How do I get back to XP??!?!?!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Noozer
  • Start date Start date
N

Noozer

I just installed Vista build 5384... Seems OK, but I'm not really impressed.

One item I just noticed is that I don't get any kind of boot manager when I
start my PC. I still have my XP partition but I can't see any way to boot
it.

How can I get the Vista boot menu to come up so I can get back to my old
system?!?
 
It should be available under Legacy boot manage. When you start your PC, the
boot manager will display an entry called "Earlier versions of Windows", use
your up arrow on your keyboard to select it, press Enter and it should
reveal Windows XP > press Enter and it will boot.

Did you install Vista on a separate partition? If you did, the procedure I
described should be available. If you chose to upgrade from XP, then, XP is
goner and you will have to reinstall it.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
 
Andre Da Costa said:
It should be available under Legacy boot manage. When you start your PC,
the boot manager will display an entry called "Earlier versions of
Windows", use your up arrow on your keyboard to select it, press Enter and
it should reveal Windows XP > press Enter and it will boot.
Click to expand...

Problem is, there is no boot manager. I start the PC, see the blank Vista
bootup screen, them I'm in Vista.
Did you install Vista on a separate partition? If you did, the procedure I
described should be available. If you chose to upgrade from XP, then, XP
is goner and you will have to reinstall it.
Click to expand...

I put Vista in it's own partition. My XP partition is still there (as drive
D:)
 
That depends on your hard disk and partition configuration. Can you post
more details on how your PC is configured? Physical disks, partitions, etc?

You should see a Boot Manager, so if you don't something didn't go as
expected.

Jeff Warren
 
Jeff Warren said:
That depends on your hard disk and partition configuration. Can you post
more details on how your PC is configured? Physical disks, partitions,
etc?

You should see a Boot Manager, so if you don't something didn't go as
expected.
Click to expand...

Single 160gig PATA hard drive in this PC. Partitions are as follows
(according to Disk Manager) :

- 61gig Windows XP (D:) in a logical partition, NTFS format
- 25gig Vista (C:) in a primary partition, NTFS format
- 25gig Unknown partition (Mac OSX)

My order of installation was:
- Windows XP
- Mac OSX
- Vista build 5365
- Vista build 5384, formatting the build 5365 partition from the installer.

I can still get to my XP drive from Vista, so I know that this partition
isn't damaged.
 
Andre Da Costa said:
Ooops, you should have put Vista on the logical partition, not the primary
partition, thats why it got knocked out. The bootfiles for XP was written
to the C: drive, those were wiped out when you installed Vista on C: drive
which is the (System, Active) partition.
Click to expand...

But, when I installed XP, I did NOT specify it as a logical partition. Never
had an issue with booting it. Not sure how it even became a logical
partition, as I created and formatted the partition with the XP installer.

And... Build 5365 gave me the boot menu without any issue. I ran
bootsect.exe on the Vista DVD from the recovery console to uninstall the
Vista boot loader when I decided to install 5384. I had no problem getting
into XP after doing so... Then I installed 5384.
 
Noozer spewed out this bit, and i'll scatter a few bits myself
But, when I installed XP, I did NOT specify it as a logical
partition. Never had an issue with booting it. Not sure how it even
became a logical partition, as I created and formatted the partition
with the XP installer.
And... Build 5365 gave me the boot menu without any issue. I ran
bootsect.exe on the Vista DVD from the recovery console to uninstall
the Vista boot loader when I decided to install 5384. I had no
problem getting into XP after doing so... Then I installed 5384.
Click to expand...

Boot from your XP cd, go to the recovery console and run 'fixmbr' and
'fixboot'. You should get XP back this way, but will/might loose Vista.

--
Mhzjunkie

1 PRINT "Windows XP ERROR"
GOTO 1
END
 
Mhzjunkie said:
Noozer spewed out this bit, and i'll scatter a few bits myself


Boot from your XP cd, go to the recovery console and run 'fixmbr' and
'fixboot'. You should get XP back this way, but will/might loose Vista.
Click to expand...

Ugh... That was fun.

Vista deleted the NTLDR, etc. files from the orignal C: drive. It probably
also converted the partition to a Logical one (but don't ask how or why). I
did run the "bootsect.exe" on the Vista DVD while inside the recovery
console. This should have restored the C: drive to it's previous state.

I ended up formatting the Vista partition. Then I ghosted the XP partition
to the now empty partition. Deleted the logical partition and created a
primary partition. Ghosted from the previous ghosted partition, back to the
new primary partition. Ran FIXMBR and FIXBOOT but still no NTLDR... Ended up
copying the files needed from another XP machine.

Computer is booting and seems OK. Did have problems with Explorer just
hanging after loading the desktop. Couldn't open icons or the Start menu.
CAD would let me get into Task Manager, from which I could get to the
Command Prompt. Couldn't browse here or it would just lock up as well.

Still can't figure out this error I'm seeing in the Event Manager as well...
Guess I'm going to the XP newsgroup now. : )

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7023
Date: 2006-05-29
Time: 7:38:16 AM
User: N/A
Computer: MYPC
Description:
The Computer Browser service terminated with the following error:
This operation returned because the timeout period expired.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
 
Hmm, you could have simply gone into the Startup options within Vista
(System Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery) and established the
timers for boot menu selection...

- naseru
 
Naseru said:
Hmm, you could have simply gone into the Startup options within Vista
(System Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery) and established the
timers for boot menu selection...
Click to expand...

Kinda hard to do once the Vista drive has been formatted.
 
....and I would just not use Vista at all.

:)

Tried it for a few hours and just not worth the hassle of "tweaking" a
usable interface. Couple that with the COMPLETE impossibility of booting any
OS non-Windows OS once you install Vista and we just won't jump through the
same hoops that IBM put us through with OS/2 2.0.
 
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