-=PCTechTalk=- Re: [Fwd: Partitioning]
- From: Don <dsw32952@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:59:04 -0400
Your input, combined with some from the easyBCD forums
(http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3998) leads me to believe
the problem is not a boot problem but rather an XP launch problem and is
most likely caused by file corruption.
My next step will be to do a simple re-install of XP and Vista from my
slipstreamed install disks. They are both pretty clean installs with
very littles changes or additions so it will be no extra work to start
all over.
Lesson Learned: "Safe" partition tools may not be sfe in all
circumstances. Especially when a failed attempt results in multiple
tries with multiple adds, deletes, shrinks, etc. Therefore: Plan
carefully *before* you start partitioning and installing.
I will likely install the recovery console and also build a boot cd
(BartPE UBCD) when this is all done.
NOTE TO EVERYONE: Eddie's caution about not doing things without a
backup is very important. During this process I did not mention I had
any backups because I didn't. I had no real need since everything was
all clean with little or no changes made. I had not yet moved any data
or other important stuff to either XP or Vista (everything is still on
my laptop and external hard drive).
Don
EddieB wrote:
> Don,
>
> Umm, I'm not sure where to start... I'm afraid that much of what I'm about
> to say won't be too helpful, but maybe it will give you some ideas. ;)
>
> Note to anyone reading this: I urge you to not try anything I mention
> unless you have a backup of anything you can't afford to lose. Trying to
> fix many booting issues gives you a higher than usual chance of corrupting
> some or all of your data.
>
> I've seen Windows Installer come up during the boot process before.
> Unfortunately most of the times was either because of a virus or corrupt
> file(s). It doesn't sound like you have a virus and you probably don't have
> corrupt files unless the Windows Installer message came up after WinXP
> crashed or wasn't shut down properly. A few times I suspected that a file
> (maybe part of a driver) was missing or corrupt and Windows was trying to
> reinstall the component. Most of the time I was not able to fix this
> problem without doing a system restore or registry cleaning which I don't
> think you can do at the moment and I doubt your situation can be fixed that
> way anyway. Due to your recent changes I'm thinking it must have something
> to do with the partition changes. Maybe drive letters changed which is more
> of an issue to you since you moved system areas like Program Files. Hmm, at
> least I think you did that under XP, or was that just Vista where you did
> that? One thing that has messed me up a few times is when the current
> "Active" partition changed because of partition changes I made. I assume
> that EasyBCD gets installed on the Active partition, so if that menu is
> still intact, then the Active partition hasn't changed. If you look at a
> WinXP boot.ini file you can see that it selects the boot partitions by drive
> # and partition #. Two things I'm not sure about is how EasyBCD does it and
> if the partition # is in order of the partitions from beginning to end of
> drive or by position in the MBR.
>
> I also don't have much EasyBCD experience. I want to say that you should go
> into WinXP's Recovery Console and do some of the boot fixes there, but I'm
> not sure how that will affect booting into Vista especially since the WinXP
> commands will not recognize Vista. I would like to stress that using the
> Recovery Console (or many other WinXP boot fixing tools) leaves the
> possibility of corrupting Vista beyond repair, so you have to be VERY
> careful. You can use the recovery console to do a manual System Restore,
> but do you still have a copy of Program Files and such in their original
> location in case the System Restore returns those setting back to their
> original settings. I'm not sure if you can fix WinXP by using Vista's
> Recovery Console, but I doubt it. There is a good chance that once you get
> WinXP fixed, then you probably just need to run EasyBCD to fix booting into
> Vista (which will almost definitely get knocked out using WinXP's Recovery
> Console programs). What might be a very handy tool for this situation is
> using a BartPE type recovery disk like UBCD4Win. UBCD4Win has some very
> handy system tools that will allow you to do things that you can't otherwise
> do when you can't boot into WinXP. It allows you to mount the registry from
> a WinXP partition you select, so you can find the Run Once entries that way
> among other things. Just the troubleshooting links and help content alone
> make UBCD4Win a must-have for heavy duty troubleshooting.
>
> BTW, if the Recovery Console does turn out to be handy, it can be installed
> (and added to your boot.ini file), so you don't need the WinXP install disk
> in the future. Again I'm not sure how this procedure affects EasyBCD.
> Instructions here:
>
> Install and optimize the Recovery Console in XP
> http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-1905-install-and-optimize-the-recovery-conso
> le-in-xp
>
> Doing a google search I see many people say they can get into WinXP safe
> mode from EasyBCD by hitting F8 almost immediately after selecting WinXP.
> But, there is a more reliable way since EasyBCD allows you to edit the
> boot.ini file. When you edit the boot.ini file, make a copy of the line
> that boots into WinXP, give the copy a different description, and add "
> /safeboot:minimal" (without the quotes) to the end of the line. I see
> warnings to make sure the default is not the Safe Mode option since if there
> is a problem getting into Safe Mode, then you can make an endless loop of
> rebooting. Hmm, I hope this method works with EasyBCD. I'm surprised that
> EasyBCD would use this file, but why would it give you the option of editing
> boot.ini if it doesn't use it?
>
> I thought I had some other ideas, but I'm down to only one eye open so I
> better stop now. ;)
>
> Ed
>
>
>
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