After updating and resetting BCD I've lost everything

[fenderman]

Recapping my previous threads, I had a problem with BCD not showing the BIOS option of the two separate drives (one with XP and the other with W7) after having got rid of the "System check" virus.
I updated from 1.7 to 2.1 and the problem was still there....from cold no option screen but on restart the option screen appeared. I then did a reset of the configuration and was very carefull to ensure I added the new entries prior to restarting.
Now I've lost it all. I can't get into either drive.
Startup and I get a msg. saying Invalid boot.ini
Using F8 and getting the boot options if I select the W7 drive I get a msg. saying ntdlr missing.
I have used the XP disk to try and do a repair but without success.
I have entered the activation code but every time I try I get the msg. saying that I need to activate before I can log on.
When I try to activate the computer just stays on the desktop screen.
I've tried unplugging the W7 drive leaving just the one with XP but no go.
One further odd thing.....Originally the XP drive was designated as the "H" drive whilst the W7 drive once added was designated as the "C" drive. On the 1.7 version of Easy BCD the XP drive was shown as the "D" drive (no mention of "H"). and that was the case when automatically transferred over onto the 2.1 version. After the reset the XP drive was shown as the "C" and the W7 was shown as the "D"!
What else can I try?

[Terry60]

You're getting XP (NTLDR/boot.ini) error messages whichever HDD you boot from. That means you have somehow regressed the W7 boot loader on its HDD.
Disconnect XP and repair the Vista/7 bootloader on its HDD then keeping that first in the BIOS boot sequence when you reconnect XP, boot it and add an XP entry to the newly created BCD.
Recovering the Windows Bootloader from the DVD - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

[fenderman]

[QUOTE=Terry60;70769]You're getting XP (NTLDR/boot.ini) error messages whichever HDD you boot from. That means you have somehow regressed the W7 boot loader on its HDD.
Disconnect XP and repair the Vista/7 bootloader on its HDD then keeping that first in the BIOS boot sequence when you reconnect XP, boot it and add an XP entry to the newly created BCD. Unquote

Thanks for the reply. Being a novice I would be very grateful if you could hold my hand through process of repairing the W7 bootloader etc.

[Computer Guru]

Recovering the Windows Bootloader from the DVD - EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

[fenderman]

Well I finally summoned up the courage to disconnect the xp drive and using the W7 disk I did the repair sequence three times and so now I have W7 at least. Yippee! I've yet to reconnect the XP drive as I don't understand Quote: then keeping that first in the BIOS boot sequence when you reconnect XP, boot it and add an XP entry to the newly created BCD. Unquote Additionally I need some help in activating XP having tried to use its disk to repair. In safe mode I see that IE has disappeared from the desktop. I have tried to reinstall using a flash drive but it says it needs an update. Would this be SP3 as I see it is no longer described as XP Pro SP3 but rather XP Pro SP2? If I download SP3 to a flash drive and then load it to the XP drive will I then be able to download IE8 and then do the activation? Sorry for the longwinded question but I really need some guidance here.

[Terry60]

It's just a warning that with most modern BIOSs, if you disconnect what was your first boot disk, boot from something else, then reconnect it, it will no longer be first in the boot sequence.
In your case, the W7 HDD you just repaired should stay top of the HDD boot sequence when you reconnect XP. (You'll soon know if it didn't when you boot again, if you go back to the old pre-repair behaviour). If you need to, just enter the BIOS setup as you power up and put it top of the boot sequence. The first splash screen should tell you how to enter setup, and in there you just need to look around the BOOT menu to find the HDD priority sequence.

[fenderman]

Thanks for that. Any advice you can offer re: XP and IE as per my last post would be greatly appreciated.

[Mak 2.0]

Are you in Safe Mode with Networking? If you are not, that is why you dont see the IE icons. Since you are not connected to any network, there is no need for the icons to be there. If you want to know what version of XP you have, just do this.

Start>Run>winver

That will give you all the information you need. But if you did a repair install of XP, it will repair the install to the version of XP that is on the disk used. If you only have a XP SP2 disk, then you reverted your XP install back to SP2 instead of SP3. You will need to install it. You wont be able to download and install IE if you are not using Safe Mode with Networking as it require the internet to download the IE install files and install the new version of IE.

So make sure you choose Safe Mode with Networking.

[fenderman]

Are you in Safe Mode with Networking? If you are not, that is why you dont see the IE icons. Since you are not connected to any network, there is no need for the icons to be there. If you want to know what version of XP you have, just do this.

Start>Run>winver

That will give you all the information you need. But if you did a repair install of XP, it will repair the install to the version of XP that is on the disk used. If you only have a XP SP2 disk, then you reverted your XP install back to SP2 instead of SP3. You will need to install it. You wont be able to download and install IE if you are not using Safe Mode with Networking as it require the internet to download the IE install files and install the new version of IE.

So make sure you choose Safe Mode with Networking.

Yes, my XP Pro disk had only SP2, not SP3. What I've done so far is to download IE8 and SP3 to a flash drive and presumed that I could install these by selecting the flash drive from My Computer. How do I use Safe Mode with Networking to get into the Internet if I can't see it? This is all new ground to me so appreciate all advice, thanks.

[Terry60]

Just go into Windows Update and let it get SP3 et al for you.

[fenderman]

Just go into Windows Update and let it get SP3 et al for you.

But how do I do that when there is no apparent access to the internet on the XP drive? I am still in the position that the Windows reinstall is still asking for activation without the ability to go online (see previous).

[Terry60]

When you've selected XP from the boot menu and hit enter, start tapping F8 immediately and repeatedly.
You should enter the XP extended boot menu, where you can select safe mode with networking.

[fenderman]

I reconnected the XP drive and had to go into the BIOS to change the order of the hard drives. I went into Easy BCD and added the xp drive.
Selecting the XP drive brought a Boot Manager message:

Failed to start.......
File: \NST\ntldr
Status 0xc000000f
Selected entry missing or corrupt


Looking again at the Easy BCD entries I now see the settings as follows:

Entry #1
Name: Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Entry #2
Name: Microsoft Windows XP
BCD ID: {910b2615-693e-11e1-9737-9f0f8c572b42}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\ntldr

As you can see, both drives are shown as "C". Do I simply change the XP drive to "D" in Advanced Settings or is there something else needed?

[Terry60]

C is correct. The BCD does not point to XP, it points to the pointers to XP.
Did you get into SMwN and fix your problems with XP ?
Looking back, I'm confused now as to what exactly is your problem at the moment. Fixing the XP installation or trying to boot it ?

[fenderman]

C is correct. The BCD does not point to XP, it points to the pointers to XP.
Did you get into SMwN and fix your problems with XP ?
Looking back, I'm confused now as to what exactly is your problem at the moment. Fixing the XP installation or trying to boot it ?

Hi Terry, thanks for your time and patience..
The problem is both. If I go into the process of getting into SNwN (it shows the XP drive as "D" not "C") I can't get past the window asking me to select Administrator or Ken. I just get the Windows product Activation requirement screen telling me I can't activate in safe mode and then nothing else. If I just select XP as normal from the bootloader I get to background display screen and then get the Windows product activation screen again and nothing else.
It doesn't take me online so I haven't been able to do anything further.