Weird Boot.ini problem - it's on another hard drive 1

[MoDan9]

Hey folks,
I have a strange problem.

I noticed that my regular C: IDE drive was acting funny, a bit slow, so I went and got a new Sata drive - the other two I have are IDE. I did a clean installation of Windows XP Pro SP3 on the new Sata drive. it works like a charm. smooth as silk.
Now here is where it gets weird -
My former hard drive from my last configuration MUST be master in the bios, or else, the new Sata drive, which is designated G: will NOT run - it gives me a "boot disk failure" error message. So all the boot stuff was loaded onto my former IDE hard drive.

When I do have the former IDE drive as master, there is a menu option asking me which version of windows I want to load - the first one on the list loads the G: sata drive windows and it works great.

everything is working fine, but i do want the G: drive to be able to boot as a standalone, without the C: drive having all the bootup information.

I tried to remove the c: and d: ide drives, ran my windows XP Pro SP3 CD and got into the recovery console - and no dice... the recovery console states that there is no boot.ini file or that the boot sector is corrupt - something to that effect. I even unhid the boot.ini file from my C: IDE drive and copied that sucker over to the G: drive and still, no luck. nothing. not working.

what i am seeking is to be able to get the boot info from the C: drive over onto the G: drive and then to swap them, so that the G: then acts as the primary in the bios, and the c: drive is the secondary...

Any help is very much appreciated.

thanks a lot.

Moe

 

[BadBigBen]

With the IDE out of the picture, try running the following commands from the Recovery Console:

FIXMBR
FIXBOOT

and see if that works...

if not, boot with the XP CD, and try to REPAIR INSTALL the XP install..

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[wolluf]

Your problem was you installed 'fresh' copy of XP with old copy of XP present - which means the install process will have detected the existing installation and used its boot sector rather than creating new one on the new drive.

If you've just done this (ie, haven't invested lots of time setting up stuff on new drive), I'd just start again. Disconnect all but the new drive - boot from XP Cd and do a new fresh install (not a repair reinstall - which option will probably be offered). Once its up and running, reconnect other drives - make sure new drive is first boot device in the bios (the current problem is not to do with the bios).

If you want to keep the current new install, Ben's part of the way there - but you'll also need to copy the boot sector files (boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com) from the old drive to the new. Once you've done that, disconnect all but new drive, boot into recovery console (should be windows installation on G: - but choose whatever it offers as just the one in play) and run the commands ben suggested.
This disk should then boot (I'm assuming your SATA drive is running in legacy or IDE mode) - though windows will still be on G: not C:. Again make sure its first boot devive after reconnecting others.

 

[MoDan9]

Okay thanks so much both of you.
I will go ahead and do these steps, but first, i want to be sure of something. I ran some commands to unhide boot.ini and was able to copy that to G: sata drive. I did a search on my C: IDE drive for both ntldr and dtdetect.com and all I got was them both in this directory, which I do not think is what I am looking for:
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistributions\Download\cf8ec753e...etc.etc.

So how do i locate the correct boot files (ntldr and ntdetect.com) to get them over to G: ?

And do I just put them with the boot.ini in the boot sector of the G: drive ?

thanks again
Mo

 

[linney]

Are you setting Search Preferences to search for hidden and system files too? The other booting files will be in the same location as Boot.ini was located. It is in the root of the C: drive, or whatever is described as the system drive in Disk Management. I assume the other settings you mention are unhiding both hidden and system files in Folder Options/ View?

How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/0/79.asp

Q305595 - HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q305/5/95.asp

A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q291/9/80.asp

HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP (Q289022)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q289/0/22.asp

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[MoDan9]

Linney, thanks...
and yes, to answer your question, my search included hidden files and folders, but they do not appear in the search in the boot sector of the C: IDE drive.
I had to do some command to unhide them, from run >>> don't remember what it was. Still cannot locate them.

M

 

[linney]

Where does Disk Management indicate your system drive to be located? Is it C: or G:?

Open the root of the system drive (C: or G: drive etc.), highlight any file via a single click, then press the letter "n" on the keyboard (cycle through all the "n" files). What do you see?

If C: is not your system drive, then you will not have the booting files there.

 

[MoDan9]

very good and interesting question. I checked it out and was surprised to see that the G: drive is consider the (boot)and the C: drive is consider the system drive, which to me, is backwards...

anyway, there are no files on the C: drive in the root besides boot.ini and rmdldump.txt

that's it. that's all. see the attached file for the disk management. isn't that weird?

Moe

 

[linney]

Boot = where the loaded Windows is running from.
System = where the booting was launched from.

Weird, and possibly backward, even confusing too, but that is the way it has always been. Of course most users just have one drive which is then referred to as system and boot.

Send a picture of your C: drive files listing, if you can. To me it looks like you are not showing BOTH options in Folder Options/ View to show, BOTH, Hidden AND Systems files.

 

[wolluf]

Yes and no. Its quite reasonable for system & boot to be different, except from your description I thought they were other way round! It looks like the install HAS put the boot sector on G:, BUT you're booting into your old installation on C: (which is why that's designated system). Although you seem to be using the 'new' installation....

However that seems very odd - especially as you can't find ntldr & ntdetect.com on the C: drive (ie, how was old installation booting on its own without these files?!). when you copied boot.ini to G: did it just copy or overwrite? Are there ntldr & ntdetect.com files in the root of any drie on your system? (remember linney's advice about hidden & system files)

I'd like to know exactly what you did!

btw - what's in boot.ini, and assuming there are 2 options available, what happens if you take the second?

Again - a new fresh install with just the one drive connected might be best approach.

 

[MoDan9]

aha! you were right!! dangit!!
thank you!
I had the option to hide the protected system files. okay. found them. i shall and will write those to the G: drive. i have a feeling this is going to do the trick. I hope!!

thanks again.

Moshe

 

[MoDan9]

Okay - update.

I copied boot.ini and ntldr and ntdetect.com over to G: (it was not an over-write, the files were not yet on the G: drive) - i did a shutdown, unplugged my C: and D: IDE drives, and loaded recovery console.

When i entered FIXMBR- i got the following message -
"This computer appears to have a non-standard or invalid master boot record.
FIXMBR may damage your partition tables if you proceed.
This could cause all your partitions to become inaccessible. If you are able to read your drive, do not proceed."

this scared me off sufficiently... and i didn't select this option. Subsequently, Fixboot failed, and stated
"Fixboot cannot find the system drive, or the drive is not valid."

I am assuming that FIXMBR needed to be run first, but i do not want to screw my new settings up. there's lots and lots of stuff all set up in my G: windows.
Is that warning something to be heeded, or is it one of those things that can be ignored, and not to worry about it rendering my new G: sata drive inaccessible?

Moshe

 

[wolluf]

You always get that message when you run fixmbr - its ok to continue.

You'll need to run fixboot g: (the default is C: - but your installation is on g: - I'm assuming recovery console shows it on g: too?)

 

[MoDan9]

Wolluf,

The fixmbr will not screw up my hard drive and all the data on it?

It's a risk I do not want to take unless it is 100%.

 

[linney]

266745 - Error Message When You Run fixmbr Command

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;266745&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

If you don't believe Microsoft, then Google for "FixMbr + error message", or search these forums for "FixMbr", that should calm your nerves.

Just remember that if you put other drives back in, it is the boot.ini file which directs what operating systems is being booted, and where it is located (on which drive controller, partition, etc. So make sure your boot.ini is up to the job, perhaps if you study the earlier links about editing the boot.ini you will be forewarned.

 

[MoDan9]

Okay Linney, many thanks. I got the confidence and trust I needed reading it on the microsoft site...

well both the fixmbr and fixboot commands worked successfully, but upon reboot - with only the Sata drive installed, i got a book disk error... system disk not found...

so... the procedure worked but did not produce results.

anything else to try besides another installation?

Or does a repair installation maintain all of the installed programs as they are now? or i'd have to reinstall them all?

M

 

[linney]

What does your boot.ini say when you read it from Notepad?

An example of part of a boot.ini.......


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 /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN

Entries such as the above "(x)" all have specific meanings (and directions), get them wrong, and you are not going to boot anywhere, except the machine out of the window.

BOOT.INI and ARC Path Naming Conventions and Usage

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/102873

 

[MoDan9]

Okay - so here is what the boot.ini file reads on the C: drive (this is the IDE drive that is required to boot to my G:\windows system)

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

And this is what I tried and what didn't work with the new boot.ini file with just the Sata drive loaded and not the two IDE drives -

[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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer

I tried this last boot.ini on the sata, and it gave me the boot disk failure message.

M

 

[BadBigBen]

A repair install will only reset system files, to the ones on the install CD, and clean out (reset) certain parts of the registry, e.g. hardware and system settings...

It will leave all your DATA and Programs intact...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[linney]

I suppose you could try changing the rdisk parameter to (1), then (2), just to cover all possibilities to see if either parameter successfully boots?

Or you could load the Recovery Console and use the Bootcfg command.

A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q291/9/80.asp