Firebird2010
Member
Ok I really don't know where to start anymore. I think I might have to reinstall everything from scratch which is almost impossible.
Gateway Core 2 Duo [made in March 2007] 2 gigs of ram Laptop has (1) hard drive in it:
Originally it had Recovery on Partition 1 (the very 1st spot ) And labled Drive D:
The C: drive which has the crappy work installed XP Pro. Is on Partition 2 ( which can attach itself to the Windows Server Network at work has a domain. 250 gig drive
I re-partitioned the drive C easily (done this a lot of times before, I doubt I screwed this up) and made space to install Vista64 Service Pack 2 BETA (which by the way works awesome compared to the orginal Vista64 --no service pack) and that went fine.
I put the Vista install disk and isntalled Vista 64 in the last partition ( 3?) I just made and it called itself Drive C:
Ok so now I bootup and something is booting up (if i were to guess I would say its the vista bootloader) gives me a screen saying the (2) choices. Windows XP first choice on the list or the Vista second choice. So I pick the XP to see that its still in tact and I get an error saying it can not find the /ntldr. I pick Vista and it boots into Vista just fine and it indeed is calling itself drive C:
This is where I got lost here. I installed the EasyBCD and I believe I clearly did not know what I was doing because its a mess everytime I try to modify something. The only thing that saves me each time I make a mistake is inserting the Vista Disc and hitting REPAIR.
I have read posts and posts and posts here and the links to sites that explain this but somewhere I missing something key here to make all this work and play nice together.
Ok some questions:
1.) Does any of this matter on what partition order you have? In another words in my case Gateway has the recovery as being the beginning first partition..partition 0 or the 1st part.
Is this part of my problem here perhaps that the utilities are trying to put things on this very first top partition?
2.) Is there any preferred order of all this. Put Vista on Partition 0 and XP on next partition 1 and then the recovery last on partition 2? OR is it better to have XP on the first partition and Vista following it? Does any of this make any difference whatsover with the utility tools people use or I need to be careful if I do it one or the other?
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3.) There is a program called Partition Commander 10 Professional. If you boot off the CD rom there is a utility that allows you to change the BOOT CORRECTOR. I was trying different things with this to try to get it to boot as well so I am wondering if this needs to be done as well. What I was doing bascially is this. It asks you what Windows installation you would like to correct. I can pick the XP or the Vista one and there is an area where is says: CORRECT DRIVE LETTERS IN SYSTEM REGISTRY. Ok well common sense told me that I should try changing this around perhaps and experimenting with what makes most sense. In the XP installation I guessed that I should tell the 2nd partition which has XP on in that it should DRIVE C: and recovery partition 1 drive D: and the Vista Drive the 3rd and last partition, drive E: I save it and go on to the Vista windows installation to correct the drives there.
But here I tell the Vista installation drive letters to be C: for Vista and the XP D: and recovery E: save it and now what to do next I wonder.
4.) What partition do I call and make the active drive? I can make both partitons active using this utility. So I am lost on what to do there. Currently it appears to me if I make VISTA the active partition that it will not load the Vista bootloader. It also does not load the XP.
If I make the XP partition ACTIVE then it seems to what I can see loads the Vista boot menu and allows entry only into Vista.
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5.) Someone was saying my problem was I needed to copy the (3) files over, ntldr, boot.ini and i forget the other one ntcommand.com something. So first question is. Do i delete these filed from the XP root directory or keep them there? Currently they are both partitions in the root dir of XP and Vista.
6.) Do i need to edit any of these files? I am thinking I have to tell one of these files that the boot stuff is on the 3rd Partition right?
---------------------
7.) Ok well here is my easyBCD printout:
The thing i find most curious is that the device says UNKNOWN? Is all this a mess because I am using Vista 64 on one end and XP 32 bit on the other?
8.) HOw do i EDIT the device and what shall I tell it to say?
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device unknown
path \bootmgr
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
displayorder {ntldr}
{current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 10
resume No
Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device unknown
path \ntldr
description XP
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device unknown
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate (recovered)
osdevice unknown
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {706cc97b-daa4-11dd-91bc-806e6f6e6963}
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok well sorry for being too wordy. I just wanted to give you some background and it was probably overkill but at least you can sort of see whats up.
Thanks for any help. I really need to get my WORK laptop back working before I get in trouble with the boss.
Addendum:
SORRY! Something I left out. When booting the XP selection in the Menu this is what I get for error:
Windows could not start becasue the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.
So is this something I have to address 1st here? What do I do from here? I never heard anyone talk about hal in the forum posts with this problems. (Only place I heard of it is when they started to remove all the memory chips from HAL in Space Odessey 2000.)
Addendum:
Well I guess you know you are really in trouble when (11) people READ your post and no one replies. Oh boy...woe is me. LOL
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller??? Anyone see Ferris?
Addendum:
Ok some UPDATES HERE to add to my post here:
************************
Cool Discovery Number #1
************************
Let it be known, and I might of been really saved by this--who knows. I managed to restore an old backup of the XP drive I had before I messed with all this of Dual booting. So...I NOW have the old copy of the (3) boot files if needed. I burnt them to a CD and copied them to my XP ROOT directory thinking hey this really would not HURT things anymore then I already did.
************************
Cool Discovery Number #2
************************
Interesting enough I saw something else I should RED FLAG who ever wants to help here.
The bootmgr was located in the XP ROOT directory and there was NO bootmgr in the old backup copy root directory of the XP...so when I installed Vista it must of put the bootmgr in the wrong directory?
Or is this not a problem.
Ok thats all the late and breaking NEWS here.
I REALLY APPRECIATE all of you helping and reading and contributing!
Thanks!
Addendum:
Another Update here.....I am trying my BEST!
Ok well I discovered that removing the bootmgr and putting in the Vista directory made the vista boot up screen non-functional.
I get the same common error:
Windows could not start becasue the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.
So I was forced by geeky bandits at squirt gun point to do the Vista Repair Disk routine.
Interesting TID BIT here I noticed it recovered the Vista to Letter Drive E:
Why it says drive E: I am puzzled at. I was thinking oh no again, it switched drive letter on me, but thought what the heck, I will let it reboot and see what happens. It failed again but this time with a Repair Disk I hit the Start up and repair option and it restored my bootmgr to the XP directory again.
So I am ASSUMING (without making a donkey out of u and me) that the bootmgr is ok to reside in the XP directory? Who knows. I pray for the "Computer Guru" to somehow save me soon.
Ok here is an updated BCD screen shot...I think I am better off now but who knows!
NOTICE below that both entries are labeled drive C: ------ perhaps this is a problem?
There are a total of 2 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 10 seconds.
Default OS: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate (recovered)
Entry #1
Name: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate (recovered)
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows
Entry #2
Name: XP
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \ntldr
Thanks again for any comments or help along the way to you all. I really have to fix this today!
Addendum:
I left out a fact about the drive E: part when recovering the Vista boot. Even though it said it recovered it to drive E: on the bootup after the repair and bootmgr got restored it is showing its on drive C:
I just did not want people getting confused. It is showing its still on drive C: after bootup to Vista.
XP on a bootup is still getting same error. No luck.
Gateway Core 2 Duo [made in March 2007] 2 gigs of ram Laptop has (1) hard drive in it:
Originally it had Recovery on Partition 1 (the very 1st spot ) And labled Drive D:
The C: drive which has the crappy work installed XP Pro. Is on Partition 2 ( which can attach itself to the Windows Server Network at work has a domain. 250 gig drive
I re-partitioned the drive C easily (done this a lot of times before, I doubt I screwed this up) and made space to install Vista64 Service Pack 2 BETA (which by the way works awesome compared to the orginal Vista64 --no service pack) and that went fine.
I put the Vista install disk and isntalled Vista 64 in the last partition ( 3?) I just made and it called itself Drive C:
Ok so now I bootup and something is booting up (if i were to guess I would say its the vista bootloader) gives me a screen saying the (2) choices. Windows XP first choice on the list or the Vista second choice. So I pick the XP to see that its still in tact and I get an error saying it can not find the /ntldr. I pick Vista and it boots into Vista just fine and it indeed is calling itself drive C:
This is where I got lost here. I installed the EasyBCD and I believe I clearly did not know what I was doing because its a mess everytime I try to modify something. The only thing that saves me each time I make a mistake is inserting the Vista Disc and hitting REPAIR.
I have read posts and posts and posts here and the links to sites that explain this but somewhere I missing something key here to make all this work and play nice together.
Ok some questions:
1.) Does any of this matter on what partition order you have? In another words in my case Gateway has the recovery as being the beginning first partition..partition 0 or the 1st part.
Is this part of my problem here perhaps that the utilities are trying to put things on this very first top partition?
2.) Is there any preferred order of all this. Put Vista on Partition 0 and XP on next partition 1 and then the recovery last on partition 2? OR is it better to have XP on the first partition and Vista following it? Does any of this make any difference whatsover with the utility tools people use or I need to be careful if I do it one or the other?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.) There is a program called Partition Commander 10 Professional. If you boot off the CD rom there is a utility that allows you to change the BOOT CORRECTOR. I was trying different things with this to try to get it to boot as well so I am wondering if this needs to be done as well. What I was doing bascially is this. It asks you what Windows installation you would like to correct. I can pick the XP or the Vista one and there is an area where is says: CORRECT DRIVE LETTERS IN SYSTEM REGISTRY. Ok well common sense told me that I should try changing this around perhaps and experimenting with what makes most sense. In the XP installation I guessed that I should tell the 2nd partition which has XP on in that it should DRIVE C: and recovery partition 1 drive D: and the Vista Drive the 3rd and last partition, drive E: I save it and go on to the Vista windows installation to correct the drives there.
But here I tell the Vista installation drive letters to be C: for Vista and the XP D: and recovery E: save it and now what to do next I wonder.
4.) What partition do I call and make the active drive? I can make both partitons active using this utility. So I am lost on what to do there. Currently it appears to me if I make VISTA the active partition that it will not load the Vista bootloader. It also does not load the XP.
If I make the XP partition ACTIVE then it seems to what I can see loads the Vista boot menu and allows entry only into Vista.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
5.) Someone was saying my problem was I needed to copy the (3) files over, ntldr, boot.ini and i forget the other one ntcommand.com something. So first question is. Do i delete these filed from the XP root directory or keep them there? Currently they are both partitions in the root dir of XP and Vista.
6.) Do i need to edit any of these files? I am thinking I have to tell one of these files that the boot stuff is on the 3rd Partition right?
---------------------
7.) Ok well here is my easyBCD printout:
The thing i find most curious is that the device says UNKNOWN? Is all this a mess because I am using Vista 64 on one end and XP 32 bit on the other?
8.) HOw do i EDIT the device and what shall I tell it to say?
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device unknown
path \bootmgr
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
displayorder {ntldr}
{current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 10
resume No
Windows Legacy OS Loader
------------------------
identifier {ntldr}
device unknown
path \ntldr
description XP
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device unknown
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate (recovered)
osdevice unknown
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {706cc97b-daa4-11dd-91bc-806e6f6e6963}
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok well sorry for being too wordy. I just wanted to give you some background and it was probably overkill but at least you can sort of see whats up.
Thanks for any help. I really need to get my WORK laptop back working before I get in trouble with the boss.
Addendum:
SORRY! Something I left out. When booting the XP selection in the Menu this is what I get for error:
Windows could not start becasue the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.
So is this something I have to address 1st here? What do I do from here? I never heard anyone talk about hal in the forum posts with this problems. (Only place I heard of it is when they started to remove all the memory chips from HAL in Space Odessey 2000.)
Addendum:
Well I guess you know you are really in trouble when (11) people READ your post and no one replies. Oh boy...woe is me. LOL
Addendum:
Ok some UPDATES HERE to add to my post here:
************************
Cool Discovery Number #1
************************
Let it be known, and I might of been really saved by this--who knows. I managed to restore an old backup of the XP drive I had before I messed with all this of Dual booting. So...I NOW have the old copy of the (3) boot files if needed. I burnt them to a CD and copied them to my XP ROOT directory thinking hey this really would not HURT things anymore then I already did.
************************
Cool Discovery Number #2
************************
Interesting enough I saw something else I should RED FLAG who ever wants to help here.
The bootmgr was located in the XP ROOT directory and there was NO bootmgr in the old backup copy root directory of the XP...so when I installed Vista it must of put the bootmgr in the wrong directory?
Or is this not a problem.
Ok thats all the late and breaking NEWS here.
I REALLY APPRECIATE all of you helping and reading and contributing!
Thanks!
Addendum:
Another Update here.....I am trying my BEST!
Ok well I discovered that removing the bootmgr and putting in the Vista directory made the vista boot up screen non-functional.
I get the same common error:
Windows could not start becasue the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.
So I was forced by geeky bandits at squirt gun point to do the Vista Repair Disk routine.
Interesting TID BIT here I noticed it recovered the Vista to Letter Drive E:
Why it says drive E: I am puzzled at. I was thinking oh no again, it switched drive letter on me, but thought what the heck, I will let it reboot and see what happens. It failed again but this time with a Repair Disk I hit the Start up and repair option and it restored my bootmgr to the XP directory again.
So I am ASSUMING (without making a donkey out of u and me) that the bootmgr is ok to reside in the XP directory? Who knows. I pray for the "Computer Guru" to somehow save me soon.
Ok here is an updated BCD screen shot...I think I am better off now but who knows!
NOTICE below that both entries are labeled drive C: ------ perhaps this is a problem?
There are a total of 2 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 10 seconds.
Default OS: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate (recovered)
Entry #1
Name: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate (recovered)
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows
Entry #2
Name: XP
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \ntldr
Thanks again for any comments or help along the way to you all. I really have to fix this today!
Addendum:
I left out a fact about the drive E: part when recovering the Vista boot. Even though it said it recovered it to drive E: on the bootup after the repair and bootmgr got restored it is showing its on drive C:
I just did not want people getting confused. It is showing its still on drive C: after bootup to Vista.
XP on a bootup is still getting same error. No luck.
Last edited: