Dual Boot issue: XP doesnt load .. Err - invalid boot.ini

still something very funky here. here's the latest and I'm still not where I wanted to be.

i deleted the two extra partitions on the C: Didn't change the bootloader in Win7, though. Annoying, but not problematic. I also unplugged the #2, #3 and #4 hard drives so I could focus on the one hard drive that I was going to have my OSes on.

went to boot from the XP install CD. Setup kept telling me that I had no hard disk drive on my system. Weird, since I could still boot into XP fine from the bootloader. But when I tried to load the recovery console on the CD, it wouldn't find anything.

thought it was the SATA drivers or my BIOS not supporting SATA, etc, so figured I'd check to see if there was a newer bios for my mobo. There wasn't. Flashed it anyway. (MSI PM8PM-V)

rebooted and it went into CHKDSK. Got to XP fine and saw the CD drive and files on the disk.

rebooted and wanted to try the CD again. This time it worked, so I could do a "Repair install" on XP to clean up the bootloader. Worked fine. No needing to pick XP in a menu anymore. Mid install at the moment. Still haven't plugged in the additional hard drives.

So at this point, I'll have a clean XP install on the one, IDE 500gb hard drive set at MASTER. DVD drive on 2nd IDE channel.

What would the best way to proceed be? Create the additional partitions for Win7 and MythBuntu as NTFS from XP? I'm waiting to do the Myth install until i get the Windows installs straight. But should I install Win7 on the 2nd partition before plugging in the other hard drives (1 IDE, 2 SATA). Or plug the hard drives in to XP, then install Win7?

I've accepted the PITA. I just want it to work right, regardless of the hassle.
 
thedigitalhobo said:
What would the best way to proceed be? Create the additional partitions for Win7 and MythBuntu as NTFS from XP? I'm waiting to do the Myth install until i get the Windows installs straight. But should I install Win7 on the 2nd partition before plugging in the other hard drives (1 IDE, 2 SATA). Or plug the hard drives in to XP, then install Win7?

I've accepted the PITA. I just want it to work right, regardless of the hassle.
Click to expand...
Yes, creating partitions for Win 7 and Myth from XP sounds good. If I were you though, I'd leave the other HDDs disconnected, so they don't interfere with the install of the two OSes (i.e. if, for example, they put their boot files on the wrong HDD).

Cheers.
 
getting warming

ok, latest update.

reformatted the main drive. erased all partitions.
kept only had 1 hard drive and CD-Rom on IDE channel 1.

installed XP. formatted the drive during installation and created the first partition (250GB, NTFS), leaving the rest of the drive unallocated for later use.

no problem installing XP onto the C: drive (active, system partition)
Created Win7 partition on D: (primary partition, formatted NTFS)
Created Myth partition on E: (left unallocated)

installed Win 7 Pro onto the D: partition w no problem.
booting to either OS showed XP on C: and Win7 on D:
no probs either OS.

started adding hard drives.

added the 2nd IDE drive no prob

added the 1st sata drive, no problem accessing it, however...

In Disk Management, the C:/D:/E: drive is no longer Disk 0. It is now Disk 1.

i'm starting to think there's a limit to which drives (atapi vs sata) can be Disk 0 as well as having a potential drive failing.

I added the 2nd sata drive (HTPCmusic), when I booted to XP, it went into the CHKDSK routine. I stopped it from running and went into XP. XP does not recognize this drive as having anything on it. Shows up as "Local Drive" and showing it as empty.

When i boot to Win 7, it also wants to launch the CHKDSK at startup and check HTPCmusic drive (sata, 500gb WD) however when I get into the OS, it can see and read from the drive with no problems. All content is there.

Does this mean I spent the last 3 days figuring out that I have a drive failing? Or a drive that I should just reformat?

With all drives plugged in, Win 7 Disk Management shows:
all drives as "Simple", "NTFS"
all but one are Basic
the Dynamic drive is the 2nd ATAPI 500gb hard drive.

Disk 0
c: healthy, system, active, primary partition
Win 7 D: Healthy (boot, page file, crash dump, primary partition)
Myth E: Healthy, primary partition

Disk 1
HTPCStore P: Dynamic, Healthy

Disk 2
HTPCTerra (1 tb sata WD drive) (G: Healthy, Primary

Disk 3
HTPCmusic (H: Healthy, Primary Partitioin

CD-ROM 0
DVD (F:

In XP Disk Management
Disk 0 is G:, showing as empty and unformated (it is the HTPCmusic drive, H: in Win7)

Disk 1
HTPCterra F:

Disk 2
WinXP C:, Win 7 D:, Myth E:, 20gb unallocated

Disk 3
HTPCStore P:

CD-ROM 0
DVD S:


Since I was already having these probs, I'm not sure that changing the drive letters has much to do with it, since only one of the disks was acting up after being changed.

should I just reformat the HTPCmusic drive and call it quits? Or should I try to get all of the drive letters in sync before I fully abandon this effort?

The physical disk numbers changing around is the oddity in my head.

My mobo is an old MSI PM8PM-V
Intel P4 3.5gHz
2gb RAM
nVideo GeForce AGP 8x 6200
430 w Thermaltake PSU
 
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