khonjo

I searched in the CDROM and found none of those three files. Is the error message legitimate or phony? What causes the installer to issue such error message? I used the same CDROM to install WXP to this pc more than once before and did not see this problem. I tried installing WXP using the same CDROM to a different PC for an experiment and found no such problem. Kaz

In the process of installing WXP Pro I had to let the installer "ignore" the following files because the installer said it was unable to copy them: netfx.cab tabletpc.cab mediactr.cab So far there does not seem to be any problem yet but I wonder what are these for. My pc is neither tablet pc nor media centre pc. Can anyone shed light on the above? Kaz

I am not sure if you have installed WXP at those two locations. If you have done that then the last entry in boot.ini should be as follows: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Mum & Dad" /fastdetect Kaz

Because boot.ini is one of those hidden files. You can unhide it by: Right-click "My Computer" -> Explorer -> Tools -> Foflder Optins -> View Then select "Show hidden files and folders"(Put a dot). Alternatively, you can see and edit the contents of boot.ini without doing the above as follows: Right-click "My Computer" -> Property -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery/Settings -> Edit kaz

I do not know why you want to do that, but are you aware that MBR is created when a partition is created in a hard disk, and a boot sector is created when an OS is installed in a partition, and if there is already a boot sector then it will be replaced with a new one?

My suggestion to try is as follows: 1) Format the primary partition in FAT32 where you want to install WXP. 2) Boot to W98 Startup FD, and execute the following at A:> prompt: sys C: 3) Start installing WXP by booting to WXP CDROM. Note that the file system can be changed to NTFS when an opportunity to do so arrives during the installation, or it can be converted to NTFS after the installation is completed. Please post if the above does not work.

This is supplementary to my previous post. I have noticed that the extended partition is not large enough to reduce to make neccessary space, so instead, you can reduce the primary partition or just delete the extended partition since the presently installed W98 is going to be abandoned anyway. The following is an alternate method to create a W98 boot sector file which does not require use of Windows Support Tools, and may be easier to follow. The boot sector file is neccessary to use the WXP Boot Manager: 1) Open Notepad and enter the following exactly as shown: L 100 2 0 1 N C:\BOOTSECT.DOS R BX 0 R CX 200 W Q 2) Save the above in the W98 Startup FD as READ.SCR 3) Complete installing W98 in a newly created PRIMARY partition as per option 2 in my previous post. 2) Boot to the W98 Startup FD and execute the following at A:> prompt: DEBUG <READ.SCR 3) Copy BOOTSECT.DOS at the root of C: to a floppy disk. (BOOTSECT.DOS is created in the step 2)above ) 4) Set the WXP partition active by FDISK or a disk utility you may have. And restart PC to boot WXP. 5) Copy BOOTSECT.DOS from the above FD to the root of C: 6) Edit the contents of BOOT.INI file to be as follows: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect C:\BOOTSECT.DOS="Microsoft Windows 98" That's it. When pc starts you will see os options menu a la dual boot system created by option 1. as described in my previous post. Remember that solution option 1 automatically set up a dual boot system utilizing WXP boot manager. But with the dual os installations by the solution option 2, use of the WXP boot manager is NOT mandatory and switching OS between the two can be done as described in my previous post if one so prefers.

Now, I see the whole picture. Here are your options to resolve the problem: 1. This option requires starting from scratch: Install W98 in C: drive, then install WXP in D: drive. That is it. You will see OS selection menu durring boot-up process, and select one you want to boot. 2. This option avoids reinstalling WXP but lot more complicated works involved: To do the following you need hard disk utility such as Partition Magic. 1) Resize the extended partition to make free space between the primary partition and the extended partition. 2) Create a new primary partition using the free space and format in FAT32. 3) Set the new primary partition active. 4) Boot to W98 Startup FD and install W98 in C: drive. Now you have WXP and W98 each is stand alone installation. To switch one OS to another I use boot manager utility called PQboot which comes with Partition Magic. Changing boot OS can also be done by switching acive partition using FDISK from W98 to WXP, and using Disk Manager of WXP from WXP to W98. To use the boot manager which is built in WXP, you need to create a file of W98 boot sector using one of the Windows Support Tools which is called dskprobe.exe. The setup files for the tools are in WXPCRROM\Support\Tools. The tools have to be installed to use. The boot sector file created need be stored at the root of WXP drive, and boot.ini file is edited using the name of the boot sector file. If you want to pursue setting up NT boot manager which will display boot option menu as 1. above, Which requires creating W98 boot sector file, post to that effect.

How about a recovey CDROM(s) which must have come with your pc? If it did not come with the pc then the neccessary software files may be stored in a hidden hard drive partition. Consult with a user guide of your pc about how to carry out system recovery.

Please answer the following questions: 1. Provide detail of how W98 was installed especially how drive letter became D: 2. Partition information. See my previous post how to obtain it. 3. Is there a boot.ini file at the root of D: drive? 4. Post copy of Disk Manager display. The following is an example(My laptop pc).

Explain in detail how did you install W98, especially about how the drive letter became D:. I am waiting for your post for the Partition Information.

You indicated that you installed W98 first, then why is its drive letter(label) D:? Has it been D: since W98 was installed?

By using Windows Explorer, can you see a drive where W98 is installed? If so, what is the drive label? C: or what? Navigate as right-click My Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management, then look under Status. You will see "(System)". Do you also see "(Boot)" at a different location under Status? Post partition information which can be obtained as follows: Insert W98 Startup disk and start the PC to boot to DOS. Execute FDISK at command prompt. Select 4 in the displayed list being "Display Partition Information". Then partition information will be displayed. The heading will be as follows: Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbyte System Usage. Post What are under these headings.

The file you downloaded which has .ISO extention can not be used to install the OS: You have to create(burn) a bootable CDROM out of the downloaded ISO file. Consult your CD burner(NERO, Easy CD Creator, etc.) about how to do it. If it is Easy CD Creator, I can help you further.

Copy i386 folder from WXP CDROM to C: drive, and click wnnt32.exe in i386 to start WXP installation. Then follow the screen prompts, which you must have gone through before.

Were you ever able to boot either one of those OSes selectively? You must at one point be able to boot W98. What did you do prior to your becoming unable to boot W98?

Can you selectively boot either one of those two OSes?

If W98 was installed first and then WXP, the contents of boot.ini residing in C: drive can not be as that which you posted unless they were subsequently edited. Is there a file "Bootsect.dos" in the root of C: drive? If so, that is the boot sector file I mentioned in my previous post. If there is, then you can just use this in place of xxxxxx.xxx in my previous post. If W98 and WXP are installed in this order, the boot sector file is automatically created and placed in C: drive when WXP is installed. Editing boot.ini is neccessary to use NT boot manager for selecting W98 or WXP IF the second OS is installed in another PRIMARY partition AND the second OS installation is made independently of the first. kaz

If you install W98 after WXP then it is lot more difficult to set up dual boot system. The way you added an entry to boot.ini file is incorrect. Correct entry would look like: C:\xxxxxx.xxx="Windows 98" xxxxxxx.xxx is a boot sector file which contains information in the boot sector of the partition where W98 is installed. Another word this file have to be created and is placed at the root of C: then is used in the above. If you are interested in creating the boot sector file, then you need to learn how to use Disk Probe which comes in WXP/W2K CDROM. One of the functionality of this tool is to make a back up of boot sector file. There is another way to switch between WXP and W98. You simply set a partition active where os resides which is wanted to boot. You can use Disk Manager to switch from WXP to W98 and FDISK to switch from W98 to WXP. If you use PQBoot which comes with PartitionMagic8 the OS switch-over can be more convenietly done. Kaz

The boot.ini file indicates that you thought you replaced old WXP install but what happend was making an additional WXP installation in a second physical hard drive and the old install was left intact. The old install of WXP resides in C: and the new install is in D: or something other than C: Deleting the follwing entry from boot.ini file will remove from the boot menu, an option of selecting the new WXP : multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect You can instead edit the boot.ini as follows to boot straight to the new WXP install: [boot loader] timeout=5 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect But the OS drive will not be C: and the old WXP needs to remains in C: If you do not like this then you have to reinstall WXP in the first physical hard drive where the old WXP is. You have to make sure that the partition is deleted and reformatted in the process of this reinstallation. Kaz

Repair install will leave all data and all application softwares installed unaffected but the repair install can only be done by retail version of WXP and not by recovery CDROM which normally comes with OS pre-installed PC. Kaz

Your earlier post indicates that WXP is installed in D:. Are you saying it is installed in E: drive? I am confused. If WXP is in E: then boot.ini have to be edited differetly from the one in my previous post. At any rate the boot.ini to be edited is the one in Windows 2000 installation or in C: drive. Another thing: In one of my previous post I suggested that you execute FIXBOOT D: at command prompt after getting into Recovery Console. But if Windows XP was installed in E:, then the command should have been FIXBOOT E: instead. Well, I guess you can solve the problem faster at this point by just reinstalling Windows XP. Kaz

The boot.ini as posted indicates there is only one os option which is contrary to what you previously reported. I just put this aside and move on based on the contents of the boot.ini. Boot to W2K and then by using Windows Explorer if you can see a directory named as "Windows" in D: drive, then edit the boot.ini file to be as follows: [boot loader] timeout=30 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" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect After editing it as above be sure to SAVE it, and try rebooting. If you do not see "Windows" directory in D:, then WXP need be reinstalled. If you see "Windows" in D: and edited boot.ini and you see two os boot options but still WXP does not boot, then replace a file named as "ntldr" at the root of C:\WINNT with the one in Windows XP CDROM. Kaz

Go to Recovery Console and execute the following: FIXBOOT D: And reboot. And see if selecting one of those four option will let WXP to boot. If WXP boots, then edit BOOT.INI to remove unneccessary entries. If WXP still does not boot, then post the contents of BOOT.INI file. Kaz

Contrary to what the error message says, it may have nothing to do with hal.dll. Rather, it might simply be the BOOT.INI file on the root of the C: drive that is misconfigured for some reason(You can go ahead and install hal.dll and see). The following is steps to follow to resolve the problem: 1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD. 2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key 3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair. Typically this will be #1 4. Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file 5. Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it 6. Take out the CD ROM and type exit