Dual Boot Startup Nightmare!

Gadgetman496

I'm dual booting Windows XP Pro & Vista Ultimate ( both OS's have been newly installed in the last 2 weeks on a Dell Vostro 400) but have the most annoying startup issue.

When I start the system I get the boot screen displaying both operating systems but regardless of which one I choose to boot into it hangs at the Windows logo screen during startup (Game over).

No matter how many times I try to restart or no matter which OS I choose it hangs at the Windows logo from that point on.

If I boot from the Windows XP disc & do a "FIXBOOT" from within the recovery console it will restart & boot into XP Directly (as expected I assume) no dual boot option. Even then when I restart it hangs on the XP logo.

If I boot from the Vista CD & choose to repair startup it fixes whatever & restore the two OS options to the startup boot screen & if I choose to boot into Vista it will no problem. The minute I shut down the system & start it up again it hangs yet again at the Windows logo regardless of which version of Windows I choose.

If I reset the BIOS it boots to the dual option screen & when I choose either OS it bitches about Windows not being shutdown correctly & gives the "Last Known Good Configuration" option which again lets me boot into the OS successfully but yet again it will hang at the logo the next time I restart the system.

I have updated the BIOS to the latest version too but it has made no difference whatsoever.

It is the most annoying ball breaker of an issue & I'm all out of ideas as to what is causing it :eek:

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dr.bollocko

What are u using to manage the dual boot?
Vistabootpro might help...?
Also.. the partitions for each? sizable enough to include the paging file?

Gadgetman496

dr.bollocko wrote: »

What are u using to manage the dual boot?
Vistabootpro might help...?
Also.. the partitions for each? sizable enough to include the paging file?

Each partition is 100GB so there's plenty of room.

I've tried it on its own & using Easybcd but a 3rd party Prog shouldn't really be needed should it?

As I said in the original post, these installations are clean installs & I have done this many times before without issue.

I'm beginning to think it might be a BIOS issue?

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dr.bollocko

Is it best to start by installing XP then installing vista?
I had a few problems setting up dualboot on my laptop but only got the continual reboot problem once the partition I had set up for XP, using the Vista reclaim space partitioning system, was too small for the paging file. stupid stupid mistake.
I just used a few online tutorials like this one.
http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_xp__stepbystep_guide_with_screenshots.htm

good luck!

Gadgetman496

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Is it best to start by installing XP then installing vista?
I had a few problems setting up dualboot on my laptop but only got the continual reboot problem once the partition I had set up for XP, using the Vista reclaim space partitioning system, was too small for the paging file. stupid stupid mistake.
I just used a few online tutorials like this one.
http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_xp__stepbystep_guide_with_screenshots.htm

good luck!

Appreciate the response, cheers


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Gadgetman496

Not meaning to start a service pack bashing post here :eek: but....

Does anybody think SP3 could be a factor?



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unnameduser

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Not meaning to start a service pack bashing post here :eek: but....

Does anybody think SP3 could be a factor?



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Doubtful - Lots Vista / XP dual boot problems have existed pre sp3.

calex71

Im using the same set up without issue, As stated vista must be intalled when you booted in xp, i used vistaboot pro to configure the start up options and time out at OS selection.

Jonathan

Ive a xp pro / vista business dual boot goin here. I've one HD, with vista on partition 0 and xp on partition 1. Vista was installed first, then i set up the dual boot later.

I used either easyBCD or VistaBootPro to set it up.... Can't remember which one exactly

But the important thing to remember is, if you are going to be using the vista boot loader, you must install ntldr and place your boot.ini file on your Vista partition. Sounds strange i know. When you look at the boot.ini file it all makes sense.

I've included a copies of my boot.ini file and the output of bcdedit in vista:

boot.ini wrote:

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

bcdedit wrote:

Windows Boot Manager

---

identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=C:
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {111d30d6-13cd-11dd-b649-eda5095bca38}
displayorder {current}
{8c5b2ac9-3a59-11dd-b5de-001c26f4683f}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 2

Windows Boot Loader

---

identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {111d30d6-13cd-11dd-b649-eda5095bca38}
nx OptIn
numproc 2
detecthal No
quietboot Yes
usefirmwarepcisettings No
sos No

Real-mode Boot Sector

---

identifier {8c5b2ac9-3a59-11dd-b5de-001c26f4683f}
device partition=C:
path \NTLDR
description Microsoft Windows XP

Gadgetman496

calex71 wrote: »

Im using the same set up without issue, As stated vista must be intalled when you booted in xp, i used vistaboot pro to configure the start up options and time out at OS selection.

jmccrohan wrote: »

Ive a xp pro / vista business dual boot goin here. I've one HD, with vista on partition 0 and xp on partition 1. Vista was installed first, then i set up the dual boot later.

I used either easyBCD or VistaBootPro to set it up.... Can't remember which one exactly

But the important thing to remember is, if you are going to be using the vista boot loader, you must install ntldr and place your boot.ini file on your Vista partition. Sounds strange i know. When you look at the boot.ini file it all makes sense.

I've included a copies of my boot.ini file and the output of bcdedit in vista:

Thanks for the input lads.

I know dual booting XP & Vista works fine, I've been using it for ages too without problem.

Dual booting itself is not the issue I'm having as such, the issue is the freezing at the windows logo on startup (Regardless of which OS I boot into)

Once I eventually get into either OS they work fine until I restart & everything freezes again.

My emphasis on dual booting in my original post was two fold

1. So posters would know my setup.

2. Just in case the dual booting was a factor in my problem.

I believe at this stage that the issue is either BIOS or hardware/drivers related.

I think at this stage I'll just flatten the machine & start from scratch.


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