Boot dual XP/Vista problem Installing and Upgrading Vista Discuss Boot dual XP/Vista problem in the Windows Vista forums; To Julien. If you can afford it and know how to do it, remove the HD and get and install another HD and set up Win XP...may I suggest ...

[felix8406]

To Julien. If you can afford it and know how to do it, remove the HD and get and install another HD and set up Win XP...may I suggest Win XP SP2. Once that's done, install the other HD as slave and see if you can run Vista from the recovery partition.

[Snuffy]

http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

here is the guide... follow very carefully.

[crabby]

All your information is great... if he has a working PC

If he can't get past POST then he can't boot to anything, at all.

If it was past post and displaying an error of no valid boot media, then I could agree with your assumption that this can be sorted by starting from scratch.

But he can't boot to anything! Nothing. Nada. Nowt. His PC is effectively dead right now.

He must get the hardware fixed first.

However, if you have a way of installing XP and booting to it with out passing POST I am all ears

crabby

[Snuffy]

That's where it get complicated

No Vista boot, no XP installation program.

And my CD reader does not seem to work anymore. I cant boot from a CD...



I believe there was a messup with the partition labels...

What should I do !?!?!?

Find and use the Bootable FLOPPY from Windows ME.. it has generic drivers for over 99.9% of all DVD/CD drives.
Then he can CLEAN install or REPAIR Vista with the restore disk..

[crabby]

Originally Posted by Snuffy

Find and use the Bootable FLOPPY from Windows ME.. it has generic drivers for over 99.9% of all DVD/CD drives.
Then he can CLEAN install or REPAIR Vista with the restore disk..

Also pointless... if he cant get past post he cant boot to anything. It isnt a firmware / driver issue.

crabby

[Snuffy]

If he can't get past POST then he can't boot to anything, at all.

OK, He does not need to complete "POST" (He only needs SELF-TEST).
1. shutdown... remove every device except
a. floppy
b. video card - nothing else is needed
2. on start (self test) enter into BIOS change to boot to floppy..
Now all items except Floppy and Video are removed from MEMORY.
3. insert the master HD... (now you have 3 items. floppy, video & HD.)
4. insert a DVD/CD reader.(now you have 4 devices-floppy, video, HD, CD rom)
You need nothing else... to boot... the floppy will have command.com from Win98(bootable Floppy) -- that is all you need.. tell it boot with CD ROM access.
6. If you have Factory RESTORE DISK.. that is all you need to reinstall.
boot to floppy with CD access, insert Restore Disk, and follow all instructions.
All you need is SELF-TEST to start... NOT POST..

Power-on self-test (POST) is the common term for a computer's, router's or printer's pre-boot sequence. The same basic sequence is present on all computer architectures. It is the first step of the more general process called initial program load (IPL), booting, or bootstrapping. The term POST has become popular in association with and as a result of the proliferation of the PC. It can be used as a noun when referring to the code that controls the pre-boot phase or when referring to the phase itself. It can also be used as a verb when referring to the code or the system as it progresses through the pre-boot phase.

[julien2]

The laptop does not have a floppy drive.

[crabby]

Look... just take it back I still see no way of you getting it to boot, and it is only 2 months old, they'll fix it for you.

crabby

[Snuffy]

Is the RESTORE Disk bootable?
... try that... If No then take it back

[felix8406]

The recovery disk, even if it's bootable, is not going to work since he can't access the CD-ROM.