Ghosting my main drive, I now can't run W2K

[Tim Holland]

I have 2 fixed HD and 1 external. (HD1 has 2 partitions, HD2 has 3.)

I thought it might be advisable to back up my main drive, so I
installed a new copy of W2K on my 5th drive. I used Norton Ghost 2003
to mirror Drive C onto my external drive. Part of the process involved
a restart. The promised screen did appear, but with a fixed sand
timer.

I tried rebooting, both with and without the CD in the reader, but I
am now trapped in a cycle. Two options (continue with Norton or return
to Windows) go nowhere. The 3rd takes me to Dos, but I have no idea
what to do when I'm there.

Please help.

PS I do have an Emergency Repair Diskette but it's a few months old.

Thanks

Tim

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have 2 fixed HD and 1 external. (HD1 has 2 partitions, HD2 has 3.)

I thought it might be advisable to back up my main drive, so I
installed a new copy of W2K on my 5th drive. I used Norton Ghost 2003
to mirror Drive C onto my external drive. Part of the process involved
a restart. The promised screen did appear, but with a fixed sand
timer.

I tried rebooting, both with and without the CD in the reader, but I
am now trapped in a cycle. Two options (continue with Norton or return
to Windows) go nowhere. The 3rd takes me to Dos, but I have no idea
what to do when I'm there.

Please help.

PS I do have an Emergency Repair Diskette but it's a few months old.

Thanks

Tim

I knew there was a good reason for my reluctance to use Ghost . . .

Your first step should be to determine what you have on your
PC. Once you know this, you can take steps to fix it. I suggest
you boot it with a boot diskette that you can make like so:

- Format a floppy disk on some other Win2000/XP PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your Win2000 CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="3 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="4 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="5 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="6 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy and report the resolt.

 

[Tim Holland]

I have 2 fixed HD and 1 external. (HD1 has 2 partitions, HD2 has 3.)

I thought it might be advisable to back up my main drive, so I
installed a new copy of W2K on my 5th drive. I used Norton Ghost 2003
to mirror Drive C onto my external drive. Part of the process involved
a restart. The promised screen did appear, but with a fixed sand
timer.

I tried rebooting, both with and without the CD in the reader, but I
am now trapped in a cycle. Two options (continue with Norton or return
to Windows) go nowhere. The 3rd takes me to Dos, but I have no idea
what to do when I'm there.

Please help.

PS I do have an Emergency Repair Diskette but it's a few months old.

Tim

I knew there was a good reason for my reluctance to use Ghost . . .

Your first step should be to determine what you have on your
PC. Once you know this, you can take steps to fix it. I suggest
you boot it with a boot diskette that you can make like so:

- Format a floppy disk on some other Win2000/XP PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your Win2000 CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="3 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="4 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="5 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="6 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy and report the resolt.- Ocultar texto de la cita -

- Mostrar texto de la cita -

It loaded my main W2K installation. (Thank you so very much!)

What should I do now?

Tim

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have 2 fixed HD and 1 external. (HD1 has 2 partitions, HD2 has 3.)

I thought it might be advisable to back up my main drive, so I
installed a new copy of W2K on my 5th drive. I used Norton Ghost 2003
to mirror Drive C onto my external drive. Part of the process involved
a restart. The promised screen did appear, but with a fixed sand
timer.

I tried rebooting, both with and without the CD in the reader, but I
am now trapped in a cycle. Two options (continue with Norton or return
to Windows) go nowhere. The 3rd takes me to Dos, but I have no idea
what to do when I'm there.

Please help.

PS I do have an Emergency Repair Diskette but it's a few months old.

Tim

I knew there was a good reason for my reluctance to use Ghost . . .

Your first step should be to determine what you have on your
PC. Once you know this, you can take steps to fix it. I suggest
you boot it with a boot diskette that you can make like so:

- Format a floppy disk on some other Win2000/XP PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your Win2000 CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="3 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="4 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="5 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="6 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy and report the resolt.- Ocultar texto de la cita -

- Mostrar texto de la cita -

It loaded my main W2K installation. (Thank you so very much!)

What should I do now?

Tim

That's good news! It means that your Windows installation is intact
and that only the boot environment needs fixing. You should now
do this:
1. Edit a:\boot.ini and remove the 5 lines that are incorrect.
2. Unhide c:\boot.ini, then copy a:\boot.ini to c:\boot.ini.
3. Unhide c:\ntldr and c:\ntdetect.com, then copy these same
files from A:\ to C:\.
4. Run diskmgmt.msc and mark drive C: as an active partition.
5. Reboot the machine from drive C:.
6. If this does not work, boot the machine with your Win2000
CD, get into the Recovery Console and run these commands:
fixboot
fixmbr

 

[Tim Holland]

I have 2 fixed HD and 1 external. (HD1 has 2 partitions, HD2 has 3.)
I thought it might be advisable to back up my main drive, so I
installed a new copy of W2K on my 5th drive. I used Norton Ghost 2003
to mirror Drive C onto my external drive. Part of the process involved
a restart. The promised screen did appear, but with a fixed sand
timer.
I tried rebooting, both with and without the CD in the reader, but I
am now trapped in a cycle. Two options (continue with Norton or return
to Windows) go nowhere. The 3rd takes me to Dos, but I have no idea
what to do when I'm there.
Please help.
PS I do have an Emergency Repair Diskette but it's a few months old.
Thanks
Tim
I knew there was a good reason for my reluctance to use Ghost . . .
Your first step should be to determine what you have on your
PC. Once you know this, you can take steps to fix it. I suggest
you boot it with a boot diskette that you can make like so:
- Format a floppy disk on some other Win2000/XP PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your Win2000 CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="3 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="4 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="5 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="6 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy and report the resolt.- Ocultar

texto de la cita -

It loaded my main W2K installation. (Thank you so very much!)

What should I do now?

Tim

That's good news! It means that your Windows installation is intact
and that only the boot environment needs fixing. You should now
do this:
1. Edit a:\boot.ini and remove the 5 lines that are incorrect.
2. Unhide c:\boot.ini, then copy a:\boot.ini to c:\boot.ini.
3. Unhide c:\ntldr and c:\ntdetect.com, then copy these same
files from A:\ to C:\.
4. Run diskmgmt.msc and mark drive C: as an active partition.
5. Reboot the machine from drive C:.
6. If this does not work, boot the machine with your Win2000
CD, get into the Recovery Console and run these commands:
fixboot
fixmbr

Steps 1-5 worked. But I now have 2 problems.

Firstly, I can't access my 2nd W2K installation on drive G. (This was
the drive where I was running Ghost in order to put a mirror of C on
my external HD. The Recovery and Startup option gives just one line:
"1 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect.

When I boot up, two options appear but both lead to my main W2K
installation on Drive C.

The second problem is that whereas I used to have Drives C, D, E, F,
and G, I now also have
-VPSGHBOOT- (J 8MB
and 39.55 MB Unallocated

How can get things back to how they were?

Thanks again.

Tim

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

I have 2 fixed HD and 1 external. (HD1 has 2 partitions, HD2 has

3.)

I thought it might be advisable to back up my main drive, so I
installed a new copy of W2K on my 5th drive. I used Norton Ghost 2003
to mirror Drive C onto my external drive. Part of the process involved
a restart. The promised screen did appear, but with a fixed sand
timer.

I tried rebooting, both with and without the CD in the reader, but I
am now trapped in a cycle. Two options (continue with Norton or return
to Windows) go nowhere. The 3rd takes me to Dos, but I have no idea
what to do when I'm there.

Please help.

PS I do have an Emergency Repair Diskette but it's a few months

old.

Thanks

I knew there was a good reason for my reluctance to use Ghost . . .

Your first step should be to determine what you have on your
PC. Once you know this, you can take steps to fix it. I suggest
you boot it with a boot diskette that you can make like so:

- Format a floppy disk on some other Win2000/XP PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your Win2000 CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="3 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="4 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="5 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="6 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy and report the resolt.- Ocultar

texto de la cita -

- Mostrar texto de la cita -

It loaded my main W2K installation. (Thank you so very much!)

What should I do now?

Tim

That's good news! It means that your Windows installation is intact
and that only the boot environment needs fixing. You should now
do this:
1. Edit a:\boot.ini and remove the 5 lines that are incorrect.
2. Unhide c:\boot.ini, then copy a:\boot.ini to c:\boot.ini.
3. Unhide c:\ntldr and c:\ntdetect.com, then copy these same
files from A:\ to C:\.
4. Run diskmgmt.msc and mark drive C: as an active partition.
5. Reboot the machine from drive C:.
6. If this does not work, boot the machine with your Win2000
CD, get into the Recovery Console and run these commands:
fixboot
fixmbr

Steps 1-5 worked. But I now have 2 problems.

Firstly, I can't access my 2nd W2K installation on drive G. (This was
the drive where I was running Ghost in order to put a mirror of C on
my external HD. The Recovery and Startup option gives just one line:
"1 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect.

When I boot up, two options appear but both lead to my main W2K
installation on Drive C.

Put more lines into c:\boot.ini until you find one that
boots into your second Win2000 installation. Have
a look at my own version of boot.ini - it shows you
which parameters to vary.

The second problem is that whereas I used to have Drives C, D, E, F,
and G, I now also have
-VPSGHBOOT- (J 8MB
and 39.55 MB Unallocated

How can get things back to how they were?

This is a question you should really post in a Ghost newsgroup,
because Ghost is probably responsible for these partitions. On
the other hand you might decide to ignore them - they consume
very little space.

 

[Tim Holland]

See below.

I have 2 fixed HD and 1 external. (HD1 has 2 partitions, HD2 has

3.)

I thought it might be advisable to back up my main drive, so I
installed a new copy of W2K on my 5th drive. I used Norton Ghost 2003
to mirror Drive C onto my external drive. Part of the process involved
a restart. The promised screen did appear, but with a fixed sand
timer.
I tried rebooting, both with and without the CD in the reader, but I
am now trapped in a cycle. Two options (continue with Norton or return
to Windows) go nowhere. The 3rd takes me to Dos, but I have no idea
what to do when I'm there.
Please help.
PS I do have an Emergency Repair Diskette but it's a few months

old.

Thanks
Tim
I knew there was a good reason for my reluctance to use Ghost . . .
Your first step should be to determine what you have on your
PC. Once you know this, you can take steps to fix it. I suggest
you boot it with a boot diskette that you can make like so:
- Format a floppy disk on some other Win2000/XP PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your Win2000 CD to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="3 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="4 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="5 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="6 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy and report the resolt.- Ocultar
texto de la cita -
- Mostrar texto de la cita -
It loaded my main W2K installation. (Thank you so very much!)
What should I do now?
Tim
That's good news! It means that your Windows installation is intact
and that only the boot environment needs fixing. You should now
do this:
1. Edit a:\boot.ini and remove the 5 lines that are incorrect.
2. Unhide c:\boot.ini, then copy a:\boot.ini to c:\boot.ini.
3. Unhide c:\ntldr and c:\ntdetect.com, then copy these same
files from A:\ to C:\.
4. Run diskmgmt.msc and mark drive C: as an active partition.
5. Reboot the machine from drive C:.
6. If this does not work, boot the machine with your Win2000
CD, get into the Recovery Console and run these commands:
fixboot
fixmbr

Steps 1-5 worked. But I now have 2 problems.

Firstly, I can't access my 2nd W2K installation on drive G. (This was
the drive where I was running Ghost in order to put a mirror of C on
my external HD. The Recovery and Startup option gives just one line:
"1 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect.

When I boot up, two options appear but both lead to my main W2K
installation on Drive C.

Put more lines into c:\boot.ini until you find one that
boots into your second Win2000 installation. Have
a look at my own version of boot.ini - it shows you
which parameters to vary.

Yes, the 2nd installation is there too. However, I can only access
either installation by going into Startup & Recovery and making one or
other the default. When I actually reboot, altho I get a choice of two
each time, both are called Windows Default and both lead to whichever
installation has been designated the default. How can I get the choice
of installations when I boot up?

Tim

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Yes, the 2nd installation is there too. However, I can only access
either installation by going into Startup & Recovery and making one or
other the default. When I actually reboot, altho I get a choice of two
each time, both are called Windows Default and both lead to whichever
installation has been designated the default. How can I get the choice
of installations when I boot up?

Tim

Post the two versions of c:\boot.ini, each with its own "Default".

 

[Tim Holland]

Post the two versions of c:\boot.ini, each with its own "Default".

Version 1:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=15
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

Version 2:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=15
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Post the two versions of c:\boot.ini, each with its own "Default".

Version 1:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=15
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

Version 2:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=15
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

I have examined both versions of boot.ini in detail. They are both
correct and each will allow you to boot into either Windows
installation. If your experience is at variance with my comment
then I am unable to offer any further assistance.

 

[Tim Holland]

Version 1:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=15
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

Version 2:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=15
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="2 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="1 Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

I have examined both versions of boot.ini in detail. They are both
correct and each will allow you to boot into either Windows
installation. If your experience is at variance with my comment
then I am unable to offer any further assistance.

I replied to this yesterday but the message seems to have gone astray.

Thanks for everything you've done. Just to be sure I've made myself
clear, when I boot up, I get a choice of two operating systems:
Windows 2000 (default)
Windows 2000 (default)

It is the second which is highlighted. Whichever I choose, the OS
selected as the default in Startup & Recovery is the one which loads.

I should also mention the following.

When the password window appears, it now takes a bit longer to
respond. Also, I have had several error messages.

One was:

Cidaemon.exe - Application Error
The instruction at "0x77fcb1b1" referenced memory at "0x010a7618". The
memory could not be "written". Click on OK to terminate the program.

Another was the same but with 0x77fcb861 and 0x0035005x.

I am wondering whether my system is now unstable. By the way, I have
put out a message in a Norton ng about my Ghost-caused unwanted
partition problem but no one has replied relevantly.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Tim