
how about swapping the 2 drives and then doing a repair on the vista drive
to make it the boot drive.


(e-mail address removed)@sport.rr.com
Running Vista 64 - clean install on formatted HD.
One of the other HDs (I have three) had XP Pro installed.
Now I can't reformat the XP Pro HD, as Vista refuses to delete the main
system folders. If i unplug the XP HD before boot up, I get an error message
saying that BootMgr is missing. The same thing happens if I fail to keep the
Vista CD in the drive whilst booting up. Arrrgh!

I did have a problem with the Vista Boot Manager appearing, asking which
version of Windows I wanted to run (I dont want a multiboot system - I left
XP on "just in case" things went wrong with the Vista install), but I've
managed to get that changed so,
supposedly, it only recognises that Vista is the only OS. (I used a program
called VistaBoot).

Any suggestions for this? Thanks
Paul

 

[mikeyhsd]

glad to have another happy camper.



(e-mail address removed)



thanks mikey
I tried again with the Repair option after disconnecting the XP disk.
The upshot was that it took three separate "Repairs" before Vista was happy again.

Also, I noticed that there was a huge amount of disk activity afterwards, and a very slow and "juddery" system for a couple of days - (I have an AMD 64 duo 5000/ 2 gigs RAM, 8800GTS grahics card, 900gigs disk space so I shouldnt be running slow...). I resisted fiddling though, and left Vista to its own devices plus a couple of standard restarts and now I'm running even faster than before - yay!!!
Thanks for your advice
Paul
if that is an option and you do not care about the xp, then format all the drives and install vista on the real "C" drive.

if you disconnect/turn off in bios the "C" xp drive and install vista again to the vista drive, you will have to select drive to boot from via the bios every time you reboot.

reinstalling vista again SHOULD pose no problem with activation.
worse case is to call MS and explain that you had to do a reinstall.

(e-mail address removed)@sport.rr.com

I tried disconnecting the XP drive altogether, booting from Vista CD, and
trying a repair but it flagged up no errors.
Rebooting caused the system to once again scream for its bootmgr, until I
powered off, replugged the XP drive and restarted.

Extreme case: if I disconnected all but the Vista drive and did a complete
reinstall etc., would I still be able to "activate" Vista again, after I had
already done so on the first install? You know what M'soft are like! ;-)

(Running Ultimate 64 version, by the way)
Paul

----- Original Message -----
sounds like the XP disk is the primary BOOT disk for the system and the
vista boot manager resides there as well as the xp boot manager.

if you format the xp disk wiping out the vista boot manger you will then
have to REPAIR the vista install to restore the vista boot manger.
not a big deal, jut be aware that is what will happen.
how about swapping the 2 drives and then doing a repair on the vista drive
to make it the boot drive.


(e-mail address removed)@sport.rr.com
Running Vista 64 - clean install on formatted HD.
One of the other HDs (I have three) had XP Pro installed.
Now I can't reformat the XP Pro HD, as Vista refuses to delete the main
system folders. If i unplug the XP HD before boot up, I get an error message
saying that BootMgr is missing. The same thing happens if I fail to keep the
Vista CD in the drive whilst booting up. Arrrgh!

I did have a problem with the Vista Boot Manager appearing, asking which
version of Windows I wanted to run (I dont want a multiboot system - I left
XP on "just in case" things went wrong with the Vista install), but I've
managed to get that changed so,
supposedly, it only recognises that Vista is the only OS. (I used a program
called VistaBoot).

Any suggestions for this? Thanks
Paul