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reinstalling 98 on a triple boot (98/2K/XP) system


the xt guy

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I've got a computer that boots three operating systems (98/2K/XP). The first hard drive (120 gb IDE primary master) is partitioned into primary and extended paritions (12gb primary and an extended partition with 2 logical parttitions of 54 gb each).

If the 98 OS has become unbootable, is there any way to reinstall it and not affect the other two OS? I don't want to reinstall all 3 OS's plus all the software.

(I realize I can eventually use some kind of imaging software to save a copy of the drive and restore the entire drive, but I haven't gotten to that point yet.)

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If the 98 OS has become unbootable, is there any way to reinstall it and not affect the other two OS? I don't want to reinstall all 3 OS's plus all the software.

Sure it is possible. :)

Basically you re-install the Windows 98 than you need to "fix" the 2K/XP booting.

Depending on which bootmanager you use and how the partitions are setup and if the actual "active" or "boot" primary partition needs to be reformatted or not, I could give you some hints on how to do it.

Post some more details on how the Operating Systems were setup, to which partition(s) they were installed, which bootmanager are you using (possibly the XP NTLDR+BOOT.INI+NTDETECT.COM, but I want to make sure), etc..

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
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Yes, 98 is installed to the first active partition (drive letter C). Then, in the extended partition, 2K is installed on the first logical partition (D) and XP is installed on the second logical partition (E).

I'm using the standard Microsoft bootloader that installs whenever one installs more than one MS OS (boot.ini, etc.) I'm nor using any special or third party software to do that.

I had KernelEx installed on the 98 amd was trying to install ZoneAlarm and get it to cooperate with KernelEx. After changing the compatibility settings with KernelEx, I rebooted and got the dreaded message about msgsrv32 had caused an error in the 98 Kernel. The desktop does not appear just a plain background (in the custom color I set it to.) Same thing in safe mode.

The 98 version is Soporific's 98UBCD, plus 98SE2ME installed after that. It was working fine till I tried to make KernelEx and ZA play together nicely.

Edited by the xt guy
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Yes, 98 is installed to the first active partition (drive letter C). Then, in the extended partition, 2K is installed on the first logical partition (D) and XP is installed on the second logical partition (E).

I'm using the standard Microsoft bootloader that installs whenever one installs more than one MS OS (boot.ini, etc.) I'm nor using any special or third party software to do that.

If you wish to re-install (in the case that fixing the Win98 is not possible)

  1. Reinstall Windows 98 "normally".
  2. Boot to command line DOS.
  3. Run bootpart (of course you will need to download it and have it ready somewhere reachable by the DOS, like in C:\bootpart\):
    http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm
    to recreate the bootsector AND write it to the PBR like:
    Bootpart WINXP BOOT:C:


More details here:

http://www.winimage.info/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=276

Please note how you need to preserve these files currently on your C:\ partition:

  • NTLDR
  • NTDETECT.COM
  • BOOT.INI

(or, if you need to re-format the C:\ partition, you need to copy them back there from a backup)

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
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Well, I did the scanreg/restore and that seems to have brought the system back to life. One piece of software I installed that day is not there, but I assume if I reinstall it, I should be back up to speed.

I did do some Internet searching and found instructions how to restore the dual boot on a ME/XP system using the XP installation CD and the 'fixboot' option. If I saved my triple booting boot.ini file ahead of time and then used it to replace the one the fixboot repair created, would I then have my triple booting back?

Or would I need to replace ntldr and ntdetect as well?

BTW, thanks to both of you for your help.

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I did do some Internet searching and found instructions how to restore the dual boot on a ME/XP system using the XP installation CD and the 'fixboot' option. If I saved my triple booting boot.ini file ahead of time and then used it to replace the one the fixboot repair created, would I then have my triple booting back?

Possibly yes :), but the point you seem like missing is HOW the NTLDR/BOOT.INI way of booting Windows 9x works.

In order to boot Win9x NTLDR chainloads a COPY of your partition bootsector (the "original" one installed by Win9x to the PBR and invoking IO.SYS).

If needed bootpart can RE-CREATE that bootsector copy.

The XP Repair AFAICR, won't.

In a nutshell, how your 9x boots:

After Win9x install:

BIOS->PBR (of Win9x)->IO.SYS

After 2K install:

BIOS->PBR (of Win2K)->NTLDR (of Win2K)->BOOT.INI (of Win2K, with 2 entries, 1 for Win9x)->bootsect.dos->IO.SYS

After XP install:

BIOS->PBR (of WinXP)->NTLDR (of WinXP)->BOOT.INI (of WinXP, with 3 entries, 1 for Win9x)->bootsect.dos->IO.SYS

What the repair fixboot would do would simply to re-write the PBR (and possibly check that in BOOT.INI there is an entry for the XP install).

This is perfectly equivalent to running bootpart WINXP BOOT: C: , this will allow to boot in XP.(and you don't need the XP CD or to boot from CD)

The difference is that if, for any reason, the bootsect.dos is invalid, or has been deleted, you won't be able to boot Win9x.

With bootpart you can also, once booted in XP or 2K, recreate the bootsect.dos copy of the Win9x PBR.

jaclaz

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