Invalid System Disk

[KrazyP]

Hmmm, where to begin?...

I originally had Win 98 installed on my master drive (c and XP installed on my slave (d. I then purposely cleared everything off of my master (c using "Format c:" from the win 98 boot disk (this is probably where i went wrong).

All I'm trying to do now is start xp off my d:. I already have it set up as my master working alone and it shows up in my BIOS as such. The only problem is that when i try to boot up, i keep getting an invalid system disk error.

I understand that i need to get into the XP recovery console to fix this. The only problem is that when i load my CD-ROM driver in DOS and then try to run setup from the XP CD, i get a message saying, "This program cannot be run in DOD mode."...

what exactly am i doing wrong and what can i do to fix it?

thanks!

 

[wolluf]

1. When you formatted your C: drive you removed the boot sector for BOTH operating systems (this is a common mistake when dual booting, using the boot menu from NT/2K/XP).

2. To make your XP disk bootable you will need to build a boot sector in root of it. You will need files ntldr & ntdetect.com (both on XP install CD - can copy them on using recovery console) and boot.ini (which you can create using a text editor like notepad) - for an XP Pro installation on partition 1 of first disk it should look something like this (Home should say Home):-

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

I'd put boot.ini on a floppy.

To get into recovery console, change your bios settings to boot from CDROM drive first. Then boot from your XP install CD (watch the boot sequence, you will need to hit a key at some point otherwise it will try to boot hard drive). Choose repair using recovery console. It should find your installation and prompt you for administrator password. Note which drive it thinks XP installation is on.
Now just use the copy command to copy ntldr & ntdetect.com from \i386 folder on CD to root of C:. Copy boot.ini there also from floppy. Now run fixmbr & fixboot X: (where X: is drive letter recovery console thinks XP is on) commands. Then type exit to restart. Put your boot sequence back to normal in the bios & machine should boot XP. There may be an issue with drive letter (as XP was D: drive in dual boot - hopefully it will retain this as otherwise various settings will be pointing at the wrong place).

 

[m4526]

red to pin 1
remove floppy disk
change bootup setup D: C: A:
install using cd
change the setting back to A: C: D:
untill you get it fix

get a file called mscdex.exe copy it to the path off C:it might be a cable problem