Dual Boot Problem

R

rcenker

New Member
I'm a newbie, so please forgive me. I am an XP user but wanted to try Vista. I bought a retail copy of Vista Ultimate. I used the latest copy of Acronis Disk Director to create a second partition on my Sony Vaio. I then installed Vista on that partition. So far, no problems. The bootloader appears to be on the XP drive. While trying to get the proper drivers installed on Vista, the hard drive got corrupted, rendering it useless. I chose to delete the partition with Acronis. My XP partition is back to the normal size (I used Acronis to get it back). But the bootloader remains. I have a continued option to select Windows Vista (which of course is not there). How do I get rid of this option and boot directly into XP? It would seem that the XP MBR is hosed in some way. I understand that Vista no longer uses boot.ini. I don't think I want to proliferate the problem by re-installing Vista. I believe that I will just go out and buy a new notebook with Vista pre-installed. But I would like to fix my current XP installation. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance to any responders.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

run/msconfig go to boot.ini and see if vista is listed and delete it
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Compaq Presario/SR5113WM
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N68-LA
    Memory
    PNY Optima Memory DDR2 2GB 2x1 kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Nvidia 8400 GS 256MB
    Sound Card
    On board RealTek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer X163W LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 160 GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec)
    7200 rpm
    Western Digital 160 GB IDE
    PSU
    Dynex 400w
    Case
    Nothin Special
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Standard 102 key with volume and sleep buttons
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech LX7
    Internet Speed
    Comcrap 10mb cable
    Other Info
    Insignia 2.1 speakers, wireless Xbox 360 controller w/plug n play charger, Belkin wireless G + mimo usb network adapter.

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung Q210
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26Ghz
    Memory
    3GB DDR2 (666Mhz) RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GeForce 9200M GS (256MB)
    Hard Drives
    Fujitsu MHZ2320BH G2 320GB (5,400RPM) HDD
    Internet Speed
    8MB line at 6.1Mbps
Thanks to those replying. It turns out that a few hours after my orignal post I found a utility called EasyBCD (from a company called NeoSmart Tech). With one click of the mouse, the problem was fixed. Thanks again to all.
 

My Computer

System One

Another solution: Booting with the XP disc, going into repair, and then going to the command prompt, and then performing a
Code: 
FIXMBR
and then a
Code: 
FIXBOOT
would have done the same without having to install software.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro X64 Insider Preview (Skip Ahead) latest build
    Manufacturer/Model
    The Beast Model V (homebrew)
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 965 EE @ 3.6 GHz
    Motherboard
    eVGA X58 Classified 3 (141-GT-E770-A1)
    Memory
    3 * Mushkin 998981 Redline Enhanced triple channel DDR3 4 GB CL7 DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800)
    Graphics Card(s)
    eVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 (04G-P4-3979-KB)
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 * Lenovo LT2323pwA Widescreeen
    Screen Resolution
    2 * 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra SDSSDHII-960G-G25 960 GB SATA III SSD (System)
    Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 256GB SATA III SSD (User Tree)
    2 * Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA II Mech. HD
    Seagate ST1500DL001-9VT15L Barracuda 7200.12 1.5 TB S
    PSU
    Thermaltake Black Widow TX TR2 850W 80+ Bronze Semi-Mod ATX
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (Black)
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 (CPU, dual 140 mm fans on radiator) + Air (2 *
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15 (gen 2)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared)
    Internet Speed
    AT&T Lightspeed Gigabit duplex
  • Operating System
    Sabayon Linux (current, weekly updates, 5.1.x kernel)
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad E545
    CPU
    AMD A6-5350M APU
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Radeon HD (Embedded)
    Sound Card
    Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Lenovo 15" Matte
    Screen Resolution
    1680 * 1050
    Hard Drives
    INTEL Cherryvill 520 Series SSDSC2CW180A 180 GB SSD
    PSU
    Lenovo
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master (shared) | Synaptics TouchPad
    Keyboard
    Lenovo
    Internet Speed
    AT&T LightSpeed Gigabit Duplex
..and don't forget the included BCDEDIT utility which is not as bad as some claim

1. run command prompt as administrator
2. type bcdedit /? [enter]
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    E8400
    Motherboard
    asus p5ql-e
    Memory
    ocz pc 1066 2x2gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    asus eah3650 silent
    Sound Card
    Edirol UA-25
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway FPD2185W
    Screen Resolution
    1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    750g samsung
    PSU
    Zalman ZM460B 460W
    Case
    Lian Li A05 + 2 x Sythe S-FLEX SFF21D 120mm case fan
    Cooling
    Coolermaster Hyper Z600 fanless CPU cooler
    Keyboard
    Merc Stealth
    Mouse
    Microsoft Laser Mouse 6000
    Internet Speed
    DSL
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