Hi,
I'm struggling with a corrupted MBR.
I have a Pentium 4 based PC with a RAID setup (so my DOS menu only
offers RAID as a boot up option, and not any specific partitions to
boot from). I have 6 partitions.
I had Win98 installed on C.
I wanted a dual boot with Win2000Pro on D.
Both C & D are 3 Gig.
I installed Partition Magic 7, and Boot Magic on C.
I went into PM7 and clicked on 'D' , 'advanced', 'set active'.
I rebooted into D.
I couldn't find a way of installing Win 2000 on D, got impatient, and
decided to install 98, then upgrade to 2000.
My problem now is that I'm stuck in D with Win 2000..
I can access C, in fact I can run some of the programs, like Quark,
originally insatlled on C, but I can't boot from it.
I've installed PM7 on D, but the 'set active' options are grayed out.
I can open the Boot Magic program from C, activate it, and set the
boot option to C. When I reboot BootMagic runs, appears to accept
booting to C, but next I get the 2000 Boot up options which are only
2000 or DOS.
2000 appears to have hi-jacked my MBR.
Everything runs fine, but I really do need to run some software, like
Cubase, from 98. And it would take me days to re-install all my
software with all the various options tweaks.
Any suggestions?
(Maybe I could try re-installing 98 on C, but 2000 won't let me run
the disk, and I don't know how to run it from DOS. But would that
solve the problem?)
Many thanks
Karel Bata

---

Request for Question Clarification by lazerfx-ga on 31 May 2002 08:40 PDT

Karel-ga,

Based on what you have said, I believe your MBR (Master Boot Record)
is working fine, however NT has done what it normally does and has
taken control of your system.  I am posting this as a clarification
because I'd like you to try this, but I'm not 100% sure if it will
work... if it does, then the problem is solved.  If not, I can answer
fully (I have recovered MBR problems before - I once recovered from
CIH (Chernobyl) by rebuilding the Partition Table from scratch).

Do you have access to the Windows 2000 boot.ini file?  If so you could
enter something like the following line:

(It will depend on whether you have SCSI or IDE raid...)

After the [operating systems] header:

(IDE)
multi(0)disk(0)partition(1)\windows = "Windows 98"
(SCSI)
scsi(0)disk(0)partition(1)\windows = "Windows 98"

You may have to modifiy the numbers or the details depending on how
your system is set up.  To find out how to do this, I reccomend having
a look at the following articles:

[ Microsoft Knowledgebase Articles ]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q99743
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q102873

[ Sysinternals Developer Articles (Technical, but explains the use of
boot.ini quite well ]
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/info/bootini.shtml

---
Note:

According to some sources, to set the boot up for an old-style windows
98 or similar system, you would instead add the following line:

C:\ = "Windows 98"

I'm not sure if this will work or not, however the way the boot.ini is
made up you should have no problems in editing it and rebooting - if
you don't touch the Windows 2000 entry, you will always be able to get
into that.

Hope this helps,

LazerFX-ga

Dear Google answers user,

First let me tell you the way Microsoft recommends you to do this.

1. Install Win9X system on your C drive.
2. Install 2000 from the CD on any partition, BUT KEEP THE WIN9X drive
as the active drive. (This was your first mistake. There is no need to
change the active drive to anything else.)
3. You now have the MS Multiboot menu when you boot from c:\. Allowing
you to select 'Windows' or 'Windows 2000'. Install as many additional
installations of Windows 2000 as you need. They will all be added to
the existing menu. You will need to edit Boot.ini to have them show
different names as they will all show 'Windows 2000'.

Now how to fix the system as you've currently installed it.

1. Make a win98 boot disk.
2. Boot from your floppy and set the active partition to C:
3. Boot from your floppy and type ‘fdisk /mbr’ . this will recreate
the MBR if it has been corrupted. Which I'm not sure is the case, but
it can't hurt to run it anyway.
4. Try to boot from HD.
5. If it doesn't boot up, boot from floppy and type sys c: to recreate
the boot files for win 98.
6. Now you have a working 98, but you can't access W2000 anymore.
7. Install a new W2000 to a third partition (Just a temp partition you
can delete it later.) This will install the MS Multiboot menu.
8. This will result in a boot menu showing 'Windows' for windows98 and
'Windows 2000' twice once for each installation.

So that the recommended way of doing it, but it has some drawbacks.

1. Using MS multiboot you can only have 1 WIN9X installation. 
2. When moving around partitions with PM you may end up with a menu
that points towards incorrect partitions resulting in unbootable
NT/2000 installations until you fix boot.ini .

Myself I use Bootmagic.

1. Install win98 on any primary partition.
2. Install PM and BM. (You can install PM on every partition but BM
only on ONE)
3. Create the BM Rescue disk!!!! (You WILL need this)
4. Create another PRIMAIRY partition. And set BM to boot to it while
HIDING the current partition.
5. Reboot the machine and select the option on the bootmagic window
which takes you to the uninstall partition. LET THE MACHINE TRY TO
BOOT UNTIL IT TELS YOU IT CAN’T FIND AN INSTALLED SYSTEM.
6. Now reboot to the installation floppy or bootable CD, and install
the system.
7. After installing the new system, the Bootmagic menu DISAPEARS. This
is where the BM rescue disk comes in handy.
8. Boot from the BM rescue disk. This will reset the original
partition as you active partition, and you will be able to re-enable
the BM menu from within you WIN98 installation.
9. You now have Bootmagic enabled Multiboot system.

The advantages:
1. You can add as many and as different systems as you want (limited
to 4 per drive because of the 4 PRIMAIRY PARTITION LIMITATION)
2. Every system references its own system drive as the C: drive.
3. System drives are hidden from each other, making for a more stable
system.

Disadvantage:
You can not use this to fix your current problem without re-installing
at least the W2000 installation

I hope this is the answer you were looking for.

Kindest regards,
Tim Lathouwers.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by karel-ga on 04 Jun 2002 05:28 PDT

At last! I've found out how to post a reply. Not entirely obvious in
here.

Let me first say that the reason I did things the way I did was not
not out of stupidity, but because I blindly followed the advice I
found on a dedicated site claiming to be knowledgeable about this
subject. (Or perhaps that's another kind of stupidity.)

OK. so I put the line  C:\ = "Windows 98" in at the end of the
boot.ini file.
Result: no change whatsoever. I was still only offered the options of
booting from 2000 or DOS.

Then I noticed someone's advice that I could try typing SYS C:  from
the Win98 emergency boot up disk in DOS. This seemed like it might
work.
Result: The system refused to boot from neither hard drive!
Tried 'fdisk /mbr'. Still no joy.

What to do next?

Well, I thought that maybe I could try a fresh install of Win 98 to C,
which should restore the MBR (shouldn't it?), and I could then think
about how to get it to dual boot from C and D, possibly with boot
manager.

After a hiccup where the installation didn't like my CDR drive, which
I then disconnected, everything seemed to go fine until I reached the
Installing Hardware Plug and Play bit when I got Fatal Exception OE   
0028:C1939(XXX) - those three X's being different each I went through
it.

Now the machine is locked into the installing 98 routine every time I
restart, and stops at the same point.

I've hunted around for information on OE and 0028, but the closest I
get is a suggestion that it may be to do with Norton Virus Checker.
Which I don't have. But I do have Norton System Works which is
scheduled to remind me weekly, and Go Back (which I disabled before I
started all this).

One good thing - possibly - is that my Norton rescue disk says it can
restore my partition information, which I tried, but it didn't appear
to cure the problem, but at least I have a copy of the original
partition information.

It feels like I'm half an inch away from success, but I can't see what
to do.

Bear in mind, I'm a relative novice, and telling me to do something in
DOS in general terms can leave me scratching my head.

Again, many thanks

Karel Bata (-ga!)

---

Clarification of Answer by lucason-ga on 04 Jun 2002 10:27 PDT

Dear Karel,

It seems to me you've lost most of your data by now anyway. Walking
you
through possible restoration processes may prove to be difficult, as
we
don't have a direct link of communication. So here’s what I suggest.

1. Run fdisk from a boot floppy and set the 1st primary partition to
active.
(In Fdisk select option 2 'set active partition' then select 1 'first
primary partition).
2. Format the HD and reinstall Win98 (there really isn't any use
trying to
debug a running installation. It's way easier to start over.) 3. After
installation install W2000 (From Bootable-CD or
InstallationBootdisks).
4. When asked to select install partition, be sure to select a
DIFFERENT
partition than the one you used to install win98 on.
5. Select the option to format destination drive when asked.

Five easy steps, getting you what you want. I don't recommend to 
troubleshoot what you have now. I will take time and result in an
unreliable
makeshift system.

Kind regards,

FYI, I am running Win98 dual boot with Win2K, in RAID configuration
with 8 partitions, and it works for months now, without Partition
Magic/Boot Magic.

Basically what I did was install Win98 on C:, then I run Win2K
installation inside Win98. I installed Win2K to H:, and it recognized
my Win98 and created dual boot for me. Just one thing is that you have
to keep C: as the active partition because the dual boot MBR is there.
If you set D: as active, then it will not boot to C: (your Win98
drive), so it will skip your dual boot and/or your system will not
recognize Win98.

One source: http://tweakhomepc.virtualave.net/dualboot/dualxp9x.html
Make sure you check the list on the left (just hover your mouse
pointer there).
It said you can do a 'refresh' install of Win98 to C: (make sure C: is
the active one), then you do a 'repair' install of Win2K to D:. I
never tried but it sounds good to me.

Then, for the other problem (that you cannot run Win98 installation
from Win2K), you should be able to boot to DOS with your Win98 Boot
disk. If you don't have one, you might make one from:
http://www.bootdisk.com/
After booting to DOS, go to your CDROM drive, and type SETUP

Hope this helps!

A possible solution might be to get a NickLock Hard Disk Selector (two
hard drive switch, $20) or Romtec Trios IDE Hard Drive Selector (three
hard drives, $40). If you've got the space to put them in, usually an
open 5.25 drive bay, you use them as a switch between hard drives at
the time you turn them on. I found these at
http://www.tigerdirect.com/ (with whom I am totally unaffiliated). You
PC would just see the hard drive selected.

I had the same problem almost exactly as you described a year ago and
was never able to come up with a "soft" solution. Probably BIOS or
Motherboard compatibility issue with multiple hard drives.

If Windows 98 refuses to boot, unrepaired disk problems may have
occurred during Setup. You can try repairing your Win2k boot files.
Windows uses the Boot.ini file to determine the operating system
options to display during the startup (boot) process.
To repair the Win NT/2000 boot files

Boot the Windows NT/2000 setup disks -- or the CD-ROM, if you can boot
CD-ROMs
Select R in Setup to repair
Choose to repair only the Windows 2000 boot sector -- nothing else
When the repair is done, boot the computer to see whether you get the
Win NT/2K boot options menu with a new entry at the bottom for Windows
98
If you do not see the new entry for Win 98 you will need to add a line
to the file BOOT.INI (a read only file in the root dir. of your boot
drive)
You will have to modify the file's permission to where it isn't "read
only" anymore.
In Windows Explorer, click Folder Options on the View menu. 

On the View tab, click Show All Files, and then click OK. 

Click the root folder of the local hard disk, right-click the Boot.ini
file, and then click Properties.

Click to clear the Read-Only, Hidden, and System check boxes, and then
click OK.

Open the Boot.ini file in Notepad. 
At the bottom, Add the line:
C:\=Windows 98 
so it will look something like this (basic example)
[Boot Loader] 
timeout=3 
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT 
[Operating Systems] 
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT=Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect /nodebug
C:\=Windows 98

Save the changes to the Boot.ini file, and then restore its
attributes. To restore the file's attributes, repeat steps 3 and 4,
but click to select the check boxes. Then reboot. Now you should be
able to choose the appropriate selection from the boot menu
If you still can not boot into 98
Bootup with a Win 98 boot disk
From the floppy drive (usually A:\), type in the following 
SYS C: 
Press Enter, and then Reboot. Your computer should boot to 98. 

Here are some web sites addressing this subject, that you might find 
useful:

1.) If Windows 98 refuses to boot
( http://www.freepctech.com/pc/001/dual_boot_guide.shtmll )
2.) From Windows 2000, you can select which OS will be default by
edititing the boot.ini
( http://is-it-true.org/nt/nt2000/utips/utips3.shtml )
3.) Step by Step guide on how to dual boot Windows 98/2000
professional
( http://www.geocities.com/machiavelli1982/Dualboot.html )
4.) Information on BOOT.INI and ARC Path Naming Conventions and Usage
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q102873)
5.) This page will provide you with more then 30 options to add in the
BOOT.INI file.
(http://ihide.virtualave.net/archive/bootini.html)
7.) Purpose of the boot.ini file in Win 2k
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q99743)

the problem seems to have started with your instaling and running
Partition Magic. the issue is that you don;t need to necessarily set
the 'd' drive which you want to install win2k onto as 'active'. as
robbienewbie-ga has commented, you need to install win2k from withing
win98 and the setup will automatically deduce the presence of win98
and propose a dual boot setup.

There cannot be a shortcut for this process as i have understood by
many experiments and troubleshooting of friends' computers with such
similar problems. win98 and win2k, winNT, winXP and the like.

I do agree it is quite cumbersome to reload a lot of software, but if
you manage too get your OS configuration right (which is imperative
for the health of your applications in the first place) you may have
to reload some of the software that you need working on both OS's.
Even if this is not required, depending on the criticality of your
working on this PC, you have better reload all software. In fact I
would recommend talking a manual backup of you data and start from the
scratch -

1. low-level initialisation of all hard drives, 
2. set up of OS. Set up of disk space and volumes.
3. Set up of OS's. Load all drivers for extra hardware.
4. Load all user software
5. Re-transfer user data to appropriate folders designated within the
software.

I do agree it is a problem of time and effort, but it is imperative
that you set up your OS and software cooly and calmly so as to avoid
major headaches later. Surely you would'nt like to see the machine
hanging during an important operation later!!

regards

vinod-ga


I don't understand how you thought PM would help solve 

robbienewbie-ga