Seeking Help Please

H

harleyman

Member
Hi Newbie here..A tech bud of mine sent me your link for some help...
I am helping a friend out, Retired Navy man who has a dual boot XP vista set up that was never quite right..

XP boots but to get Vista to boot he has to remove his XP sata cable from the HDD

Now he has lost all vista, and can not even boot from the CD for a repair....It just hangs and dies..

My friend told me this app would allow us to boot into XP and from there do a boot repair on his Vista Drive...

Can you please give me some details and / or steer me in the direction of where I might fina a guide for doing this...

I am trying at all costs to save his drive..he is getting on in years and just does not have the abality to do this at all..


Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Booting into Vista he gets this error..... He can not do a repair or reinstall as of now...He can boot into XP and hot connect his vista sata cable and see his Vista files...
 

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Thank you for that and the welcome...

Last question....He has the Vista disk.....So is the burning of your Recovery Disk necessary if he has his disk..

I know you said to...LOL Sorry..Just checking, perhaps your recovery is different ...

Thanks a lot ....

Addendum:

Your CD link freezes my computer...
 
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harleyman said:
Thank you for that and the welcome...

Last question....He has the Vista disk.....So is the burning of your Recovery Disk necessary if he has his disk..

I know you said to...LOL Sorry..Just checking, perhaps your recovery is different ...

Thanks a lot ....
Click to expand...

No, if you have the Vista reinstallation DVD, then there's no point in downloading our recovery disk, which is actually only a trimmed down version of that. :wink: It wasn't clear whether or not you had one in your original post, though, so that is why I suggesting downloading and using ours.
Please still follow the instructions in the wiki though. :smile:

Cheers.

-Coolname007

Addendum:

harleyman said:
Addendum:

Your CD link freezes my computer...
Click to expand...

Huh? :wtf: It works fine on my end...not sure what's up. Did you try it again? Never mind, because you don't need to access that page anyway since you have the Vista DVD. Just click on the link to the wiki page instead, and follow the instructions there.

-Coolname007
 
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YUP..Tried it a third time and it frooze me again..It might be one of my plug ins..They do act stupid at times.....


Thank you very much...
 
Ok Followed your guide...

We are on two different pages here...

We have the OEM Vista disk....We can not boot off of it and get to the repair stage ..We get nowhere at all..We just get the error as posted in my screenshot above...We cannot follow those instructions as it will not boot to that screen for repairs, formats,Nothing...


Can we repair Vista from his active XP that works?

Addendum:

The other links work fine...Thanks

Addendum:

Ok Think I just found my answer..It appears that with your utility we can boot into XP. then use your tool to rebuild the vista boot loader and all thats on that tutorial page....We will give that a shot tommorrow....


Thanks again for your patience and help...
 
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harleyman said:
Ok Followed your guide...

We are on two different pages here...

We have the OEM Vista disk....We can not boot off of it and get to the repair stage ..We get nowhere at all..We just get the error as posted in my screenshot above...We cannot follow those instructions as it will not boot to that screen for repairs, formats,Nothing...
Click to expand...

Sorry. From the first post, it sounded like you get that error when booting into Vista, not when trying to boot from the DVD. :wink: Sure your CD/DVD drive is first in the boot seqence in the BIOS?
Anyway, if all else fails, you should be able to use EasyBCD from XP to repair Vista using this guide instead. Of course, that's assuming your Vista partition is accessible from XP, and its not hidden to protect Vista's system restore points.

-Coolname007

Addendum:

harleyman said:
Addendum:

Ok Think I just found my answer..It appears that with your utility we can boot into XP. then use your tool to rebuild the vista boot loader and all thats on that tutorial page....We will give that a shot tommorrow....


Thanks again for your patience and help...
Click to expand...

Am I missing something here? :S I thought you said you could boot into XP fine, but it was Vista that you're having the trouble with?

-Coolname007
 
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I'm sorry If I've garbled all this up ...

We can boot XP

Booting into Vista gives the error.....And does nothing..Black screen

Booting off the OEM Vista disk does nothing..Installs files and stops dead(no options )

His boot order is set properly
 
harleyman said:
I'm sorry If I've garbled all this up ...

We can boot XP

Booting into Vista gives the error.....And does nothing..Black screen

Booting off the OEM Vista disk does nothing..Installs files and stops dead(no options )

His boot order is set properly
Click to expand...

Ok, so from the description, I'd have to say you're probably trying to use a 64-bit version of the Vista DVD, when your hardware only supports 32-bit...:wink:
If that is the case, then you could try downloading the 32-bit version of our Recovery Disk, and use that instead.
Or you can try the advice in the wiki on how to recovery the Vista bootloader with EasyBCD instead. Your call. Either way is going to take a bit of work before Vista is booting again.

-Coolname007
 
Its a 64 bit capible machine..And Vista did work on it for a while..Then he killed it..

Its a homebuilt X58 i7...

I think I have enough info now to completely nuke both drives for him now....LOL


Thanks again Coolname007
 
You say it's a home built PC and an OEM Vista, so I assume you mean the OEM System Builder Pack, bought at the same time as you bought the PC components, and not that you bought the PC from an OEM with a preinstalled Vista.
If that's a correct assumption, then there's no point downloading our recovery disk. The OEM Vista disk is bootable, as you'll know from having used it to do the 1st Vista install, and our download is, as Cool said, only a small sub-set of that disk, just the recovery portion.
What is the PC configuration when the DVD fails to boot, XP HDD connected or not ?
You need to discover 1st why that DVD will not boot. Have you tried verifying that it's not damaged by booting it on an unbroken system (not to do anything, just check that it can boot fully).
If you're following the instructions to repair the boot from XP, remember that XP needs the NET 2.0 framework installed as a pre-req, before EasyBCD can run.
Have a read of the sticky thread for some background information on dual boot problems, especially the link in point 1 if you're not clear exactly what it is you're trying to do, and point 3 about where everything should be. This is obviously a problem you've been having in the past if it was necessary to disconnect a drive to get things to boot.
 
Terry...Thanks..
Yes its a homebuilt and he installed both OC's on it

His dual boot never worked(had to pull sata's off XP to get Vista to boot) so he just left his Vista connected( he had it set up wrong oviously)

He has a set of USB headphones that have given him trouble before if unhooked with the computer on..It happened again ,after he unhooked them he lost the abality to boot Vista completely.. Odd...But true..

I had him connect his Vista HDD into the mobo's #1 sata slot yesterday(no XP HDD connected) to try and repair his boot sector..

It will not even boot off the disk now..It loads files he says, gets to the windows load page(blue / green) and stops

He never gets to the options page to format...repair...run from a command...run a backup.........



So that is where we are at now...



If I have him reconnect his XP HDD he can boot into that, and then hot connect his Vista HDD and see his files.....

But the Vista HDD is totallt in an unbootable state....

I got myself into this when I answered his plea for help..Its very hard over the phone I might add as you well know...LOl



I would like if possible to fix his unbootable HDD(Vista) so its bootable again...And then use your utility to get his duel boot set up properly......

I would like to do this without his having to reinstall everything...

As it stands now his Vista HDD , as it stands now, will not boot , launch off the Vista disk, and will not even give a format / reinstall option....




OK Have I confused you enough yet......

BTW... I told my ol retired Navy friend that he WAS making a donation here...LOL He is more that willing.....:smile: He is frantic to not loose that drive and all its installs...

Addendum:

Tom add....Yes...i poored over your tutorials all last night for repairing from XP..I also have been learning what we need to do after we recover his Vista boot(if possible) to get both OS's to boot...Thats part 2 of my plight....HeHe

Thanks again guys...he very much is thankful...
 
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I can see your problem if you're helping him remotely and he only has the one PC. He presumably has nowhere else to boot the DVD and check that it's OK ?
Can he boot XP, register on this site and join the thread ?
A screenshot of his disk management display, booted from XP with the Vista disk connected, and a couple of shots of the Explorer display of the roots of both OS partitions would be useful in figuring out what's going on. (unhide system and hidden files and known file extensions in folder options first)
 
He has a laptop too, so he can communicate thru that.....
About his joining here..He can, Will he? I don't

He is not very tech savy, and gets lost fairly easy on this stuff....

He can boot into XP though and get screenshots.....

I am not even sure at this point what OS is his first OS.I tried to find out yesterday, but his vid card was in the way of his sata connections..I told him to download the mobo manual and check the port order..But not sure if hes done that or not...

I wish I had his rig here...I'm in NC and hes is 4 hours away in Tennessee.......

I feel if I can just repair his Vista boot issue with your application then we are home free...Thens it just about finding out what his first boot OS is and use your app to move / convert the appropiate boot files to the number 1 OS boot HDD ( thats how I read it ) from all your tutorials..Am I correct in my thinking Steve?


Thanks....We both need to go out of town at noon today, so will not attemp a repair till later on in the day here..Like 4-6 maybe....I'll let you know how that goes


Yes..his Vista disk does work..I forgot to mention that..It boots off his laptop...I tested it yesterday...

Addendum:

I can have him register here, but he will not know what to post as far as screenshots, you would need to assist him with that...Are you willing ???


Thanks again
 
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Tell him to register and where to find this thread, and we'll walk him through how to post what we need.
(It might save you a few cents on your phone bill too - you can PM each other through here)
 
Thanks for that Terry......

I believe tonight we will try a Vista repair thru XP with your help tuttioral here... By tommorrow we will for sure post if we get lost....

Thanks again so much for your help..You all have been awsome and encouraging to us both...

I have free long distance, so thats not a problem for me to help him try stuff over the phone..

We will report back when / if we get stuck..... :smile:
 
Remember to have his Vista drive plugged in when you attempt recovery. Otherwise, it won't work. Usually when you have problems like this it means the partitions/disk is bad or is corrupted. Ask him or see for yourself if you can still access Vista's drive in XP. You may need to run error check on it. If you want to do this, just right-click on the drive in "my computer" -> poperties -> Tools tab, and select from there the option to check the disk for errors.

If worst comes to worst, rescue any important files from Vista's drive if you can and than re-format and re-install Vista there.
 
He has not returned yet..So it will be tommorrow at the earliest..

He can access from XP the Vista drive..We even found a file there bootini.bak..But had no options to run it or do anything with it...

I had him do a check disk yesterday..took 4 hours and came back with no errors...


As of now that drive will not boot off the vista CD....

It might after its formatted though if it came down to it......( don't know yet)

Yes as he can see the files on it. It can be recovered ..I had him move a couple to test that theory, and the files are able to move....


Thanks...We'll be back

Addendum:

Well...My bud has returned home.....I was watching a TV show with my family...When I checked my e mail I had three from him..


He tried to do this on his own and has lost all boot drives now he says..

No XP or Vista...LOL

I have not spoken to him yet so I have no idea what he has done....AGRrrrr

Not real sure which way to go now...

I did ask him in mail to just remove Vista from the mix and try booting XP again... Have not heard back..but it appears he has wipped out both drives boot manager MBR...

Addendum:

Just spoke with him...Dropping Vista off the mobo it still will not boot XP .....

Can this tool you have fix a MBR if you can't get into the OS (Windows) or is it all a total loss now?


Thanks...
 
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If he can't get into any install of Windows, then there's no way to use EasyBCD to get XP to boot...:wink: He can use an XP reinstallation DVD (if he has one), and once getting to the recovery console, try running the following commands

Code: 
fixmbr
fixboot
This should get you back into XP, and then from there, you can decide what to do next.
Other than that, I'm not how you could resolve the problem, besides reformatting and reinstalling of course.

Cheers.

-Coolname007
 
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