[jollyr]

have multiboot system that worked OK for a while. (win 98se and xp pro sp1.
98 is on C: drive (fat32) and xp is on D: drive (NTFS)]

Then screensaver would activate in 98 after 3 seconds or so of inactivity. Screen saver panel changes would not take so I tried to do clean install of win 98.

First I booted using win98 rescue floppy.

Then I cleared all file attributes on files in c:\, backed-up these files on D: (would later regret using this drive!) and deleted all files on c:\.

Next I ran deltree c:\windows and reinstalled win98 from the CDROM

To my dismay, the multiboot option now does not appear when I boot up. It goes directly into 98.

Tried to boot off of the XP CD (set BIOS to boot off of CD first, then floppy, then fixed disk) but that didn't work so I downloaded the boot xp install from floppy file from MS website. The problem is that I have no option to reinstall xp without overwriting the current installation.

Do you think that a correctly configured boot.ini file in c:\ would fix this mess? Please advise. Have tried everything I could think of but to no avail. I'm reluctant to wipe out my current xp installation if at all possible

Thanks in advance for any input you may have.


JR

[Advertisements]

in bios, set your boot order to floppy, cd-rom, harddrive

download a Win98 Startup Disk from bootdisk.com

Create a Notepad file with the following entries, exactly as shown (cut and paste all the italics

L 100 2 0 1
N C:\BOOTSECT.DOS
R BX
0
R CX
200
W
Q

Save the file to the Win98 Startup Disk as READ.SCR

Boot the computer with the Win98 Startup Disk and at the A: prompt type

DEBUG < READ.SCR

Insert your XP CD and boot from it.

You'll see some files being copied, then you'll be presented with a WELCOME SCREEN with a choice of installing or repairing an existing installation. Choose Repair.

You'll be asked which XP installation you want to log into. Should be only one

You'll be prompted for the Administrator password. For Home, the default password is blank, so just hit Enter. For Pro, enter the same password you did during the original setup for the Administrator account

At
C:\Windows, type
FIXBOOT
<enter>

You'll be prompted to confirm. Do so. Then wait a couple seconds for the prompt to return.

Type

EXIT
<enter>

If that worked, you should have your menu back....

[gerryf]

in bios, set your boot order to floppy, cd-rom, harddrive

download a Win98 Startup Disk from bootdisk.com

Create a Notepad file with the following entries, exactly as shown (cut and paste all the italics

L 100 2 0 1
N C:\BOOTSECT.DOS
R BX
0
R CX
200
W
Q

Save the file to the Win98 Startup Disk as READ.SCR

Boot the computer with the Win98 Startup Disk and at the A: prompt type

DEBUG < READ.SCR

Insert your XP CD and boot from it.

You'll see some files being copied, then you'll be presented with a WELCOME SCREEN with a choice of installing or repairing an existing installation. Choose Repair.

You'll be asked which XP installation you want to log into. Should be only one

You'll be prompted for the Administrator password. For Home, the default password is blank, so just hit Enter. For Pro, enter the same password you did during the original setup for the Administrator account

At
C:\Windows, type
FIXBOOT
<enter>

You'll be prompted to confirm. Do so. Then wait a couple seconds for the prompt to return.

Type

EXIT
<enter>

If that worked, you should have your menu back....

[jollyr]

Hi gerryf,

Did as instructed but when time came to boot XP CDROM, did not happen, went right into 98 again.

any other ideas?

Thanks!

JR

[gerryf]

clean your cd and make certain that cd rom is set as the first boot device.

[jollyr]

OK. Will try this when I get home this evening. Will post results then.
(have tried this before without success but will try again)
Thanks.

JR

[gerryf]

there is no reason why it should not boot to the cd, since it has already done so.

All you have done so far is copy the dos boot sector info to a file called bootsec.dos

this file is used by the windows xp startup file to load windows 98--we have not altered the existing boot sector in any way

[jollyr]

Here's some additional info. (Sorry about the brain-fade...)

Have been using backup copy I made of my orig. disk all this time. Will use orig disk this time and see if it makes a difference. (if memory serves though, was able to boot with backup disk previously)

Thanks.

JR

[jollyr]

Was able to boot from orig XP CD, went into recovery console, typed:
FIXBOOT
<enter>

EXIT
<enter>

removed XP CD and booted off of hard drive.

Now I get message:
"NTLDR is missing"
"Press any key to restart"

When I press any key, the same message appears.

What next?

Thanks.

JR