Is it possible to change default OS at boot?

[Poolemahu]

Hi All,

I'm not sure if Im in deep trouble or if this is something trivial. Please help me out.

I had once tried to install windows xp SP3 (long back) and it had failed.. The result was that I got 2 options (healthy xp and not working SP3) Everytime during boot. I continued working choosing the healthy one. The default always was the corrupt sp3 and if I was not alert to change it it would try to install Sp3.. Say something got corrupted and restart again during which time I would select the healthy Xp.

Sometime back I got Windows 7 and installed the same. Rather than clean up and format my drive I went for an install that didn't delete my other drives. It took a back up of xp and installed win 7. My C drive had 9Gb of space and I continued working. At boot up I now had 3 options.

annoyed at constantly being asked 3 choices at start up I found my way to uncheck the 'time' box in the advanced setting in windows 7. I thought this meant that win 7 would load automatically without asking for other choices.

Now when I start my system it doesn't ask any choices but goes straight to install from the the corrupt SP3 version, fails and prompts for a restart.. At restart the same thing happens again... I am now stuck and can't seem to either boot up windows 7 or get that list of OS to choose at boot..

Are there any options in bios through which I can increase the time so that it displays that list again or can I change default OS to boot there?

I am not sure of installing win7 again as I believe I don't have enough space on C drive and even if I take the pain of doing all the installation will it still go to the corrupt SP3 because no where during installation do I change the time to list the OS on the machine. Plus I don want to lose my data as there is years of work. I do have a back up on an external drive but it is with a friend who has borrowed it for Atleast a month.

In case you ask me to install win 7 again can I just do it in such a way that only the C drive is formatted? But I need to be sure that corrupt sp3 is not there to cause problem at boot.

Please help me I'm in deep trouble. I don't have any other machine to work on and I type this on phone..

If you need any further info please let me know..

Thanks.

 

[Comicsnut]

If you type "msconfig" in the start menu and then choose the "Boot" tab, are there different operating systems listed?

 

[Comicsnut]

Also, download the free version of Macrium and create a Rescue CD as shown on that page.

Boot to that disc and when Macrium loads the environment, choose the option on the left side of the dialog box for repairing Windows boot issues. This will fix your MBR (Master Boot Record).

If, when the environment is loading, you are prompted about loading drivers just press no or cancel, you don't need to inject any drivers.

 

[Poolemahu]

Hi Comicsnut,

Thanks for replying.
The problem is that I don't get a proper boot to happen.
When I power ON my machine it doesn't show any list of OS and tries to install the XP SP3 which doesn't and hence the machine goes into a loop of restart and failed attempts of installing SP3..
I can't get to access windows at all... And since its the only machine I have, I am unable to download software.

Any other solution?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Is the data on your hard drive on its own partition? Or is it on a partition shared by an operating system?

If the personal data that you care about was known to be secure and saved (backed up), would you bite the bullet and install Windows 7 only and get rid of XP entirely?

Do you have an ordinary valid Windows 7 installation disc?

Unless your hard drive is actually damaged, I'd think you should be able to gain access to your data--possibly by using Linux if nothing else. Wait for more comments and don't do anything rash.

 

[Poolemahu]

Thanks for your kind response.

My data is backed up. I always use the c drive for OS and the other drives I use for data. However the XP I guess is on a different partition.

My last option is that to format the whole set up. I do have the windows 7 CD with me.
But I'm hesitant to do that because I saw the whole set up working smoothly with win 7. And I didn't have to reinstall any software or drivers.
If I do a format I need to do all the work of installing.

I was wondering if there was an easier way to resolve because I know the system has a proper functioning OS inside.
All the solution for viewing the list of OS is what one can do after the OS has booted up. My problem is before that.

I only have the BIOS setting which I can work on..

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Does this PC have only 1 internal hard drive, with several partitions? Or does it have more than 1 internal hard drive?

What options do you see if you go into the BIOS and look at the boot choices and order?

You may be able to fix this just by running Windows 7 repair from the installation disc, but I'm not well enough acquainted with it to advise you.

 

[Poolemahu]

Hi.
It has one internal hard disk with multiple partitions. I really don't know where I can see a list of OS in bios setting.
All I have there
1. Main menu - shows stuff like processor and clock and system language.
2. Advanced menu - shows boot configuration, peripheral config, drive config, event log, video config, hardware monitoring, chipset config, USB config.
3. Security menu
4. Power menu
5. Boot menu - boot menu type, boot device priority, hard drive order, dvr rom order and other options to boot -enable or disable
6. Exit

Where do I see the list? Or any place here where I can change the display time for OS choice at boot up?

Thank for your help.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

You might want to fill out your system specs at the lower left of your posts. It shows little detail about your PC.

You aren't likely to see a list of OS in the BIOS.

You could look at and change the boot order, but that may well not help. Normally, if a PC can't boot from the first item on the list, it will automatically go to the next and the next and the next until it does boot. So your PC should have walked down the list and failed on every choice.

If you look at the boot configuration choice you mentioned under Advanced, you might see a time related choice that could help you.

Are you comfortable working in the BIOS?

Are your BIOS settings now at default, or have you made changes previously? You should see a choice to reset to defaults, but that won't help you if you are already at defaults.

 

[Poolemahu]

Thanks for your patience and support. I will fill up the details on system.

I do know the win 7 OS works.. This is because I have been using it for sometime now and Everytime at boot up if I did not choose the win 7 it would go to install xp sp3 and fail and again reboot. If I simply sit and watched it again, it would try to install sp3 again and fail.

My bios setting are at default I didn't change anything because I am not sure how it would affect my system.
In the advanced menu all I see is numlock( on or off), CPU fan control, system fan control, lowest fan speed, max cpuid value limit, display setup prompt.

Anything in here that would help me show that list of OS' on my machine?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I don't see anything you list that might be relevant.

There are several BIOS makers, so it's hard to say what your choices are. You'd have to do your own inspection, which is OK as long as you can do the basic navigation and know how to restore to defaults, save, and exit if you should make a bad choice.

Really, I think this is an easy fix. But I do not run multiple OS and do not use boot menus and do not know the finer points of Windows Repair function. I'd be quite surprised if you were beyond repair, but I don't have the necessary knowledge.

I do know that having multiple operating systems on one disk is a recipe for trouble, as you are finding out. You can select which DRIVE to boot from in the BIOS, but you cannot select which OS per se or which partition.

Wait for more help.

 

[DavidE]

I don't know if bootable Partition Wizard can make the changes you need.
You could try it, or maybe someone here knows.
Partition Wizard Bootable CD allows user to manage partition directly with partition manager bootable CD.

NeoSmart (EasyBCD) has a bootable EasyRE utility that may work.

EasyBCD can't fix a PC that won't boot.

Download EasyRE, our bootable repair & recovery CD.

• Fix all boot errors
• Resolve startup BSODs
• Restore registry and settings
• Clean up virus infections
• and more advanced features

Source: https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

[ignatzatsonic]

David:

Definitely good ideas, but this is his only PC and he can't download anything. Can't boot.

Only obvious tool is the Windows 7 install disc.

 

[DavidE]

Yea, he would need to download on another PC

 

[DavidE]

If he has a bootable Windows DVD, can that be booted to a Command prompt ?
I'm sure there is a manual BCD command that can be entered to change the default startup OS.

 

[gregrocker]

Put the WIn7 disk in the drive, reboot and tap the Boot Menu key, choose DVD drive to boot. Press Any Key when prompted.

After files load, at first screen press Shift + F10 or access http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/668-system-recovery-options.html to open a Command Line, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK

Post back the list, then for each disk type:

SELECT DISK # (replace the # with the number of each disk)
LIST Partition

Post back the partition list for each disk, then working from the list type:

Select Partition # (replace # with each partition number)
Detail Partition

Post back the output for each partition on each disk. From this we can determine where both Win7 and XP are installed, which is booting the system, how to repair Win7 so it starts and then how to add XP to a Dual Boot menu if you still want it.

 

[Poolemahu]

Ok. I am trying out your suggestions. I will reply in few minutes.

 

[Poolemahu]

Hi,
I get some options when I try to boot from CD. I am attaching the same.
Not sure how this would work since I use a phone for responding.

 

[Poolemahu]

Attaching few more as requested.

 

[Poolemahu]

Another snap- partition info