No Dual Boot without installation disk in drive

W

willem1933

Member
From Windows Disk Management when in Vista OS:

Disk 0, Samsung HD161HJ ATA Device, one partition C:\ 149.05 GB, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition, Vista OS (English)
Disk 1, IBM-DTLA-307030 ATA Device, one partition D:\ 28.62 GB, System, Active, Primary Partition, Windows XP SP3 (Dutch) – Note: actually IDE Device
Disk 2, Samsung HD250HJ ATA Device, four partitions, E:\, F:\, G:\ and H:\, all Logical Drives for data

History of the OS Disks:

Disk 0 initially had a bad functioning XP OS on it (downloads were all corrupted), recently this disk was used to install Vista, after reformatting the disk

Disk 1 has currently an Acronis image of the XP OS when it was still working without a hitch.

Overview in EASYBCD1.6:

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader TimeOut: 30 seconds
Default OS: Microsoft Windows Vista

Entry #1 Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2 Name Windows XP SP3
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Drive: D:\
Bootloader Path: \ntldr

Problem:

When the machine is started up the result is that after the initial BIOS the computer ends in a flashing cursor ONLY.
When the machine is started up with ANY Windows (XP or Vista) installation CD/DVD-ROM in the CD/DVD Drive it goes to a dual boot menu. Choosing Microsoft Windows Vista it goes into Vista, choosing Windows XP SP3.

Question:

How can the computer get into the Dual Boot menu without an installation CD/DVD-ROM ?

Using EasyBCD 1.6 which TAB (View, Configure, Add/Remove, etc) has to be used and which settings are exactly to be used ?


Thanks for assistance
 
Hi Willem, welcome to NST.
Your XP disk is "system" "active", i.e. that's where the Vista bootmgr and XP's NTLDR are.
Do you have the XP disk listed 1st in your BIOS boot sequence ?
If you have the Vista disk 1st, the MBR on that disk will go to the "active" partition (i.e. Vista) and look in the boot sector for bootmgr, and it won't be there.
 
Terry60 said:
Hi Willem, welcome to NST.
Your XP disk is "system" "active", i.e. that's where the Vista bootmgr and XP's NTLDR are.
Do you have the XP disk listed 1st in your BIOS boot sequence ?
If you have the Vista disk 1st, the MBR on that disk will go to the "active" partition (i.e. Vista) and look in the boot sector for bootmgr, and it won't be there.
Click to expand...

Thanks Terry,

Looked in the BIOSand found:

Under MAIN:

Primary IDE Master Philips DVDR
Primary IDE Slave HL-DT-ST CD-RW
Secondary IDE Master IBM DTLA 307030 (Carries XP OS)
Secondary IDE Slave None
First SATA Master Samsung HD161HJ (Carries Vista OS)

And under BOOT:

1st SATA-M - Samsung HD161HJ (Carries Vista OS)
2nd Master - IBM-DTLA 307030 (Carries XP OS)
2nd SATA-M - Samsung HD250HJ

What should happen to solve the problem that the machine ONLY goes to a Dual Boot Menu when there is an installation CD- or DVD-ROM in the drive ? Without such an installation CD- or DVD-ROM in the drive it ends up with a sort of blinking cursor, but no commands can be given from the keyboard.
 
Put the IBM disk before the Samsung 161 in the boot section.
The system will try to boot from the boot sector of the active partition on the 1st HDD in the boot sequence.
Your boot files are all on the IBM disk.

(Don't worry, all my boot files, including Vista's are in my XP partition, it doesn't matter unless you want to get rid of XP at some time, when you'll have to repair the Vista boot. Until then it's all of no importance.)
 
Last edited:
Terry60 said:
Put the IBM disk before the Samsung 161 in the boot section.
The system will try to boot from the boot sector of the active partition on the 1st HDD in the boot sequence.
Your boot files are all on the IBM disk.

(Don't worry, all my boot files, including Vista's are in my XP partition, it doesn't matter unless you want to get rid of XP at some time, when you'll have to repair the Vista boot. Until then it's all of no importance.)
Click to expand...

That worked fine. Thank you for the prompt replies, which on my part were not always that prompt, due to other obligations of a pensioner.
 
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