Win Vista/Win XP - Boot loader problem!

[codenamevirus]

hi

I had windows xp installed in my machine.

Recently I installed the windows vista rc1 and everything was going good with the dual boot thing till I turned off the power cable directly by mistake...without shutting down vista!

as a result, the ntldr file or watever is it....the boot loader file went missing!

Now, I repaired the system startup from my vista rc1 dvd and vista is workin again now! But, I have missed my link to Windows XP!

Although I can access the file tables thru Vista but I cant start/load xp!! So, how I can cure that thing!

C'mon ppl help me out!!

[nihil]

Try getting your XP CD, booting from it, and doing a "repair" install.............. I suspect your MBR got stiffed?

Or you could always boot SuSE, or Fedora, or Slackware.....................

[codenamevirus]

after I repaired my thru the Vista cd, I did try the fixmbr and fixboot commands from the win xp cd!

But, it resulted in the same error screen i.e. ntldr missing!
So, I repaired again thru the vista dvd and here I m again wrkin on vista and missin my xp!!

plz help!!

[nihil]

Get rid of VISTA! and do not play with beta releases on a production box!

I would fire you for what you have done!

[codenamevirus]

hm......plz dun fire me!!

ok....will get rid of vista! wat nxt?? how to get the xp back??

[nihil]

Please try the XP disc boot and "repair install"

Might I give you a bit of advice?

1. We test stuff on "reference machines"..................these are clones of the builds we ISO/mirror to the departmental production machines.

2. Really new (alpha/beta stuff) software is tested in what I call a "labrat" environment............these machines have an ISO that can be reverted to immediately after the testing.

I know it is a temptation, but you must be strong...................if you introduce unknown software onto a system, be prepared to lose that system

[Clp727]

Is it possible that Windows XP isn't listed in the Boot.ini file? The boot.ini was probably recreated when you did the repair install of Vista. I have setup many dual boot systems in the past, the Boot.ini should contain a reference to both versions of Windows that are installed on the computer.
You should see both versions when you open the boot.ini file.
My bet is you will need to paste
"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect" just below or above your Vista entry. Below or above depends what you want to be the default OS.