win wont boot, sticky doesnt cover

[Broli]

Ok first off I know i messed up. Got over eager. I have a laptop, its partitioned into 5 drives, 2 win 2k pro, 1 win xp pro, 2 linux.


I needed to change the drive letter of a partition to C: to get it to load some software that will only boot ona C: drive. Well I used partition magic 8.0 and made the xp partition ( formally D: ) into C: ( which was one of the 2k pro )


well now the windows wont boot. The linux partition boots fine and I can access the directories in the windows partitions to. I cant load partition magic to hopefully correct the problem. Reformatting is not an option.


I think if I just get access to a command prompt I can load PM 8.0 but I cant get access.


I got the laptop with a program for school, so until I graduate I dont get the xp or 2k cds. So I am stuck and need help, I have class soon

 

[Liquidlen]

In a dual boot scenario Windows has to have access to the MBR on the primary active drive.By changing the Drive letter you have broken that connection so to speak . There is a way to change the Primary drive I used TS search to find this
https://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12024&highlight=change+boot+drive+letter
I just don't know if Partition Magic will affect this procedure .I hope you have a way to backup your whole system before you attempt anymore system changes.

 

[Broli]

that sounds like a very good solution, but I cant access the registry. So that becomes the problem.

found a good program that can emulate windows software ( i.e Partition magic ) on a linux OS. But the download for it is down on sourceforge

 

[Broli]

update:

still cant boot windows. I get hung at login screens on the win 2k partitions and I get a winxp screen and no login.

Got that program mentioned above but I can install cause I dont have root access on the linux partition. I f i did I could fix all this

please I am in need of some more ideas. As I said I cant access my registry to the above fix and I cant access a dos prompt either.

 

[Broli]

ok I got access to dos via a ntfs boot disk. I am thinking this will fix me problem;

"The fixboot command is a recovery console command that creates a new partition boot sector.

Writes a new partition boot sector to the system partition. The fixboot command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console

fixboot [drive]

drive = The drive to which a boot sector will be written. This replaces the default drive, which is the system partition you are logged on to. "


is that what I need to do I am thinking it is but dont need to mess anythign else up.

k found this as well;


"

The fixmbr command is a recovery console command that creates a new boot record.

Repairs the master boot record of the boot disk. The fixmbr command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console

fixboot [device_name]

device_name The device (drive) on which you want to write a new master boot record. The name can be obtained from the output of the map command
"



so which should I use?

 

[Liquidlen]

I don't think you can use Recovery console without the Win CD.Originally you said you changed the drive letterwith Partition magic,and since you don't have win cd's
I have no experience with Linux but is it possible to run Partition Magic thru Linux?
I thought you try reversing the procedure you did in the begining .

I would need to see a breakdown of you configuration in order to advise you on any other procedure. ie Partion size and loaded O/S's
P.S. do you have any full backups

 

[Broli]

I got my old 2000 cd back from a friend finally,so I have access to the fixboot and fixmbr commads among others.

heres the partitions as they are labeled in linux,

Windows 2000pro C: 5.9gb - 1.4gb free
Windows 2000pro D: 7.4gb - 1.4gb free
Windows XP pro E: 9.5gb - 5.2gb free

using partition magic the drives according to windows are label like this

win2k E:
win2k D:
winxp C:



I dont have permissions to install software on the linux partition so I cant go that route. But now that I have the cd what are my options.?

So i need to either change it so windows will boot in the current order or I need to get it back to where it was.

 

[Liquidlen]

Since you have a Win2k disk and it appears win2k lived on your original System partition.You should log on to that O/S only .This would allow you to do many things before you attempt to repair the MBR.As I do not know how your system is going to react with changes on top of Partitionmagic changes.I would definitely backup all important files before making changes.This you can do from Recovery console.
Also look at your boot.ini file and post it first there are a lot of guys here with experience with them .It might work with just an edit.
P.S.If I've got this right you made D: (XP) into C:and CWin2K) into D: If you can Log on to the E: Win2K O/S and run PartitionMagic you might could reverse this problem I am thinking since the E: drive was not changed it could easily be very stable.
Either way I wish you luck and please let us know what happens!

 

[Broli]

ok well you were right the one 2k booted slow but it booted, heres my boot.ini it was found on the E: drive which it still the xp partition for some reason.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional - WebSphere 4.0" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional - WebSphere 3.5" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

also stupid Partition magic wont load cause it wants another activation code! and I am not paying for another one. But I may be able to get it to work.

 

[Liquidlen]

Windows booting slowly in recovery console is normal as I have seen .I would not worry about it .Do all you can to get PM to work and use it to reverse your original procedure if you can.
If that fails ,I hope one of the guys with experience can advise you on editing the Boot.ini directly.Failing that then run 'fixmbr' in recovery console, After you do a backup.
at least you have a Win2k disk so ,worst case you can reload it and recover you saved data.

P.S.I am sorry but after rereading this post ,it occured to me that you also can try changing the drive designation in the registry(Since you can boot to Win2k) according to the directions I sent you originally
Let us know how it turns out.
Personally I have not had any luck with PM .It sits deep in your system and for me has caused other problems especially in system and software recovery.
I know it is basic but I have found disk partitioning to be more reliable in Dos or WinSetup CD's in the long run less is better.

 

[Broli]

yea working on PM now, if it works I will be happy, but if not I will do the registry edit.

 

[Broli]

well no good news to report,

Partition magic was no use, it never did the changes that I had wanted it to do.

Did the registry edit and now the one good win2k partition wont boot either.


now I gotta send it in i think to get the drive re-imaged. Unless anyone else can help, theres gotta be more than just one person out there that knows something.

all I can say is thnx Liquidlen all your ideas were great. Thanks for you help.

 

[Liquidlen]

I am sorry to hear .
Just a couple of things though;
You said you may have to send it in to get it re-imaged.What exactly does that mean.
Can't you simply format ,re-load with the Win CD you have?
Also I did not see that you tried to fix the MBR with recovery console,I know it is a last resort but it may work.You donot have to boot into Windows the CD should do it .

 

[Broli]

My school has a hard drive image which they can reload onto the hd and get it working again.

My laptop has 5 partitions with 3 diff os(linux, 2x win2kpro, and winxp pro). we dont get the cds to reinstall so if I format I lose all the software that I need for my homework.

I havent tried fixmbr yet I will later tonight.

 

[Broli]

well the fixmbr command is giving me a warning that if I do the fixmbr command all my partitions may become inaccesible, it says if I am not having trouble accessing the drive do not continue.

so what should I do? The linux partition still boots fine.

 

[Broli]

got your email liquid, thnx for your intrest. So far no sucsess. I am taking the laptop back either today or tomarrow to get reimaged, and get yelled at for messin it up already lol . the above post applies still so if you have any ideas shoot.