Topic: AAARGH hard drive woes

[Sandra]

I hope that the reason you couldnt understand the recovery console bit is that even with the boot sequence set to boot from CD as first device, it would only detect the ME drive as the bootable OS.
This will only work if you are going to have your XP drive as the master drive and as a single OS.
If you need ME as an alternative OS then you will need to do as before and have your ME drive as master and then format and reinstall XP on your slave as before as it needs to write to the MBR of the ME drive to allow the option of booting to either OS.
You can dual boot off the same drive but its better to create a second partition on the master drive for the second OS to install to, although I have heard of someone managing accidentally to install to the same partition which is not recommended  

[joudi]

Hi Dave,

I hope to be able to help, but affraid to confuse you more.

I can manage the multiboot if both are XP. I don't know ME. But probably it's similar.

The point now is trying to follow me, as I'll explain it on the base of XP (not ME), and try to find in ME the equivalent steps.

On the other hand, I have it in french. I'll try to translate or explain. I think you are capable to understand what I mean.

Here we go:

Semms that you've lost the "INI" boot files. this can be replaced by the following, (as I said, on XP):

Open "control Panel", take "System", and then "Advance", take the third one, or which is called "Start and recoperation" and press it's "Setting". On the top of the new window you have the "System Start" part. Press "Modify". Then a "not pad" will open to you. Well, just there, add the following:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

"Copy & Paste" it.

Attention:  If your XP (on the slave drive) is "Home Edition" you must change the word "Proffessional" with "Home Edition".

Then press "OK" to all those small windows.

That'll avoid you to reinstall XP. And will give you at the start of your PC the two options of boot.

I hope it helps.

But the other problems, I leave them to the techies like sandra and others.

[Sandra]

Thats a good idea Joudi and would be fine if both his OSs were later than ME.
95/98 and ME dont have a boot.ini when installed by themselves.
When you dual boot with XP or 2K it creates one on the primary boot drive.
However I think that this may work, dont blame me if you cant get it to boot into ME afterwards though Dave  

Open Notepad in ME, copy and paste the following :

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)rdisk(0)disk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)rdisk(0)disk(0)partition(1)
        \WINDOWS="Windows ME"
multi(0)rdisk(1)disk(0)partition(1)
        \XP="Windows XP"


Save it as boot.ini not .txt or change it to .ini after you  have saved it.
Then copy and paste it into your root directory of ME ( C:\ )
With any luck that should allow you to boot into XP again  

Thanks to Scrumpy Jack for his assistance  

[daveeb]

Tried that boot.ini idea, no effect at all. but thanks for all the input from everyone.

If i were to swap the drives around ie XP = master  me =slave what would i need to do to get them to speak to me, like i said i did try this and the bootup sequence just hung after id'ing the drives. (i did change ide connections and master jumper).

i'm not bothered about having ME as dual boot, if i can get xp working as master i'll happily consign ME to oblivion  

[Sandra]

That should be easy Dave.
Just set your XP drive as the single master, the bios toboot from CD rom and try the FIXBOOT thing as I put earlier.
If that doesnt work then run the repair from the same post.
As long as you only have the single XP drive in and its set to boot from cd then the recovery console bit will be available  

[Sandra]

Dave can you try this one in place of the last one I posted  :

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\ME
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Pro" /fastdetect
C:\ = "ME"

[daveeb]

Nightmare !!!!

i'm online without firewall or virus protection i cant get nav03 to install (i had the prog saved on my C drive) so i'll be quick. i swapped drives XP now is master.  i tried the repair option but didnt know my password (enter didnt work), so i did a reinstall.  now i cant install my nav software.  all the old programs are in the programs folder but i cant seem to run most of them.  i tried to get the windows disc to reformat the drive but all i've managed to do is get a dual boot option for "xp" and "xp install" although i aborted the second install.  i think i need to reformat the drive (which has 2 partitions C & E) the drive i replaced (now slave) is D.

how do i reformat the XP drive i.e. E.  i realise how clueless i sound, and thats about right. its driving me mad now.  i'm off before i get a virus  :'(  

[Sandra]

Hi Dave, by program folder do you mean thats the folder that your programs were installed to on your XP drive, not a folder that you stored programs in before you installed them ?
If so you cant install them from there as you wont have the setup file, nor can you run them from there as your registery will have altered so it wont put the correct files with the correct program  

So lets see if we can get things done properly  

Set your XP drive as a single master for now, you can add the slave drive later if you are just goinng to run XP as the single OS on your pc.

At the part where XP asks you where you want to install it to, after booting from the CD, it gives you an option to select the partion or delete a partition.
Select delete C.
If you want to wipe all the drive you can delete E as well at this point.
It will then give you the option to create a partition to install XP to and allow you to set the size that you want it to be in MBs.
The next step is to format it, if you are not using ME any more you may as well select the NTFS option.
After its formatted the drive it will start the new installation like it did the first time you did it.
After its completed, activate it and install your AV and firewall and get the updates.
Once you have done all that go to Start/Admin Tools/Computer Management/Disk Manager and that will allow you to format and allocate the remaining partition on your drive.
Then add your slave drive, remembering to set the jumpers correctly on your master and slave, some drives have a diferent setting for a single master or a master with a slave.

I hope thats explained it simply enough, sorry its a longish post but I hope I have covered everything for you, get back to me if its not clear enough on any point  

[Simon]

Dave, before you format, while you can still get online, get the Blaster Worm Patch, and save it on a floppy, then you can install it before you go online with your new installation.  Otherwise you will get the Blaster Worm within seconds of going online, before you can get the updates.  Also would be worth doing the same with the Sasser Patch.

[daveeb]

First of all guys i REALLY appreciate the help, my heads going so be gentle with me. i've got sasser & blaster patches & zone alarm in place.

The original programs from my initial good installation are all there in the PROGRAM FILES folder in windows explorer but none are in the start menu/programs on the desktop. The desktop just had the recycle bin on it when i re-installed.

also on bootup i get a dual boot option of XP PRO or XP PRO setup
from a previously aborted attempt to reformat the E:\ drive.  XP is on E:\ and the main partition is C:\ DATA.   D:\ is the slave drive.

i'm probably missing something but when i boot with the XP cd my options are 1. reinstall, 2. repair, 3. exit without change.

is the option to reformat later on in the process.

i just want to reformat E:\ as the OS partition.  C:\ the main original partition has loads of data so i want to leave it alone if possible although i could reformat.  if i manage to do this will it repair the MBR back to XP boot only. also i'll need to retain XP as fat32 (as the D: drive is FAT32 and it also has loads of backup data i need to be able to read).

I feel incredibly thick at the moment  

[Simon]

When you boot from the XP CD, does it not give you the chance to do a New Installation?  Speaking purely from memory, and from what has been said already, I think if you choose that option, it will then detect which partitions you already have, and give you the option to install to either partition.  If you select to install to 'E', then theoretically[/b], I would have thought it would format and install XP on 'E', but leave 'C' intact.

Don't take my word for it, or you may risk losing everything!  

[Sandra]

You said earlier Dave that you were happy to just run XP and not bother about having a dual boot with ME as well didnt you ?
What size is the drive you have as a slave now ?
If its big enough, could you set that as your master and then you could install XP on that.
The current slave drive has some data on that you want to keep so transfer that to a DVD or CDs or even onto your XP drive, before wiping and installing XP on it.
Once you have a working version of XP on what will be your new master, you can use a combination of XPs Disk Manager and Partition Magic to move data to where you want on the drive that currently has C and E partitions on, delete the partitions with the 2 XP installations on and then recreate them and or/merge them  

[Simon]

This looks quite a simple guide, Dave.  

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm#b

[daveeb]

I think i'll try that sandra.  the slave is 60Gb so easily big enough.  if i install XP under NTFS i won't be able to read my data from the slave drive (fat32) will i ??    copying it all to cd isn't really a viable option, there's too much.

Simon when i tried to do a new installation it wanted to install a second XP OS, mind you i didn't know my a**e from my elbow by this stage  

[Sandra]

XP can see NTFS or FAT Dave, its the OS that is the limiting factor in that 95/98 and ME cant see NTFS, if you are going to end up with just XP on theres no problem doing it in NTFS.

I forgot to say that from your earlier post I think you are still not with me re the Program Files bit  
Sorry if I wasnt clear enough before but the Program Files Folder that you are seeing in explorer is where the programs installed to previously and as the OS that you are using now hasnt got the links to them any more in the registery, it cant find them to make them available for use.

I wouldnt be keen on trying to sort out your drive that has XP on C and E partitions now by just trying another install as it can get awkward if the drive/partition letters arent as theyre supposed to be, so I think if you can do as I suggested in my last post that would be your better option