Installation problem

[gregrocker]

Another thing you can try is unplugging Win7 HD, boot XP Cd to Repair console, run

bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /fixmbr

Or run an XP Repair install on the drive to make it self booting again, which is signified by the System flag.

 

[login123]

OK. Thanks. I'll try those suggestions.

 

[login123]

XP is booting off of Win7 now..

The XP hdd still boots with the win7 hdd unplugged.

Another thing you can try is unplugging Win7 HD, boot XP Cd to Repair console, run
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /fixmbr

Didn't work. The "normal" xp install disk runs through the "loading files" part then throws up a BSOD and stops. I didn't get the error code, but I suppose it is because the drivers on that CD are different than the custom xp drivers actually installed. That's a guess.

Or run an XP Repair install on the drive to make it self booting again, which is signified by the System flag.

Have not tried that yet, it will be the next thing.

Seems to me there is a big clue in the fact that the setup worked fine until I partitoned the xp hdd. I just don't know how to interpret it. That seems to indicate that the problem is in the win 7 machine's BIOS. But I didn't touch that.

If that is true, maybe I should do a reinstallation of win 7. You guys think so?

Theog, I ran bcdedit/enum and bcdedit/v from win 7 command prompt. Would those numbers help anything?

 

[theog]

XP is booting off of Win7 now..

Theog, I ran bcdedit/enum and bcdedit/v from win 7 command prompt. Would those numbers help anything?

NO, as Win XP can not boot from a Windows 7 HDD in UEFI mode.

 

[login123]

NO, as Win XP can not boot from a Windows 7 HDD in UEFI mode.

Do you have any idea how to permanently set the machine's bios so that it doesn't always revert to just booting the win xp hdd?

 

[gregrocker]

Theog is correct that XP HD still holds its own System Flag. It should also be marked Active, so do that now in Disk Mgmt to see if it makes a difference.

The HD's should still be independently bootable as you set them up since nothing in the partitioning operations can really affect the other OS's ability to boot, only sometimes foul up the boot when resizing at the front of the HD on the boot sector - requiring Startup Repairs in Win7, or bootrec or Repair Install in XP.

It may be something unusual with the EFI install which is why what I would do is move completely to Legacy by reinstalling Win7 in Legacy mode to MBR drive by deleting all partiitons during reinstall or wiping the HD. You could unplug XP HD or keep it plugged in to see if Win7 will configure a Dual Boot menu.

 

[login123]

It should also be marked Active, so do that now in Disk Mgmt to see if it makes a difference.

OK, will do. Have to turn off the machine & plug win xp in & restart. If the machine goes straight to win xp, as I think it will, I'll restart w/ with the partwiz CD.

It may be something unusual with the EFI install which is why what I would do is move completely to Legacy by reinstalling Win7 in Legacy mode to MBR drive by deleting all partiitons during reinstall or wiping the HD. You could unplug XP HD or keep it plugged in to see if Win7 will configure a Dual Boot menu.

I will do that if necessary. What do you think of the idea to just reinstall from the factory disks, since that worked before? I know it isn't the legacy installation you suggested, but it did work? That would just be less nerve wracking for me, is all.

 

[gregrocker]

It's an inferior install, not even half as good as real Clean Installed Win7. It not only works, but better.

 

[login123]

It's an inferior install, not even half as good as real Clean Installed Win7. It not only works, but better.

OK. That's a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one.

 

[login123]

This boot issue is fixed. Here is what worked.

- Deleted that extra partition, didn't help.
- Reinstalled win xp to HDD2, didn't help.
- Ran startup repair 3 or 4 times, it only helped until I booted win xp, then had to run it again to get to win 7.
- Did not move anything around in the boot menu, was afraid to.
- Reinstalled win 7 from the HP recovery partition. That fixed it.

Later created a new partition on the win xp HDD.
This time it is a primary partition, not a logical partition.
Now there are 2 partitions: C: = ~45 gb, D: = ~886 gb.

Now a normal boot with no user input goes to win 7.
Now it is again possible to boot either OS from the boot menu.

It took a while to sort through the information, but it is working now and I couldn't have done it without a lot of help from several forums.

Thanks again.

 

[gregrocker]

So you ended up with the worst possible install one can have of Win7 which is the bloated HP factory preinstall.

You are at the top tech site on the web where we have helped with countless partitioning and boot issue without a single failure, yet you're afraid to move the flags and perform the steps as we suggest when we are waiting here ready to help?

Why would you ask for our advice then?

Here are the steps to get the best possible install one can have (the opposite of the one you have): Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7. Look them over to see what's involved, ask back any questions, we're here to help. There's no reason to believe you'd be the first failure out of tens of thousands of successes.

 

[login123]

Good grief, gregrocker. Spare me the diatribe. :shock:
My intention was only to post up what worked, might help others.

I'm grateful for your help and Theog's, and do realize that the HP addons are junk. You guys really know your stuff, that's not an issue.

I asked for help because I wanted to get this silly HP computer back to the state I had it in. I don't want a clean install yet. Even though I'm sure you are right, a clean install would be, well, cleaner. But very simply, I am not ready for a clean reinstall yet.

There is very little information about this BIOS out there. I don't know enough about the issue, and I have to be sure about it myself before I proceed. Probably will eventually get to a clean reinstall, but not just now.

For what its worth, the clue to getting the boot issue fixed came from a referral to this very forum.
It is here, in post #10 by shiin: http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...efi-mode-after-adding-another-hard-drive.html

All is smooth since I changed that partition from logical to primary.

 

[gregrocker]

All Disk Mgmt and PW screenshots provided showed XP on a Primary partition.



So how did it become Logical, since you've now said that you resolved the problem by changing it from Logical to Primary?

Please don't overreact to my passionate advocacy for Clean Reinstalls for which I am for four years now awarded the highest award in tech. An HP factory preinstall is an abomination to someone like me, worse than an install eaten alive by viruses since that would prompt corrective action.

 

[login123]

Hi, Gregrocker.
You and I are on eggzacktly the same page about HP installs.

Imho, its even worse than you mentioned. HPs official drivers for this hardware don't even work with win xp. I know, I know, xp is old and tired (so am I ), but at the time HP decided to leave it out it still had more than a year of support left from Microsoft. And I like XP. Its fast as a scared cat on this hardware.

And other folks have suggested a clean install also, but I am mostly a noob about these things and am intimidated by the prospect. So please don't take offense that I didn't follow your advice ...yet.

So how did it become Logical, since you've now said that you resolved the problem by changing it from Logical to Primary

XP has always been on a primary partition. First it was on the only partition on the drive, about 1 tb in size. Dual boot worked. Then I created 3 logical partitions on that drive and the boot issue started. Then I reduced those 3 logical partitions to 1 and the issue continued. Then I set the 1 new partition as primary. Now the win xp HDD has 2 primary partitions as described above, and the boot issue is resolved.

The clue was in shiin's post number 10 linked above. It seems that the existence of a logical partition on the HDD confuses the win 7 boot loader, because when shiin changed it to primary, his boot issue stopped, and mine did too. I certainly don't know enough to explain why.

I came across some sites that explained it, but they might as well have been written in a Klingon. If I can find them I'll post them up here.

Edit: Can't find any links but the ones in shin's post, and they don't seem exactly on point.

 

[gregrocker]

No worries. We've heard about UEFI reacting badly to Logical partitions only rarely. This will raise it on our radar since it appears to be the cause but needs to be confirmed in other cases.

Theog over at Eight Forums deals with more UEFI complications so may know more. Ray?