Dual boot probs

[lostplanet]

I'll start with system specs so you get an idea of whats going on.
I am trying to get a dual boot running on this system via recovery console in XP pro.

I have a 650 athlon PC with 2 HDD's fitted.
Drive C: is new with XP pro already installed.Maxtor 80gb
Drive F: is the original HDD that came with the computer with 98se on.
IBM 20 gb

Both drives are connected to IDE primary slot via 1 x80 wire IDE cable.

Drive C: is primary master and jumped to cable select(and has been ever since i started to do this.)
Drive F: is primary slave and jumped to cable select now but has been slave whilst trying this.

I've read the tip and tricks post about adding a HDD to a system.
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=24831

when C:drive XP is running the F:drive is recognised in "my computer" and i can access it
Then when i boot up the system:

i go to XP recovery console i installed on drive C:

when i get to C:\windows> and put "F:\" i get "the command is not recognised"
when i FIXBOOT F:\ the request is accepted and "the new bootsector is successfully written" comes up.

run bootcfg /scan only 1 windows installation is identified although both drives fire up when the scan is running. C: is found quickly while F:drive takes a while hunting around.

I have not got involved with a boot.ini (???)file yet.
also i cannot find the bootmanager mentioned in the tips post.


how do i get win 98se to boot from the recovery console?
I think GLC has been thru this many a time and
I'm starting to realise that both the OS may need to be reinstalled from fresh.
Is this the case? as i would really like to keep all the files on each drive intacted.
Am I missing or doing something wrong???
HPRO Help!!
(I can post the BIOS boot sequence if it is relevant)
TIA
jp

[Ghost_Rider]

Hello m8 u tried Boot Magic from powerquest !! works a treat as long as one of drives is FAT32 that is ""

Ghost_Rider

[lostplanet]

can anyone help with this?

[Gibble]

I've never tried it, but I was wondering if this might help you. It's a post by Hypo explaining a step by step of the process he used.

[lostplanet]

thanks, but that link is what i have followed so far and is included in my first post above.

[fudtone]

I have been through all of this. Use LILO.

With that said I want to mention 1 other thing. The next time I dual boot I'm going to go buy Pull Outs.

[Gibble]

I'm totally sorry about that Lostplanet. I guess I need to pay more attention. Sorry again.

[andyms18a]

have you tyred disconnecting the win xp drive and trying to boot from the win98 drive ?

[lostplanet]

no problem gibble.
i will try suggestions and get back asap

[andyms18a]

if you can boot from the win98 drive you need to set it as the c drive primary master then plug in the xp drive as a slave next boot from you win xp CD and choose the install option on the first screen then after the licence agreement chose the repair option this will make win xp the d drive and will put a boot loader on to the c drive that will ask you which operating system you want to run when ever you turn on your computer

[RayH]

lostplanet If you have two independent hard drives each with a full OS loaded as C:\, I wouldn't mess with any boot manager.

Keep the drives jumpered as you have them and in the position you have them. What you need is to put the XP drive in a swap rack. They look like THIS.

The principle is that the computer will boot the first hard drive it sees. When you want to boot XP, you push the rack in. When you want to boot 98, you pull the rack out.

It's actually the best solution. It really benefits when you want to change things around, like get rid of 98 or something.

[lostplanet]

OK things have become complex.
none of the drives have a fresh install.
firstly i have reset the bios to default settings,which originally was set up to run win98se from the 20 gb drive only.
(All of this i have tried is one drive at a time NOT in a dual boot setup.)

Basically i just want to get the 20 gb win98se to boot up and run as was the dual boot idea is cancelled for now.

when i try to boot the 20 gb win98se drive i get "NTLDR is missing press a key to restart"when i press a key it just loops and does nothing.
However i also have a 10 gb drive with win 98se on it and it boots up ok on primary master IDE cable set to Master jump and the new 80 gb winxp drive boots ok set to primary master CS.

i have searched and read the old NTLDR probs but i cant seem to suss it out as most of these posts concern XP and i have this problem on win98se.

Can i get the files i need from the 10 gb win98se drive and put them on to the 20 gb win98se drive that will not boot??
if so how do i get on the 20gb drive to save the files???(DOS???)
I cannot find boot.ini in a HDD search

i will be quite happy to just swap drives manually and look into a rack rather than a fancy dual boot manager as this has turned out to be a nitemare.

If you are confused please post and i will try to be clearer and answer any questions you have .I am in the UK and it is 22.45 so i may reply tommorow daytime.

TVM
JP

[andyms18a]

boot from a win98 floppy disk and use the fdisk /mbr command with the 20gb hard drive only conected

[Urban Earth]

O.K. See if I have this right! You have XP on 'C' that will boot and you can see an 'F' drive (which is a 98 install). If that is the case, why can you not simply copy the files that you want from the 'F' to the 'C' and then reformat the 'F'? If you do want to dual boot you can then reinstall 98.
Is this too simple a solution or am I missing something?

AJ

[lostplanet]

i am still getting the "ntldr is missing"
i have tried the boot disk fdisk /mbr to drive c: is this correct?
i get a: come up so i switch it to c:
it seems to do something but i get no confirmation it has been successful etc
any ideas??

i am heading down urbans route.thanks urban

[DougL]

Have a look on the on the root of the c: drive 20G Win98se for the following files, i know you said some are missing,

Boot.ini.
NTLDR
NTDETECT.COM
PAGEFILE.SYS
SETUPDD.SYS

If any exist then you can delete them, this will make the drive non bootable as these are the remants of the dual boot scenario. You then put in a win98 floppy boot disc and type in at the a: prompt sys c: this will effectively put the system files back on your harddrive allowing you boot back into win98se.

[lostplanet]

I've sussed it (not me someone else)
i followed the instructions here http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/NTLDR.html
booted from A: floppy win 98 se start up disk
entered "sys c:" after the load windows without CD support (DOS)"
at A:> and it cured the problem.
win 98 se boots up as before i messed with it.
Now before i mess things up any more, how do i remove the "recovery console" that i saved from XP CD to XP C: drive, from win xp boot up sequence??

TVM
JP

[lostplanet]

And big thanks to help/posts so far

[andyms18a]

Originally Posted by lostplanet I've sussed it (not me someone else) i followed the instructions here http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/NTLDR.html booted from A: floppy win 98 se start up disk entered "sys c:" after the load windows without CD support (DOS)" at A:> and it cured the problem. win 98 se boots up as before i messed with it. Now before i mess things up any more, how do i remove the "recovery console" that i saved from XP CD to XP C: drive, from win xp boot up sequence?? TVM JP

you have to edit the boot.ini file right click my computer select properties then advanced then startup and recovery and last edit remove the refrence to the recovery console all so the fdisk/mbr is done from the a: prompt its the same effect as the system c comand but it formats the boot sector to remove any damaged files or viruses first then rights a new boot sector