You'll need to track down the boot.ini file on your computer and edit it. It's typically a hidden file in the root of C:
In there it will have a list of operating systems and hard drives/partitions that those operating systems allegedly reside on. You will have to identify which of the two entries for XP points to a location where Windows does not exist.
By default, if Windows is installed on C:\, the correct boot entry is HARD DISK 0, PARTITION 0.
You'll need to track down the boot.ini file on your computer and edit it. It's typically a hidden file in the root of C:
In there it will have a list of operating systems and hard drives/partitions that those operating systems allegedly reside on. You will have to identify which of the two entries for XP points to a location where Windows does not exist.
By default, if Windows is installed on C:\, the correct boot entry is HARD DISK 0, PARTITION 0.
I changed the boot.ini in my SATA drive to partition 0 and left the other IDE drive as 1. I made both drives active in my BIOS and now my grub menu(with Ubuntu) comes up and when I enter Windows XP Home Edition I get a second menu. One part say Windows(Default) which is a good boot of my SATA drive and the other part says Windows XP Home Edition which has the HAL error.
I still don't know how to set my IDE drive as the Master drive and allow my SATA drive to be the Slave.
Jim
yes each one of the hard drives has a bootable Windows XP operating system and each of course has an boot.ini file. I use the SATA as the primary drive and the IDE usually when it is installed on the computer as a slave although sometimes I boot up the IDE Windows separately.
Okay, now I have to ask why each hard drive contains a bootable copy of Windows? Is this necessary?
Having two drives recognized to contain master boot records is the source of your trouble. Each install of Windows is pointing to the other as a detected installation and is gumming up the works.
//EDIT: And GRUB is pointing to BOTH installations as valid drives. Essentially you have a web of conflicting boot records, with the two Windows battling for control.
Even though one was essencially a backup, I like to have backups bootable just in case the other one fails.
Now I can understand why I have the problem. Maybe I should change boot.ini to boot.xxx for the slave.
Even though one was essencially a backup, I like to have backups bootable just in case the other one fails.
Now I can understand why I have the problem. Maybe I should change boot.ini to boot.xxx for the slave.
or leave them both in the box and have a hardwired switch to send power to one, the other or neither.
or leave them both in the box and have a hardwired switch to send power to one, the other or neither.
I am not that electrically inclined. You are talking about inside the computer. I will leave well enough alone. Too dangerous!
I spoke to a computer educated "Geek" friend and he did'nt see any problem with two bootable drives. As a matter of fact I read many times people being able to boot up XP and Vista on the same computer. Obviously there is definitely a solution. I know many problems can occur for duel booting even with Linux but it is not impossible.
In all sincerity,
Jim
Actually it became very practical this morning when I was having problems bringing up my new SATA drive and booted up my IDE drive instead.
By the way no has answered my question about setting up IDE and SATA drives together.
What I do now is turn off ("none")the drive that I don't boot in bios and it will show up as an extra drive (for more space). So I have 1 drive auto and the other drive "none". It seems to work most of the time. Then I can us the other drive as a backup.
Jim
Thank you so much for this clear and, most importantly, successful guide. Only found this guide by searching through Google for help, as the Windows screens gave no idea how to proceed. So relieved that this problem could be solved without having to buy a new computer! Thanks again. Would highly recommend it to anyone in similar situation.
Hi, everyone. I have the invalid boot.ini problem and am getting stuck where I haven't noticed anyone else mention a problem. Step #2 states:
"After you have selected the appropriate option from step two, you will be prompted to select a valid Windows installation (Typically number “1″)."
But after I select R, my next screen shows only the top three lines from the screen shot shown in the guide. The next line reads only:
C:\>
So I'm not prompted to select a valid Windows installation. Can anyone get me past this point?
Hi, everyone. I have the invalid boot.ini problem and am getting stuck where I haven't noticed anyone else mention a problem. Step #2 states:
"After you have selected the appropriate option from step two, you will be prompted to select a valid Windows installation (Typically number “1″)."
But after I select R, my next screen shows only the top three lines from the screen shot shown in the guide. The next line reads only:
C:\>
So I'm not prompted to select a valid Windows installation. Can anyone get me past this point?
Thanks for your time.
Gary
DOH! Nevermind. I think I should have just kept reading further. Thanks for this article.
DOH! Nevermind. I think I should have just kept reading further. Thanks for this article.
Well - perhaps I spoke too soon again. When I try ATTRIB -H C:BOOT.INI I get the message: "The file cannot be opened." Same with the next two commands. Is this indicative of any particular problem? I'm starting to think I just need to reformat my drive and reinstall Windows.
what if you have the unmountable boot volume but you have an acer that you can't put any kind of xp disk into to fix it...I recently started a thread to see if you guys can help me...will you read it and tell me what you think. http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89617
Comments
In there it will have a list of operating systems and hard drives/partitions that those operating systems allegedly reside on. You will have to identify which of the two entries for XP points to a location where Windows does not exist.
By default, if Windows is installed on C:\, the correct boot entry is HARD DISK 0, PARTITION 0.
I changed the boot.ini in my SATA drive to partition 0 and left the other IDE drive as 1. I made both drives active in my BIOS and now my grub menu(with Ubuntu) comes up and when I enter Windows XP Home Edition I get a second menu. One part say Windows(Default) which is a good boot of my SATA drive and the other part says Windows XP Home Edition which has the HAL error.
I still don't know how to set my IDE drive as the Master drive and allow my SATA drive to be the Slave.
Jim
Having two drives recognized to contain master boot records is the source of your trouble. Each install of Windows is pointing to the other as a detected installation and is gumming up the works.
//EDIT: And GRUB is pointing to BOTH installations as valid drives. Essentially you have a web of conflicting boot records, with the two Windows battling for control.
Now I can understand why I have the problem. Maybe I should change boot.ini to boot.xxx for the slave.
or leave them both in the box and have a hardwired switch to send power to one, the other or neither.
I am not that electrically inclined. You are talking about inside the computer. I will leave well enough alone. Too dangerous!
I spoke to a computer educated "Geek" friend and he did'nt see any problem with two bootable drives. As a matter of fact I read many times people being able to boot up XP and Vista on the same computer. Obviously there is definitely a solution. I know many problems can occur for duel booting even with Linux but it is not impossible.
In all sincerity,
Jim
Actually it became very practical this morning when I was having problems bringing up my new SATA drive and booted up my IDE drive instead.
By the way no has answered my question about setting up IDE and SATA drives together.
I
"After you have selected the appropriate option from step two, you will be prompted to select a valid Windows installation (Typically number “1″)."
But after I select R, my next screen shows only the top three lines from the screen shot shown in the guide. The next line reads only:
C:\>
So I'm not prompted to select a valid Windows installation. Can anyone get me past this point?
Thanks for your time.
Gary
DOH! Nevermind. I think I should have just kept reading further. Thanks for this article.
Well - perhaps I spoke too soon again. When I try ATTRIB -H C:BOOT.INI I get the message: "The file cannot be opened." Same with the next two commands. Is this indicative of any particular problem? I'm starting to think I just need to reformat my drive and reinstall Windows.
what if you have the unmountable boot volume but you have an acer that you can't put any kind of xp disk into to fix it...I recently started a thread to see if you guys can help me...will you read it and tell me what you think.
http://icrontic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89617