Screwed up XP/98 dual boot

[araaraara]

Yes, it was bound to happen. With all my OS installs and partition juggling, I have now hosed my dual boot between Windows XP Pro and Windows 98 SE. I have attached a screenshot of my partition setup.

Here's my boot.ini file on drive C:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\ = "Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition"


I can boot to Windows XP fine. When I select Windows 98, it gives me an error message saying "NTLDR not loaded(I think)". I have run the Windows XP recovery console, and run "bootcfg /rebuild", "fixboot", and "fixmbr", all to no avail. At first I could boot Windows 98 by using a startup disk and "SYS C:" ing my drive, but then I couldn't use XP. Now that doesn't even work anymore.

I want to get my dual boot working again without formatting my harddrive. Is that possible? Could installing Windows XP onto of itself do the trick?

[BipolarBill]

SYSing C: doesn't fix Win98 anymore? Hmmm...

S.O.P. around these here parts is SYS C: and then "Repair" XP by booting from the XP CD and selecting Install > Repair (NOT recovery console) > Fast Repair.

[araaraara]

Thank you BipolarBill. That method sure fixed it. I never thought about doing it that way.
My setup didn't have a quick repair. Mine deleted & copied a bunch of files. Then it re-setup WindowsXP. It didn't change any of my setttings though.

[BipolarBill]

I have used that method at least 30 times on my PCs and client's. What's so bizarre is that MS's KB has little or nothing on the process and I was taught diddly about it in MCSE school. It's so simple and yet so damned good. There is some mention of it in the little booklet that comes with the OS, to be fair.

Yeah...it replaces all system files with originals, but leaves accounts and preferences alone. Wonderful medicine. Could you imagine my brain in a 16 year old body? :eek: Scary! That's what you get with the Repair process.

Don't forget to re-apply any service packs and revisit Windows Update.

My setup didn't have a quick repair. Apologies...I get mixed up with the variations between Win2K and XP.

[BipolarBill]

...and pick up a copy of Bootbot (http://www.toptensoftware.com/bootbot/) .