Dual boot 7 beta + XP. XP corrupted how do i repair it?

Scruff

I have windows 7 beta and xp on dual boot on my aspire one netbook. There is also a partion on the HD that contains the recovery image of XP. I cant start XP anymore as its become corrupted but i cant find a way to repair it.
Since installing Windows 7 beta it has put on the a new bootloader than was there previously. If i hold down F8 (or alt -f10) on boot i get to the can get to the recovery console but it only gives me the option to repair windows 7. If i change the boot order to default to "earlier version of windows" and then on reboot hold down F8 (or alt -f10) i cant get to the recovery console at all!
Any ideas?

Teamhar

Oh dear. I've got one of those as Acer Aspire 1's as well- never thought about what would happen with the recovery if I couldn't boot in the first place. I must make an image and check the BIOS for alternative boot options.

As for testing Windows 7 (crap and more of the same)- thats what VMWare is for, a nice, safe virtual environment. I haven't set up a dual boot in years.

All easily said in hindsight. I'll have a think and see if I can come up with any bright ideas.

T.

Teamhar

When it comes to offering the chance to repair Windows, does it also give you the option of reinstalling? That'd be the way to go as you'll get a chance to repair the existing installation via that option.

Scruff

i had to reinstall once before from the recovery image before and it worked fine, though it did reformat the entire hd. Now with dual boot and the win 7 bootloader it only gives the option to repair Win 7. I dont know how that would actually work seeing as its a XP image and not a Win 7 image...

Teamhar

Jeez, thats nasty. I think you might really be in trouble.

Maybe I'm over-complicating things but your best bet might be to get the disk out of the machine, slave it into a desktop and try and pull your files etc from it. Using Disk Management, format the partition that Windows 7 is sitting on. Once thats done, get the disk back into the notebook and try and run the recovery again.

Also, getting the disk out and back in might be tricky. I've never opened mine up but it looks like access from the base ain't an option.

Am I missing something here guys? While since I've dealt with anything like this. Anyone else want to throw out an idea or two?

T.

the_syco

Forgetting about the duel boot for a mo, in some setup's you just keep tapping some button, to get the recovery console up.

I think for Acers it's "alt and f10". So, turn it on, and start holding alt and f10 together straight away.

Teamhar

Yeah, the OP did all that. The repair option is only picking up the Windows 7 install while the recovery partition is loaded with XP.

T.

NullZer0

Did this about 9 times in the past month

Just delete the Win7 Partition completely (depending on how you do this you may also see a smaller partition for Bootloader delete this too if you see it).


Boot from an XP cd and do a "repair install" - you wont loose your data.


HTH,


iRock

NullZer0

Actually ....


What about fixboot from the recovery console?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_Boot_Record

Teamhar

These laptops don't have an optical drive so CD/DVD is out. That recovery console fix is interesting- must make a note of that one for future ref. If that restores the boot loader for XP, then XP should appear as one of existing installations all ready for a repair.

First thing I'd do then after that is lose the crap Windows 7!

NullZer0

Can you use to recovery feature on that laptop to get into a Windows XP installer or is a recovery untility?

cpu-dude

We need more information on this, when you select XP to Boot (Earlier Version of Windows) what error messages do you get?

Blazer

Reason XP is not loading is probably because NTLDR is missing or something like that.
If you can boot in Win 7 (didn't see anywhere on your posts where you can't ) installed vistabootpro and follow the instructions for adding a 2nd os.
Straightforward to do and should allow you to boot into XP no prob.
I've done it myself loads of times.

Teamhar

Yeah, and the OP has tried that but can only get so far. The problem is that when it comes up with the option of selecting which installation of Windows needs repairing, the only OS listed is the Windows 7 install- the image on the recovery partition is XP Home.

NullZer0

Maybe not actually.

I see what your saying.

AS for it not having an optical drive - Im sure the OP has used some sort of external to install WIN7

NullZer0

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

Reason XP is not loading is probably because NTLDR is missing or something like that.
If you can boot in Win 7 (didn't see anywhere on your posts where you can't ) installed vistabootpro and follow the instructions for adding a 2nd os.
Straightforward to do and should allow you to boot into XP no prob.
I've done it myself loads of times.

It would state that the NTDLR is missing if it was missing or corrupt.

Scruff

cpu-dude wrote: »

We need more information on this, when you select XP to Boot (Earlier Version of Windows) what error messages do you get?

See attached pic.

iRock wrote:

Just delete the Win7 Partition completely (depending on how you do this you may also see a smaller partition for Bootloader delete this too if you see it).

Boot from an XP cd and do a "repair install" - you wont loose your data.

But wont the windows 7 bootloader still be present? I'll only delete it as a last resort because i have at least 1 working OS on the laptop at the moment!

I'm trying at the moment to make a bootable usb drive with the windows xp install files from an image of the recovery partition that i made with [url="http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp]this free utility[/url]. Does anone have a link to a quick and easy way to do this?

AS for it not having an optical drive - Im sure the OP has used some sort of external to install WIN7

Nope, i downloaded the official win 7 installer and ran it from XP. I use partition magic before hand to create a new partition where it was installed to

NullZer0

Scruff wrote: »

See attached pic.



But wont the windows 7 bootloader still be present? I'll only delete it as a last resort because i have at least 1 working OS on the laptop at the moment!

I'm trying at the moment to make a bootable usb drive with the windows xp install files from an image of the recovery partition that i made with [url="http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp]this free utility[/url]. Does anone have a link to a quick and easy way to do this?


Nope, i downloaded the official win 7 installer and ran it from XP. I use partition magic before hand to create a new partition where it was installed to

No I would imagine that the XP bootloader will replace it. That was the case with Vista.

cpu-dude

Scruff wrote: »

See attached pic.



But wont the windows 7 bootloader still be present? I'll only delete it as a last resort because i have at least 1 working OS on the laptop at the moment!

I'm trying at the moment to make a bootable usb drive with the windows xp install files from an image of the recovery partition that i made with [url="http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp]this free utility[/url]. Does anone have a link to a quick and easy way to do this?


Nope, i downloaded the official win 7 installer and ran it from XP. I use partition magic before hand to create a new partition where it was installed to

I highly suggest installing EasyBCD in Windows 7 and recreating the XP entry (delete old in top list and add entry in bottom list):



http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

NullZer0

For the Windows 7 Bootloader:

You can use BCEDIT to manage the entries in Vista and 7.

The Windows 7 bootloader file is \bootmgr.

Bcdedit edits a file called bcd , which is located hidden under \boot\bcd.

If you can open an elevated command prompt (as administrator) and type the bcedit command you will be able to set the NTDLR partition for legacy systems (Windows XP).

For example, the following would set the Windows XP partition to F:

bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=F:

Or you could direct it to the NTDLR path:

bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr

BCEDIT command line options can be found here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709667.aspx

For the corrupt XP:

The first hurdle obviously in installing a new OS on the AAO is that it has no optical drive. This requires that you create a bootable USB memory stick with the installation files to complete the install. Any USB thumb drive should work, I used a Kingston Datatraveler 1GB for my install.

http://aspireoneblog.com/blog/2008/12/how-to-install-windows-xp-on-an-acer-aspire-one/



You should be able to launch a repair install from that bootable thumb drive.


HTH,


iRock

Scruff

ok i got my hands on a usb cdrom and can book from an XP cd i have. I canr seem to run a "repair install" that people are talking about, the only options it gives me are:
Set up windows XP now, press Enter
To repair a windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R
To quit setup press F3

So i press R, select the C:\WINDOWS installation and it brings me to a dos command prompt.
What do i do now?

Adder1

Scruff wrote: »

ok i got my hands on a usb cdrom and can book from an XP cd i have. I canr seem to run a "repair install" that people are talking about, the only options it gives me are:
Set up windows XP now, press Enter
To repair a windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R
To quit setup press F3

So i press R, select the C:\WINDOWS installation and it brings me to a dos command prompt.
What do i do now?

Try a repair install from the xp disc as below

Boot from your XP cd. you may have to go into the bios to set computer to do this or there may be a function you can press mine is f12 check your manual for this


1- Press ENTER when you see the message To setup Windows XP now, and then press ENTER on the Welcome to Setup screen.

2- Don`t press R to use the Recovery Console.

3- press F8 to agree to the license agreement.

4- select your installation of Windows XP and then press R to repair Windows XP.

5- Follow the prompts on screen.

please note you will have to download and reinstall all updates after this. Also some programmes may need to be reinstalled

Scruff

Adder1 wrote: »

4- select your installation of Windows XP and then press R to repair Windows XP.

It doesnt give me this option, just
ENTER = Install
D = Delete Partition
F3 = Quit

do i just go with the install option so?

doncarlos

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

Reason XP is not loading is probably because NTLDR is missing or something like that.
If you can boot in Win 7 (didn't see anywhere on your posts where you can't ) installed vistabootpro and follow the instructions for adding a 2nd os.
Straightforward to do and should allow you to boot into XP no prob.
I've done it myself loads of times.

Had the same problem as the OP a while ago when dual booting a vista/xp machine and used vistabootpro to solve it.

Scruff

installed vistaboot pro and by doing really nothing at all that i can see it seems to have magically fixed it!
Cheers all

Adder1

Scruff wrote: »

installed vistaboot pro and by doing really nothing at all that i can see it seems to have magically fixed it!
Cheers all

good to hear you got it fixed scruff forgot to mention to repair you need XP PRO DISC just thought it might be usefull for future ref.