richard5573
Member
I have VISTA Home Basic on C: (label: ACER) : I created a new partition D: (label: NEW VOLUME). After changing (in BIOS) from AHCI to IDE (HDD Mode) I was able to install XP from my XP disc. (There is another hidden partition labelled: PQSERVICE, for VISTA clean reinstall purposes).
When the PC booted it came up with XP. But, I don't think I had a way to boot into VISTA after I installed XP. I did not see a regular WINDOWS boot option.
Anyway, I discovered EASY BCD and installed it. Without knowing much about what I was doing I added some entries. I shut down, but now my laptop does not boot into anything.
Well, how do I psyche this out?
Do I remove what EASY BCD has added to my laptop? Do, I try to boot into XP, or maybe VISTA?
Perhaps I should try to boot up into XP. Then I can use EASY BCD again and get it right next time.
I'm using XP RECOVERY: Note - drive letters are different from when I was using XP.
In XP RECOVERY, C: is NEW VOLUME where XP is; D: is DVD ROM; E: is PQSERVICE; F: is ACER where VISTA is.
I'm looking at things like making sure boot.ini is correct. I ran bootcfg /rebuild so that I could see WINDOWS installs but only 1 is identified on E, that is the hidden recovery partition PQSERVICE.
There should be an installation on C: (XP) and F: (VISTA).
Is there a way of downloading a program to a CDROM that will fix my boot problems?
If not I'll have to make sure bootini is correct.
Should there be a boot.ini in NEW VOLUME (XP)? There was no boot.ini there, I had to put one there, because I was getting invalid boot.ini. I copied it from ACER (VISTA). That shows BIOS is wanting to boot from NEW VOLUME, where XP is.
boot.ini says:
;This boot.ini was automatically generated by Neo....
;Use Easy BCD....
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(o)rdisk(o)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating system]
multi(0)disk(o)rdisk(o)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Windows XP on D:\"fastdetect"
I don't know where to start. Perhaps use FIXMBR or FIXBOOT.
My main interest is actually getting back into VISTA. There is no data on XP, so NEW VOLUME could be deleted. No problem maybe that is what I should do. But how to get back into VISTA is a worry.
Addendum:
I can simply remove NEW VOLUME, but will VISTA boot up?
Addendum:
The problem is, using EASY BCD has confused my sitation. Because I'm not sure what it's effects have been.
I'm in XP RECOVERY. If I try to use FIXMBR I'm told I have a non-standard or invalid MBR. Maybe that would fix the problem. If EASY BCD is responsible for that, and I use FIXMBR, would it cause a problem? I would hope that all that would happen is that Windows would get what it normally expects and my PC might boot into some OS. Boot.ini needs to be correct of course. Now I'm in C: in NEW VOLUME, so I'm changing MBR of NEW VOLUME. NEW VOLUME is I believe partition (3). Well, my boot.ini directs to partition (3). But maybe I have NTLDR or NDETECT problems. I hope not? Cannot understand though why bootcfg only finds windows install on E: PQSERVICE.
Which raisies the question: If you are in XP and you use EASY BCD, and something goes wrong, can you simply use FIXBOOT and FIXMBR and BOOTCFG, to effectively remove anything EASY BCD might have done? And boot into XP and restart EASY BCD in XP and try again?
On F: label: VISTA, I have "Inactive OS/2 Boot Manager".
When the PC booted it came up with XP. But, I don't think I had a way to boot into VISTA after I installed XP. I did not see a regular WINDOWS boot option.
Anyway, I discovered EASY BCD and installed it. Without knowing much about what I was doing I added some entries. I shut down, but now my laptop does not boot into anything.
Well, how do I psyche this out?
Do I remove what EASY BCD has added to my laptop? Do, I try to boot into XP, or maybe VISTA?
Perhaps I should try to boot up into XP. Then I can use EASY BCD again and get it right next time.
I'm using XP RECOVERY: Note - drive letters are different from when I was using XP.
In XP RECOVERY, C: is NEW VOLUME where XP is; D: is DVD ROM; E: is PQSERVICE; F: is ACER where VISTA is.
I'm looking at things like making sure boot.ini is correct. I ran bootcfg /rebuild so that I could see WINDOWS installs but only 1 is identified on E, that is the hidden recovery partition PQSERVICE.
There should be an installation on C: (XP) and F: (VISTA).
Is there a way of downloading a program to a CDROM that will fix my boot problems?
If not I'll have to make sure bootini is correct.
Should there be a boot.ini in NEW VOLUME (XP)? There was no boot.ini there, I had to put one there, because I was getting invalid boot.ini. I copied it from ACER (VISTA). That shows BIOS is wanting to boot from NEW VOLUME, where XP is.
boot.ini says:
;This boot.ini was automatically generated by Neo....
;Use Easy BCD....
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(o)rdisk(o)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating system]
multi(0)disk(o)rdisk(o)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Windows XP on D:\"fastdetect"
I don't know where to start. Perhaps use FIXMBR or FIXBOOT.
My main interest is actually getting back into VISTA. There is no data on XP, so NEW VOLUME could be deleted. No problem maybe that is what I should do. But how to get back into VISTA is a worry.
Addendum:
I can simply remove NEW VOLUME, but will VISTA boot up?
Addendum:
The problem is, using EASY BCD has confused my sitation. Because I'm not sure what it's effects have been.
I'm in XP RECOVERY. If I try to use FIXMBR I'm told I have a non-standard or invalid MBR. Maybe that would fix the problem. If EASY BCD is responsible for that, and I use FIXMBR, would it cause a problem? I would hope that all that would happen is that Windows would get what it normally expects and my PC might boot into some OS. Boot.ini needs to be correct of course. Now I'm in C: in NEW VOLUME, so I'm changing MBR of NEW VOLUME. NEW VOLUME is I believe partition (3). Well, my boot.ini directs to partition (3). But maybe I have NTLDR or NDETECT problems. I hope not? Cannot understand though why bootcfg only finds windows install on E: PQSERVICE.
Which raisies the question: If you are in XP and you use EASY BCD, and something goes wrong, can you simply use FIXBOOT and FIXMBR and BOOTCFG, to effectively remove anything EASY BCD might have done? And boot into XP and restart EASY BCD in XP and try again?
On F: label: VISTA, I have "Inactive OS/2 Boot Manager".
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