Partition problems

[DigitalSamurai]

The problem has still not been fixed so I have reposted with a paste of all the messages.

Thanks in advance:

Hello,

I have installed BootMagic 8.0 and Parition magic 7.0 on my XP partition. I never had any problems doing this with ME/98 or Win2k/98 together. But, under XP, when I went to the other parition to install Win98, something very strange happened.

Suddenly, I can no longer boot to the XP side even after installing Boot Magic 8.0 on the Win98 side (and making the XP active) and using Boot Magic boot disks created on BOTH the XP and Win98 side.

I even went to bootdisk.com to get boot disks for both XP and 98. They both boot to the 98 side.

The only things that all these disks allow me to do is to get to the 98 side.

Not even does installing Partition Magic to the 98 side help.

In fact, bootmagic shows that my XP partition AND 98 partition both have Win98 as their operating systems. This is impossible as I never installed 98 over the XP. When I select the top choice in bootmagic's startup screen, which should be the XP choice, it loads the Win98 parition even though this bootmagic choice says 'win 2000/XP/NT'. The bottom choice says Win98 and of course, it loads Win98. How can they both be 98?

I have put in so many hours getting the XP side up to snuff that I am very hesitant to format it. Unfortunately, it seems that there is no way to get back to the XP side. The funny this is, I can't even get to a DOS prompt in order to reformat the C drive so I can start all over.

If anyone can give me any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. If not, could you please advise me on how to get to the DOS prompt?

Cheers,
Gene

--
Comtech (Instructor) May 27, 2003
Boot to the XP CD.
Start it as if a new install.
Hit F8 to agree to the TOS.
When prompted to repair a current install, hit "R", making sure that the partition with XP on it is highlighted.
Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

--

Hi,

Thanks for your advice Jim. While it was repairing by copying files from the XP Pro CD, it stopped and said 'need file 'asms' on Windows XP Professional CD. Please type the path.' The STUPID thing is that there is no browse button if you can believe that. How the heck am I supposed to know the path? Arghhhh!

I will try to view the CD on another computer and write down the path.

Any other ideas?

Cheers,
Gene
--
Hmmmm,

I looked at the XP Pro CD and located the folder 'asms.' Unfortunately, this folder has other folders: 1000, 5100, 6000, 7000. Each of these folders has multiple levels inside.

I wish the missing 'asms' file popup was a little more specific. Any idea on which one to use?

Cheers,
Gene
--
DigitalSamurai (TechnicalUser) May 28, 2003
More news,

I did some more research and found that many others have this problem. Microsoft addresses it at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q311755

I fell under the category: Hard Disk Formatted With FAT or FAT32 File System

I copied both files to the Win 98 startup disk.

NOW WHAT? Microsoft doesn't explain what to do next. What do I do with this Win98 startup disk? How is it supposed to help me when the WinXP Pro CD (during my reinstall on a partition) continues to ask me for the missing file (different one from the ones microsoft told me to copy from the Win 98 CD).

Hmmm.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Gene

 

[jrbarnett]

Have you tried booting the PC from the WinXP startup CD and initiating the recovery console? This can do quite a bit towards regaining access to XP.

John

 

[wolluf]

Is XP on a Fat32 partition?
If so, can you access the partition from 98?
If its ntfs, try installing this

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfswin98.shtml

and see if you can see XP partition.

Am I right in thinking both primary partitions (as you're using boot magic?)

You could try my favourite boot manager (

http://www.boot-us.com)

- it installs menu to mbr spare partition slot or a floppy, so can use floppy and not interfere with anything else.

 

[wolluf]

PS - have you tried an 'XP' boot floppy? Copy ntldr, ntdetect.com and an appropriate boot.ini to newly formatted floppy. Appropriate boot.ini for XP on second partition on 1st hard drive is:-

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

(you could have an entry for all 4 partition slots to try each, in case its not where you think it is (in the partition table of course), eg:-

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect