FIXED: Dual boot problem (see last post)

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Susan G
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2011/08/31 16:30:36 (permalink)

FIXED: Dual boot problem (see last post)

Hi-

I have a dual-boot PC with XP on my C: drive and Windows 7 on my D: drive. Yesterday I got a BSOD in W7, and after that I was unable to boot into it, although I could boot into XP just fine.

Cut to: I'm now able to boot into Windows 7, but only if I remove the C: (XP) drive from my system. If I leave the C: drive attached I get the 2 boot options, but if I choose W7 it tells me Windows failed to start, and I'm back to where I was before I removed the C: drive to repair the D: Windows installation. I can still boot into XP normally with both drives attached.

I need to have both drives on my system, and I need to be able to boot into Windows 7. I ran the Repair Computer option from the W7 installation DVD a few times, but it was only when I removed the C: drive that it was successful.

Does anyone know what I can try to get my dual boot back to working? I've had it this way for years, and this is the first problem I've run into.

I've run chkdsk and virus scans and they're clean, but SeaTools for Windows crashes when it's scanning the drives under XP with a BSOD referring to "atapi.sys". I'm still investigating that.

Thanks!

-Susan
post edited by Susan G - 2011/08/31 21:14:34

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    Beagle
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    Re:Dual boot problem 2011/08/31 16:39:01 (permalink)
    Hi Susan,
    how do you have your dual boot set up?  do you have it only in BIOS so that you have to choose the boot drive from bios or do you have it set up by win7's dual boot sequence (which I admit that I know nothing about except that it's very different from XP's dual boot scheme).

    also, what kind of drives do you have?  SATA?  on the motherboard?  IDE?  both?

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    #2
    Susan G
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    Re:Dual boot problem 2011/08/31 16:50:12 (permalink)
    Hi Reece-

    It's the Windows 7 dual boot setup -- it lets me choose Windows 7 or "Earlier version of Windows". I have 3 internal SATA drives, 1 of which isn't bootable.

    Thanks-

    -Susan

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    slartabartfast
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    Re:Dual boot problem 2011/08/31 17:09:41 (permalink)
    Possibly in trying to repair your Win 7 boot loader, you inadvertently removed access to XP from the BCD. The method used in this knowledgebase article may enable you to re-write the BCD manually. You may be able to do it more easily using EasyBCD (which used to be freeware but is now apparently available in  a trial version for free, but costs money to buy from the developer).
    Some other resources:

    http://thpc.info/dualboot.html

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709667(WS.10).aspx

    http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/EasyBCD.shtml
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    Susan G
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    Re:Dual boot problem 2011/08/31 17:35:17 (permalink)
    Hi David-

    I'm going to try EasyBCD, thanks for that. I removed the C: (XP) drive because I wanted to try bootrec /FixMBR and didn't want it to touch that drive in the process, and removing that drive turned out to be the only way to get the System Repair to work on my D: drive.

    I'll have to run EasyBCD from XP, since I can't have that drive attached under W7. Here's hoping it recognizes both OSes...

    Thanks again-

    -Susan

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    Susan G
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    Re:Dual boot problem 2011/08/31 18:49:26 (permalink)
    I backed up the settings in EasyBCD and did a configuration reset, then I added back the XP and Win7 entries.

    Now I'm back to where I was last night: The System Repair from the W7 installation DVD says it can't automatically repair the problem, which it identifies as "MissingOSLoader". Actually, before that, when I selected the W7 boot it said there was a problem in winload.exe (certificate wasn't signed or some such), which is why I ran the RE.

    I'm reluctant to do anything in EasyBCD that writes to the C: drive, since for now I can at least boot into XP on that drive. BUT since I have to detach that drive to boot into Win7, it won't do me any good to run it there, right?

    What I don't get is why Win7 boots fine without that other drive attached. I'd think that if any important files were corrupt or whatever it wouldn't.

    -Susan



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    Susan G
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    Re:Dual boot problem 2011/08/31 20:16:07 (permalink)
    Question: If I run bootrec /FixMBR or any of the other options from the cmd prompt in the Repair Environment, can I specify the drive after the command, like:

    bootrec /FixMBR D:

    I don't want it to mess with my C: drive, but if I don't have that connected I don't see the problem. Pretty much everything I've come across assumes a single system drive (C:), so I wanted to check first.

    Thanks-

    -Susan

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    Susan G
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    Fixed! 2011/08/31 21:23:16 (permalink)
    I ran Kaspersky's TDSSKiller on my C: drive and it found malware in the Rootkit family. That was apparently what was preventing Windows 7 from booting with the C: drive connected. I'm surprised XP booted normally, and I'm also a little surprised neither avast! nor Malwarebytes found it, but I came across it Googling, and I'm glad I did!
     
    I ran XP briefly yesterday before this all happened, so the little devil probably slipped through then.
     
    -Susan
     
     

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    slartabartfast
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    Re:Fixed! 2011/08/31 23:54:53 (permalink)
    Excellent. Congratulations. Good work.
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    Susan G
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    Re:Fixed! 2011/09/01 01:43:53 (permalink)
    Thanks! I don't know how many blind alleys I went down before I stumbled on that, and I'd hate to try to map out my route -- it would look like it was made of "silly string"!
     
    -Susan

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    Beagle
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    Re:Fixed! 2011/09/01 06:54:22 (permalink)
    fantastic! glad you got it working again Susan!

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    Starise
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    Re:Fixed! 2011/09/01 09:03:49 (permalink)
     Glad you found the problem!

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    Susan G
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    Re:Fixed! 2011/09/02 12:21:17 (permalink)
    Thanks, guys!
     
    -Susan

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