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XP after Vista: Can't restore bootloader - Error

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XP after Vista: Can't restore bootloader - Error

Postby Carbone » Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:28 pm

Hi,

I am unable to reinstall the Vista Bootloader. I can use VistaBootPRO to "reinstall", but when I run the "Diagnostics" it shows an error-message. See attachments below.

History so far:
I have 2 harddisks, each one with 2 primary partitions (ntfs). There was XP on C: (the only active partition), I installed Vista on F:. XP screwed up, so I formatted C: and reinstalled XP on it. Before reinstalling, I resized C: (smaller), converted E: from logical to primary (not active) (don't ask why... I watched "Monk" too many times on tv ;-)) and resized E: (larger).

At first, I booted from Vista-DVD, selecting "repair", and it said there were starting problems found which I selected to fix automatically. No change, XP booted.
I booted from DVD again, selecting the command-line. From the X:\boot> prompt I typed in "bootsect.exe /nt60 ALL", and it gave me ok. Again, nothing changed.
I installed VistaBootPRO and reinstalled Bootloader - no effect. From there, I can't remember exactly, what I have done with VistaBootPRO... I changed the drive-letters (see attachments), added XP... but nothing changed anything.

At last, in Vista, the drive-letters were as follows:
C: Vista
D: XP
E:/F: Data

I tried ********* also, but it seems to work the same way.

Carbone
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Postby The Phoenix » Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:38 pm

Welcome to PROnetworks Carbone, please bear with us a little while some of the other guys who have more experience with BCD and VistaBootPro's settings comes along, I am sure we can find a solution for you.
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Postby JabbaPapa » Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:48 am

Did you use a 3rd party partition management software program to resize those partitions ?

There are slight differences between the NTFS versions contained in XP and Vista, which may explain these unusual errors. For the time being, until future versions of this software become available, you should use the native disk management tools to make changes to your partitioning.

Can you please post a screenshot of what appears in the XP Disk Management ?

I would normally in such cases suggest just deleting the Vista partition and reinstalling, and creating the new partition in the unallocated space during setup after having booted from the DVD, but depending on your actual setup that may or may not be the wisest course...
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Postby Carbone » Fri Feb 09, 2007 11:23 am

Yes, I used PartitionMagic 8.05 in this new XP to resize.
Weeks ago, I tried to use Vista's HD-Management to resize, but it said there wasn't enough space to perform this operation.

Of course, reinstallation of Vista is an option. But it seems to me there is no "repair"-installation as known in XP. If there was no lost of preferences, programs and data, I would simply install...

Here is my screen of XP's HD-Management:
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Postby jbullard » Fri Feb 09, 2007 11:52 am

Carbone,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble with Run Diagnostics in VBP. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to use this feature as of right now. The programmers have corrected this problem in the upcoming final release. So watch for it so you won't have this problem again.

In order to start correcting your problem try these steps.

Restart your system and boot into XP
- Do not run VistaBootPRO or any other bcdedit application

1. Make sure Hide System Files and Folders is unchecked in My Computer->Organize->Folder and Search Options->View

2. Copy (from Vista drive) into the root path of XP drive
- Boot (Folder)
- bootmgr

3. Run bootsect again this time use bootsect /nt60 ALL /force

4. Restart and see if Vista is available to you. If not keep going.

5. Copy from XP drive into the Vista root drive
- ntldr
- ntdetect.com

6. Run bootsect commands again

7. Restart and see if Vista is available to you. If not try one more thing

8. Pop in the Vista DVD and do the repair of the System Startup and Bootloader

And if this does not work then it has basically come down to your MBR or MBT has been completely screwed by PartitionMagic. This is not surprising because PM8, AFAIK is not compatible with the new Vista MBR, MBT, and NTFS.

HTH,
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Postby JabbaPapa » Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:18 pm

OK, well your XP and your Vista are actually on separate hard drives, so your XP at least should be safe, and I think the solution here will be a technically easy one : throw some $$$ at your computer !!!

Reason Vista installation failed : F: is too small for Vista. In fact, looking at your hard drive config, it seems clear that you simply do not have enough space for Vista on your computer.

You will need a new hard drive, either as a replacement for one of the current drives, or as a third hard drive for your rig (purchase and installation of a P-ATA or SATA controller card may or may not be a pre-requisite for this option).

Anyways, looks like those drives of yours are just bursting at the seams, and it's simply time for a storage upgrade IMO :yesnod:
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Postby Carbone » Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:01 pm

@jbullard:
The only folder named "Boot" exists on the XP-Drive. On F:, the Vista-HD, is neither "Boot" nor a file "bootmgr". See pictures below. Shall I continue with your list anyway?


@JabbaPapa:
I won't buy a new drive. The installation of Vista was perfect on the 15 GB and it ran very well. Otherwise I would make its partition larger. But there are still 6 GB waiting on the Vista-Drive...<br>
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Postby JabbaPapa » Fri Feb 09, 2007 2:25 pm

Well, if it was happy on that drive, you can just delete F: in the Disk Management Tools, and reinstall Vista to the empty space, by booting from the DVD and creating a new partition in the empty space...

BTW the official recommended minimum space for Vista is 40 GB (except Home Basic, 25 GB), and if it is installed in a smaller partition, there are almost bound to be problems with it, and with the Ultimate Edition in particular... (I don't know which Edition you own BTW)
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