Can't boot into XP after installing Win7

Docfxit

Distinguished Member
Hi,

I had XP Pro sp2 installed on drive C:
I removed two drives from the laptop and installed Win7 in the remaining drive.
I installed EasyBCD in Win7.
I shutdown the laptop and installed the other two drives.
It booted into Win7 like nothing else was there.
I ran EasyBCD in Win7 and configured XP Pro selecting the automatic find.
When I reboot there is a menu asking me if I want Win7 or XP.
When I choose XPit gives me an error screen saying:
Windows Failed to start
File: \NST\ntldr
Status: 0xc000007b

I have the Win7 drive listed first in the BIOS.
EasyBCD automatically chose the C drive for XP. Win7 is on the C drive.
I changed XP boot to drive D. It came up with the same error when I tried to boot into XP.
Do I need to install the XP bootloader to the MBR from the Bootloader Setup button in Win7?

Thank you,

Docfxit
 
Can you give more information:
1) A screen shot of Disk Management
right click My Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management
2) Text output from the following command lines:
Code:
BootGrabber /tlist
BootGrabber /bootcfg \ArcName\multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)
BootGrabber is found by going to:
run EasyBCD -> Useful Utilities -> EasyBCD Power Console

EasyBCD should have installed the following files onto your Windows 7 partition when you created the Windows XP entry:
NTDETECT.COM
Boot.ini
\NST\ntldr

Do they exist on your Windows 7 partition or a different partition? You could try copying them there if they don't exist.
 
Can you give more information:
1) A screen shot of Disk Management
right click My Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management
2w50f4k.jpg

2) Text output from the following command lines:
Code:
BootGrabber /tlist
BootGrabber /bootcfg \ArcName\multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)
BootGrabber is found by going to:
run EasyBCD -> Useful Utilities -> EasyBCD Power Console
Code:
BootGrabber utility. 
Copyright NeoSmart Technologies 2009-2010 <http://neosmart.net/>

D0,2,2,1,56419345408
P1,D:\,7,40681234944,4015210496,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)
P0,,15,15730606080,0,Yes,
P2,F:\,11,15730573824,9949986816,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)
D1,2,2,0,60011642880
P1,E:\,12,39040049664,3289546752,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)
P2,H:\,12,20971560960,13267894272,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(2)
D2,2,2,1,500107862016
P1,C:\,7,424525054464,410263252992,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
P0,,15,75579678720,0,Yes,
P2,G:\,7,75579646464,16860655616,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)
Code:
BootGrabber utility. 
Copyright NeoSmart Technologies 2009-2010 <http://neosmart.net/>

Bootdevice \ArcName\multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0) letter   fileName Boot.ini
 Drive 0, Partition 1: Valid Windows 2k/XP/2k3 (Added).
 Drive 0, Partition 2: No Windows installation found.
 Drive 1, Partition 1: No Windows installation found.
 Drive 1, Partition 2: No Windows installation found.
 Drive 2, Partition 1: Windows Vista+ (Ignored).
 Drive 2, Partition 2: No Windows installation found.
Failed to create file to \ArcName\multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)\Boot.ini. Error code: 0xc000003a.
EasyBCD should have installed the following files onto your Windows 7 partition when you created the Windows XP entry:
NTDETECT.COM
Boot.ini
\NST\ntldr
I have these two:
NTDETECT.COM
Boot.ini
And I have this one:
\NST\easyldr1
Do they exist on your Windows 7 partition or a different partition? You could try copying them there if they don't exist.

Thanks for looking at it for me.

Docfxit
 
CG. Is the fact that the OS is not disk 0 the problem ?
@Doc You appear to be booting from the wrong HDD and arriving at W7 when the BIOS has tried everything else. Are you sure you've set the order in the right place in the BIOS ?
 
Terry, I've completely changed the detection process for the next version per JoeVT's testing in the other thread. Somehow @Doc has a easyldr file while the bcd is configured for a ntldr file. Something must have gone wrong while he was adding a XP entry, I'm not sure how but somehow he both manually selected a drive and checked the "autoconfigure" checboxes at once :S
 
Terry, I've completely changed the detection process for the next version per JoeVT's testing in the other thread. Somehow @Doc has a easyldr file while the bcd is configured for a ntldr file. Something must have gone wrong while he was adding a XP entry, I'm not sure how but somehow he both manually selected a drive and checked the &quot;autoconfigure&quot; checboxes at once :S

You are correct. When I chose Autoconfigure the software chose win7 to be on the C drive which is correct and it chose XP to be on C drive which is not correct. I manually changed XP to the correct drive.

Thank you,

Docfxit
 
Don't change it manually. It's autoconfigured for a reason - that is the drive that NTLDR/EASYLDR is on, not the drive that XP is on.

Just create a new XP entry, leave the defaults all there, check the autoconfigure box, and reboot to test. It should work "out of the box" without having to change anything.
 
Don't change it manually. It's autoconfigured for a reason - that is the drive that NTLDR/EASYLDR is on, not the drive that XP is on.

Just create a new XP entry, leave the defaults all there, check the autoconfigure box, and reboot to test. It should work "out of the box" without having to change anything.

I removed the entries listed. I added both win7 and xp leaving the defaults with a check mark in autoconfigure for xp. It still isn't working.

bootgrabber utility.
Copyright NeoSmart Technologies 2009-2010 <http://neosmart.net/>



D0,2,2,1,56419345408
P1,D:\,7,40681234944,4012388352,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)
P0,,15,15730606080,0,Yes,
P2,F:\,11,15730573824,9949986816,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)
D1,2,2,0,60011642880
P1,E:\,12,39040049664,3289546752,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)
P2,H:\,12,20971560960,13267894272,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(2)
D2,2,2,1,500107862016
P1,C:\,7,424525054464,410211184640,Yes,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
P0,,15,75579678720,0,Yes,
P2,G:\,7,75579646464,16860639232,No,multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)

BootGrabber utility.
Copyright NeoSmart Technologies 2009-2010 <http://neosmart.net/>

Bootdevice \ArcName\multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0) letter fileName Boot.ini
Drive 0, Partition 1: Valid Windows 2k/XP/2k3 (Added).
Drive 0, Partition 2: No Windows installation found.
Drive 1, Partition 1: No Windows installation found.
Drive 1, Partition 2: No Windows installation found.
Drive 2, Partition 1: Windows Vista+ (Ignored).
Drive 2, Partition 2: No Windows installation found.
Failed to create file to \ArcName\multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)\Boot.ini. Error code: 0xc000003a

Thanks for looking at it.

Docfxit
 
Doc, those bootgrabber lists show that you're still booting from the wrong HDD.
XP is disk 0 and Vista is disk 2.
Have you double checked your BIOS and drilled down properly into the HDD section of the boot tree ?

(Or you could just swap the cables between them if you'd prefer)
 
Doc, those bootgrabber lists show that you're still booting from the wrong HDD.
XP is disk 0 and Vista is disk 2.
Have you double checked your BIOS and drilled down properly into the HDD section of the boot tree ?

(Or you could just swap the cables between them if you'd prefer)

Thanks for the reply...

This is running on a laptop. I can't change the cables. I can't get into Win7 unless that drive is the first drive in the BIOS. Likewise I can't get into XP unless I change the BIOS to have the XP drive first in startup. Would it be better to install EasyBCD in XP since it is the primary drive of the laptop? Win7 is in a Super drive adapter for a hard drive. That could be why EasyBCD isn't reflecting the true boot up sequence.

Thanks,

Docfxit
 
That's crazy !
Your screenshot shows W7 is "active" "system" "boot".
That means it's running (boot), that the boot files which were used to start it are on there (system), and that if it's first in the BIOS, the MBR on that HDD will go directly to that partition (active).
The only way the boot could fail with that HDD first in the sequence, is if the MBR has been replaced with the wrong version (looking for NTLDR instead of bootmgr)
What happens if you boot with only the W7 drive in the PC ?
 
What happens if you boot with only the W7 drive in the PC ?

It will boot into W7 just fine. With all drives int he system it boots into W7 just fine. It won't boot into XP. It goes to the boot menu. I select XP and it gives me an error window saying it can't find a file.

Thanks,

Docfxit
 
Right, then can you switch drives in the bays to boot from the W7 HDD (or change the BIOS - your choice),
Boot W7 then run EasyBCD 2.0
leave the W7 entry
delete the XP entry(s)
add a new XP entry, let it auto-configure
don't change the drive
boot XP
What message do you get ?
 
Docfixit, I'm not at a Windows PC at the moment (only OS X and Ubuntu available for a day or so) so I can't make you a build of EasyBCD 2.0.2 beta with all the fixes integrated, but you can download the parts and do it for yourself for now.

Download 1: The NeoSmart Forums
Download 2: The NeoSmart Forums

Download 1 is EasyBCD. Install it (it's a different version from what you have). Download 2 is BootGrabber.exe. Replace C:\Program Files\NeoSmart Technologies\EasyBCD\bin\bootgrabber.exe with Download 2.

Run EasyBCD, delete any Windows XP entries you have, and add a new one using the steps that Terry suggested (keep the checkbox selected, press add, don't change the drive) and reboot to test.
 
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