Vista / XP dual boot install problem

Magpie

Member
Hope somebody can help

I’m trying to install XP on my Vista PC but I can’t get the XP installation to complete.

Vista is installed on the c:\, I’ve bought a second drive to host the XP installation

The PC bots from the XP CD ok, the second drive is seen and the pre-installation files are copied across, but when the PC reboots to continue the installation it fails with a message: A disk read error occurred – press Ctrl-Alt-Del to continue

This suggests that the MBR is corrupt?, EasyBCD allows me to write a new XP MBR, but this assumes a complete XP installation exists on the disk.

I’ve also tried shrinking the Vista install and installing XP on a partition on the first disk but I get the same error.

How do I write a MBR that continues the XP installation?

Any ideas gratefully received
 
You dont write a MBR so that XP continues. It just sound like it tries to boot but it cant find the install to do so.

How did you format the drive? With the XP Disc? Did you do a quick format?
 
I’ve tried both long & quick formats, during the pre-install, I’ve also tried changing the disk order from the Bios during boot

Nothing seams to work.

The MBR is being written to during the pre-install, I can’t boot back in to Vista without recovering from the Visa DVD

Thanks for your help
 
I have had this problem as well, and found out why. During install, XP doesnt seem smart enough to examine the drive to see if you have a partition on it. I think you will need to create a new primary partition on the drive. Then let XP format it (Quick or slow) then let it copy the files, reboot and then install will continue.
 
Yes Windows, Not jsut XP but all versions of Windows need a Primary and active partition to install on.
 
No that can cause a issue. If it is a Dell based CD or HP based machine and you are not using it on one of those machines it can cause this error. For the simple reason that the CD's are made specifically for the system that they come with. There are things missing from the Full Retail disks that are not on those OEM disks. That could be what is causing your issues.
 
It's an HP disk, but I did originally build this PC with it. Then I realised I needed Vista for DX10 so I rebuilt with that, so it is possible to get a working version of XP off this disk on my hardware

Any other ideas?
 
Are you running a IDE drive and a SATA Drive combination? If so which do you have set as your boot drive?
 
At this point all i can say is check the disc for scratches or finger prints. I will have to think about it some more and see if i can think of something else. As it doesnt make sense why it would fail now. Other than something to do with the Disc being pre-SP2 and needing some of those files and there for crashing upon trying to install cause of these missing files.
 
Thanks for your efforts so far

The disk is SP1 & in perfect condition, I can’t see how missing files are a problem, the system won’t even attempt to boot never mind look at files.

Any other thoughts?
 
I have come across this recently where a disc needs files that are incorporated into SP2 to complete a install.

Unable to load XP Pro due to stop/error messege - Computer Forums

About post #22 is when we figure out that the BSOD that this person got was due to the fact that sP2 was not incorporated into his install. While not a common thing it could be because of the new systems compared to a old disc.

So the best thing i can say is what i said there. Use nlite to slipstream SP2 into your XP install and see what happens.

nlite:
nLite - Deployment Tool for the bootable Unattended Windows installation

SP2 download:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en
 
I think we are getting a little off track here, I did originally build this PC from the XP disk, so the combination of hardware, O/S and service pack is good, if it had never worked then fair comment.

The only difference now is that I have a Vista install on the first disk & I need to dual boot with XP either from my second disk or a partition on the first. (new hard disk is the same model/manufacturer just smaller capacity)

I still don’t understand what gets written to the MBR during the installers initial file copy & if it’s possible to recreate these entries. My error message indicates that the file is corrupt

The MBR must be being modified, the only way I can recover the system is to rewrite the Vista boot blocks from the DVD, EasyBCD only gives me the option to write a boot loader for a completed XP installation

Thanks for your efforts so far
 
Slipstreaming SP2 didn’t make any difference, so I’ve been forced to format the disks, install XP first and then Vista.

Works perfectly now, Thanks for your help
 
yeah Magpie, I had issues to, I am glad I had to go over mine about 2-3 times because I learned about it from my mistakes. Everything seems to work great when you do XP 1st
 
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