Date: Wed, 30 Jul 2003 14:10:27 +0200
From: Philip Nienhuis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [LIB] OT: Boot loader problems
Matt Hanson wrote:
>
> Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 23:49:20 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Matt Hanson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: OT: Boot loader problems
>
> I tried the AiR-BOOT boot loader on this Dell that
> Philip suggested, but it was a bit of a nightmare, and
> refused to load W2K on this added 120GB HDD. It has
> no uninstall feature, relying on FDISK /MBR to restore
> the MBR. But running FDISK /MBR from a Win98 boot
> floppy ended up modifying the FD's MBR, as I hadn't
> noticed that AiR-BOOT had blocked access to WinME C:
> on the main Dell 10GB HDD.
Sorry for your troubles.....
Air-Boot runs perfectly here. Of course that's no guarantuee that it
will run OK anywhere else..... (sigh)
> Maybe AiR-BOOT had a problem with both 10GB and 120GB
> HDDs having primary partitions each set as active when
> it was installed. But I didn't see any intructions on
> how to deal with dual booting 2 HDDs that each have an
> active, bootable partition. I'm a bit hesitant about
> trying AiR-BOOT again and having to deal with problems
> necessitating running FDISK /MBR again though.
FDISK /MBR isn't that bad though. It just wipes all stuff beyond the
very first sector on the HD (= the MBR itself), restores the MBR boot
code and leaves the MBR entries intact.
In fact you might need it again if ever Win2K's volume information
(residing also on cyl.#0 some sectors beyond the MBR itself) is
corrupted so much that it won't boot, to restore it to a default state.
> I know Neil always recommended the Linux Lilo boot
> loader. I'll try that and see if it can detect
> existing HDDs, their partitions, and auto configure
> itself.
I think you need to (at least partially) install Linux to get lilo.
> I also have an old copy of System Commander in storage
> about 45 minutes away. That was always the slickest
> boot loader in my limited experience.
>
> In the meantime, any suggestions on a freeware boot
> loader, and how to configure it with what I've got
> here would be greatly appreciated.
The easiest would have been just installing Win2K on the 120GB HD as
secondary HD while the old 10GB HD with WinME was still present. I.e.,
the HW configuration you described in your recent posts.
In that case Win2K would have overwritten WinME's boot sector and added
its own boot loader, featuring an entry for both Win2K (<in some more
bloat words>) and WinME ("Previous operating system on C:").
In that case you wouldn't have needed any external boot loader at all.
If I properly interpret all your posts up till now, you currently have a
default WinME on C: on a primary HD, plus a Win2K on a secondary HD that
has been installed while this HD was the primary.
If this is the case, I think Win2K won't boot in this constellation,
because its boot drive letters will be mixed up. It was installed while
it was C:, but after the HD swap it ended up on D: or whatever. In
addition, its volume info is now on the wrong HD (it should be on the
primary one).
Although it is possible to fix at least the boot drive letter problem,
it is extremely tedious and error-prone (I know because I have done it a
few times) and you'd better simply install Win2K again in the final HW
constellation.
But perhaps this is not what you want. From your posts I can't make up
for sure what you want as final result:
Which Windows on which HD fitted on which IDE channel?
Win2K aware of WinME? (if not, WinME must be totally hidden while Win2K
boots)
WinME aware of Win2K? (only possible if Win2K is on FAT)
And: Is there really a compelling reason to keep WinME? (knowing that
Win2K is so much better)
Philip
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