Re: How do I solve this boot.ini problem with WinXP?

John, Jerry,

I've redone it all and I've made a bit of progress but, alas, WinXP still
won't boot to screen.

I copied those two files from the CD into the root of the 2K partition by
first renaming the 2K files to ntldrbak and Ntdetectbak.com. I did the
copying by drag n' drop. Win2K didn't object.

I then re-ran the XP Setup from scratch again, formatting the partition for
XP in the process. The Setup proceeded and 'did the business' for the usual
20 - 30 mins. The machine then automatically rebooted. BTW, I do now see the
full boot menu in the DOS-like screen. I then got the XP logo (splashscreen)
but then, as before, the screen went blank and stayed blank.

Fortunately, because I now do at least see the full boot menu, I can choose
to boot into Win2K. I've since checked that those two sets of files are still
there in Win2K's root, but that there are no files of those names in the root
of the WinXP partition.

I'm at a loss as to the cause of this problem. I'm fairly certain I've now
done things as recommended. All I can summise is that XP loads a video driver
at the crucial point which my graphics card can't handle. When the
splashscreen is there, there are no prompts around, to use F8 if necessary. I
assume that, if I could get into Safe mode somehow, the screen resolution
would be forced to 800 X 600 and I know that my monitor can handle that. It's
a TFT I'm using, BTW, in DVI mode. No previous problem in Win2K, for that.






"John John" wrote:

I can outright delete them on the Windows 2000 that I'm on now and
Windows doesn't say a peep about it. In a Microsoft dual boot
configuration you will only see one set of these files in the root
directory of the active or System partition, in your case it's
completely normal that they aren't in the root of the xp drive. You
should be able to copy/rename/move/delete these files with Explorer.exe.

John

microman wrote:

John,

Thanks for those comments; they're reassuring.

So, if Win2K will let me, could I just rename the existing two files in
Win2K's root (with, say, ntldrbak and ntdetectbak?). Then add the two new
files from the XP CD?

After all the experimenting and re-running of the Setup I did yesterday,
I've ended up right now with old-version ntldr/ntdetect files in Win2k, but
none of those sorts of files at all in XP. Don't know how that happened. So,
at present, I'm not even being given a choice to boot into XP. I'll have to
re-run the XP Setup yet again, formatting and reinstalling it. But, before
that, I'll try once more to somehow copy those two files to the Win2K root.
If Windows won't let me change the existing files there, could they be
changed instead by somehow using Command Prompt?

John" wrote:


microman wrote:


"RajKohli" wrote:



This is a little bit not understandable that why are you configuring 2
different "Primary Partitions" for dual boot between Win2K and Win XP. If you
have already Win2K installed then you easily install WinXP on a Logical Drive.

It doesn't matter that you are creating 2 Primary Partitions on a Single HDD
or Multiple Hard Disk only one can be set as a "Active Partition". You can
use XOSL (Extended Operating System Loader) kind of program to boot between
different Primary Partitions. But I don't think that it will be a good idea
and it is a little bit complicated too. The main function of XOSL is to
detect different OS from different partitions and make a partition active
when you use a different Primary Partition to boot from.

I will suggest you that if you already have Win2K in working condition then
run Windows XP setup through it and make a "Clean Install" on a different
Logical Drive not Primary Partition.

Hope this is what you are missing, let us know!


"microman" wrote:



I've been trying to dual-boot WinXP Home with Win2K (having now used Win2K
for several years), and yes it IS possible; even the readme file on the WinXP
CD says you can, provided the two OSs are in separate primary partitions or
you're not trying to update one with the other.

Trouble is that I boot to the WinXP CD and go through the WinXP Setup, it
completes, the PC automatically reboots and the splashscreen of WinXP shows
and WinXP starts to open. But there it ends. The screen goes blank and stays
like it.

To cut a long story short, I've concluded that the problem lies with the NT
Loader, in that the system files of Win2K called NTLDR and NTDetect.com
differ from those of WinXP, the Win2K ones dating back to 1999. Win2K is the
OS in the boot partition (C:) and so the choice between the two OSs is there
when I then boot the PC but (as I understand it) WinXP picks up the wrong
NTLDR and NTDetect.com files and so fails to boot to screen.

The article at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3bEN-US%3bQ315233

gives some insight into this and gives a possible solution. This involves
copying the XP versions of the two files to the Win2K partition. Since I can
still run Win2K and can also explore the WinXP CD, to get at the two newer
files, I could copy them across, as suggested.

However, the article is ambiguous, in that it's not clear whether identical
pairs of these files need to exist in both XP and 2K. Also, whether you're
supposed to delete the Win2K's versions of these files before then copying
across from the XP CD. Does anyone know the answer to this? Has anyone met
this problem?

Actually, when you look in an up-to-date Win2K, the existing files NTLDR and
NTDetect.com get used in other folders, other than just residing in the root
folder. This means that if you changed the versions in the root folder, you'd
end up with two different versions of the files in Win2K. Some of the
existing ones are involved in uninstalling service pack files, etc., so are
quite important.

If this grabs your interest, go to Windows Explorer in each of Win2K and
WinXP, and go to Tools/Folder Options and untick Hide System Files
(Recommended), then search for these files in the respective root areas.
Better still, do Search/Files & Folders. You'll see what I mean.

I'm anxious to get WinXP booted to screen but this seems the only hope in
doing it. A problem peculiar to dual-booting, it seems.





Thanks, everyone, for your various suggestions.

Jerry,

I've read what you've written and am not sure to which part of the whole
WinXP Setup cycle you're referring. I'm certainly booting to the XP CD
initially, having changed the BIOS to do so. I'm finding that toward the end
of the WinXP Setup, the PC reboots itself and that's where the XP
splashscreen then appears. But then the screen goes blank and stays blank.
I've then had no option but to power off. When I power the PC back on, I get
the same result if I choose to go into WinXP. I've tried this last bit,
leaving the CD in the drive and then not leaving the CD in the drive, but
WinXP still refuses to boot. On the assumption that I'll finally manage to
get XP to boot to screen, should I leave the XP CD in the drive until I'm
specifically instructed by the Setup or Welcome to WinXP to remove it?

John,

Having unmasked the system files in Folder Options, I yesterday tried to
overwrite the ntldr file in my Win2K root folder but the system wouldn't let
me do it. I got an error message saying it was a protected file. An example
of the files I'm currently seeing in the Win2K partition are:

NTDETECT.COM C:\
ntdetect.com C:\cmdcons
ntdetect.com C:\WINNT\$NtServicePackUninstall$
ntdetect.com C:\WINNT\ServicePackFiles\i386

So, this is why I'm wary of REPLACING ntdetect.com. There are similar folder
nestings for the file ntldr. Maybe a distinction has to be made between
REPLACING the existing file in the Win2K root or ADDING a new file? And are
files that are in different cases (upper/lower) considered different, anyway?
Do you see what I mean?

The Upper/lower case makes no difference at all. The file has to be
replaced, there cannot be two copies of the files with the same name in
the root folder. The boot process uses only the files in the root
directory, the other ones are not used. The Windows XP version of the
files are aware of earlier Windows versions and know how to boot these
earlier versions. Try renaming the existing file or try doing it from
the recovery console as it says in the article you mentioned earlier.
Are you sure that is the cause of your problem?

Having Windows installed on different primary partitions (as opposed to
logical drives) make no difference. You can have up to four primary
partitions if you want and have a different operating system on each of
them, it doesn't matter to Windows one way or the other, there will only
be one active partition, aka the System partition or System volume, and
the files necessary to start the operating system will be stored in the
root directory of the System partition. What does the boot.ini file
contain, what does it say for the XP setup? Does it point to the setup
bootsector?

John

John



.

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