- Boot problems - "Error loading operating system"
- Posted by Andrew Stucken on February 3rd, 2008
I installed another OS hoping to dual boot with Windows and now I am getting
an error message: "Error Loading Operating System" when I try to boot into
Windows.
I have used the fixmbr command in XP Recovery Console but it has not solved
the problem. When I was asked which installation I wanted to go to, not
knowing what to put, I hit '1' and Enter. Should I have been entering the
command at C: prompt or c:\windows
Can anyone help please?
TIA
Andrew Stucken
- Posted by R. McCarty on February 3rd, 2008
What was the other Operating System ? How many physical disks does
your system have in it ?
The key thing at this point is to go SLOWLY and do not randomly do
operations to the PC.
"Andrew Stucken" <Andrew Stucken@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:EB305BF9-81D7-471E-88CF-E03F029CF1AE@microsoft.com...
- Posted by Pegasus \(MVP\) on February 3rd, 2008
"Andrew Stucken" <Andrew Stucken@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:EB305BF9-81D7-471E-88CF-E03F029CF1AE@microsoft.com...
What is this "other OS"?
Try booting the machine with a WinXP floppy boot disk. You
can make it like so:
- Format a diskette on some WinXP/2000 PC.
- Copy these files from the i386 folder of your WinXP CD to it:
* ntldr
* ntdetect.com
- Using a text editor, create the file a:\boot.ini:
[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this diskette and try all four options.
If none work, report what you see on the screen.
- Posted by Andrew Stucken on February 3rd, 2008
To answer the questions, I have one physical hard disk, paritioned into two
partitions: one containing Windows and oen not/
The other OS is Ubuntu 'Gutsy Gibbon'.
I will try to find a machine with a floppy drive. BTW can I use a USB drive
instead?
"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
- Posted by Pegasus \(MVP\) on February 3rd, 2008
You can use a USB flash disk, provided that you can
convince your BIOS to boot off it. Alternatively you
can temporarily rip a floppy disk drive out of some other
machine and connect it to your machine, or burn a
bootable CD on the other machine.
"Andrew Stucken" <AndrewStucken@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:870739BF-BB4C-4B0C-89CB-6E3AB3D26DF0@microsoft.com...
- Posted by Andrew Stucken on February 4th, 2008
I bought an external floppy drive, created a boot disk as instructed - and it
worked!!
I booted straight into my existing Windows installation. Thankyou, this has
really solved a headache.
Is it possible to now set up booting straight from the hard disk , please?
"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
- Posted by Pegasus \(MVP\) on February 4th, 2008
Congratulations! Your report confirms that there is nothing
wrong with Windows itself, only with the boot environment.
You should now adjust the hidden file c:\boot.ini to reflect
the boot line that was successful when booting from the
floppy disk (Item 1, 2, 3 or 4).
You should also click Start / Run / diskmgmt.msc so that
you can mark your primary partition as "active".
"Andrew Stucken" <AndrewStucken@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:674D214C-3168-4DF4-BD52-23F6CFBB5BCD@microsoft.com...
