Cannot dual boot xp and Windows 7 with W7 installed first.

Kaktussoft said:

gazza1988 said:

No, it hangs at 84% when fully formatting (not quick format) if I quick format it completes fully.

So formatting doesn't work.

Do you try to format from within win7 or from winxp install disk?

Full format works in win7 and easeus partition manager but not from the xp disc.

Quick format works on everything.

Kaktussoft said:

gazza1988 said:

Kaktussoft said:

So formatting doesn't work.

Do you try to format from within win7 or from winxp install disk?

Full format works in win7 and easeus partition manager but not from the xp disc.

Quick format works on everything.

Strange! Faulty xp install disk? very unlikely formatting works ... until 84%. Always 84%?

Is winxp partition primary now? formatted? If so..install winxp on that partition without formatting. What happens then?

Yes it is a primary one, I will try a repair install of win7 later on.

Also i cannot access the repair console using the xp disc does this matter?

Oh and I have used the driver given by Sony at the link I pointed to in my opening post.

I've burnt a couple of copies of xp including one I found on the Interne . With all updates and sata drivers included just as a test and that fails in the exact same place as my own created disc. So i doubt it's the cd.

The more I think about it the more convinced I am its the boot sector because it is that that fails and is the only constant variable throughout.

Although why the disc won't let me full format past 84% isn't part of the boot sector.

My hope is that can repair install of windows 7 will fix the boot files for me.

Pressing R on that screen does nothing f3 brings up the quit confirm menu and enter continues the installation.

Windows 7 is fine.

However after copying files from xp cd ready for install I get an invalid boot.ini and missing/corrupt ntoskrnl.exe errors when the xp cd restarts my computer to finish the installation.

I then insert my win7 recovery cd and run startup repair which restores the easybcd boot menu. Meaning I can now boot into xp to complete the installation (without needing to add the entry using windows 7) which then goes through the xp installation needing product key, location, keyboard layout etc etc.

Once that completes my laptop restarts and if I select xp again the splash screen comes up for 2 seconds and then I get the bsod (7b)