New
#1
XP x86 and 7 x64 dual boot issue
Hi,
Been reading many posts here to see if they could help me with a problem but couldn't find a definitive answer.
I have XP Sp3 32-bit on my main HDD, been using it fine for quite some time, and I wanted to try 7, so I bought a new HDD and installed W7 RC 64-bit on it. I then setup the dual boot and everything was working fine - I could chose which to load up, both were working fine, and I could see the W7 files while working on XP and vice-versa. I then got more confortable using W7 (as most people here, no doubt, cause it is bril ) and started using more and more often, to the point of copying loads of files from my XP disk (My Docs, Videos, Music, Favourites etc) onto the W7 disk so I could have them handy.
Then after a few days I noticed my XP installation started crashing every now and again. It's got progressively worse to the point my XP installation is not loading up at the moment - XP loads all the way up to displaying my desktop wallpaper picture and then freezes. Nothing happens for quite some time and I end up having to swich it off.
When I try to boot into XP again it goes into CHKDSK, it does it's thing for a good length of time and then when it loads XP it freezes on the desktop wallpaper again. Safe mode works fine and everything seems in order, but when I try the real thing it freezes again.
I'm very security conscious, but to eliminate this option I've ran a few AV and Malware programs and nothing found on both disks, so I'm confident this is not the problem. The XP disk itself also seems fine - cause if I load W7 I can see all the files currently on the XP disk, no problem opening/copying them and nothing has been lost.
Anyone know of any known issues of mixing XP (32) and 7 (64) OS? Something to do with how they handle file structures, indexes etc for example? Could my XP be getting system files mixed up with the W7 installation? Or W7 writting files that corrupt the XP file system? Should I have kept XP disk hidden from W7 in the first place?
Don't know what else to try but I need to run XP (due to 3D software) and didn't want to get rid of W7...
Thanks in advance.