MultiBoot issues: "STOP - INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" w/ W2K setup - please help - blown deadline -

[innovate2000]

Hello all -
I need to test software for several platforms. Logical choice is multiboot.
I know there is ample info on the multiboot process on the www, however I
cannot seem to figure out the issue I'm having. I've read littlewhitedog.com
& RedHat & several other site's docs as well as Q217210 & Q306559 to guide
me.

Computer: (DIY) PIII - 550 mHz - 256 MB RAM - (been working fine for 4 years
now). Recently replaced HDD with WD40 GB EIDE HDD. Clean, from scratch
setup - no legacy issues.
Partition 0: (drive C 400MB/FAT16 - installed MSDOS 6.22 (works fine!)
Partition 1: (drive D 1.6GB/FAT32 - installed Win98SE (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 2: (drive E 4GB/NTFS - installed WinNT4.0 SP6 (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 3 (drive G 5GB/NTFS - installed Win2KPro - but upon first boot
for the GUI portion of the setup - after the black & white progress bar -
and then the color W2K welcome screen and THAT progress bar reaches about
75% the Blue Screen Of Death appears with:
"STOP 0x0000007B" - the parenthesis have several combinations in the first
two arguments: arg1 has been 0x8142F930 & 0x8142F5D0 and several more
combinations I didn't write down - arg2: usually 0xC0000006 - (the last two
are always 0x0) - then "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" and the CHKDSK/F
stupidity. I've updated the bios to the latest available that I could find
on the Net and reinstalled 8 times.

I've tested the other OS's between W2K installations to ensure their
stability and they appear to be stable.
The only thing I could think of is that since the CDROM is drive F: (and
therefore the W2K partition is G: when the last logical drive (NT4) is E
perhaps something is getting lost in translation (no pun intended) between
the boot loader and the OS. I've discounted that as highly unlikely - but
could I be wrong?


I am up against a wall here as I pretty much let it be known that it was no
big deal (based upon reading Q217210 & Q306559 primarily and other sites).

I don't know what else to try.

Here is the Boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows"


Thanks to all who try to help.

ch

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hello all -
I need to test software for several platforms. Logical choice is multiboot.
I know there is ample info on the multiboot process on the www, however I
cannot seem to figure out the issue I'm having. I've read littlewhitedog.com
& RedHat & several other site's docs as well as Q217210 & Q306559 to guide
me.

Computer: (DIY) PIII - 550 mHz - 256 MB RAM - (been working fine for 4 years
now). Recently replaced HDD with WD40 GB EIDE HDD. Clean, from scratch
setup - no legacy issues.
Partition 0: (drive C 400MB/FAT16 - installed MSDOS 6.22 (works fine!)
Partition 1: (drive D 1.6GB/FAT32 - installed Win98SE (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 2: (drive E 4GB/NTFS - installed WinNT4.0 SP6 (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 3 (drive G 5GB/NTFS - installed Win2KPro - but upon first boot
for the GUI portion of the setup - after the black & white progress bar -
and then the color W2K welcome screen and THAT progress bar reaches about
75% the Blue Screen Of Death appears with:
"STOP 0x0000007B" - the parenthesis have several combinations in the first
two arguments: arg1 has been 0x8142F930 & 0x8142F5D0 and several more
combinations I didn't write down - arg2: usually 0xC0000006 - (the last two
are always 0x0) - then "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" and the CHKDSK/F
stupidity. I've updated the bios to the latest available that I could find
on the Net and reinstalled 8 times.

I've tested the other OS's between W2K installations to ensure their
stability and they appear to be stable.
The only thing I could think of is that since the CDROM is drive F: (and
therefore the W2K partition is G: when the last logical drive (NT4) is E
perhaps something is getting lost in translation (no pun intended) between
the boot loader and the OS. I've discounted that as highly unlikely - but
could I be wrong?


I am up against a wall here as I pretty much let it be known that it was no
big deal (based upon reading Q217210 & Q306559 primarily and other sites).

I don't know what else to try.

Here is the Boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows"


Thanks to all who try to help.

ch

I'm not comfortable at all with your approach of using
a multi-booting machine for testing software while all
partitions are visible. A far better setup would be to have
exactly one partition visible at any one time, with all the
other ones hidden away and inaccessible. This would
eliminate any interference between the OSs and the apps
you're trying to test. One such interference is the boot
process: You never say in which order you loaded the
OSs, yet this is critical when running WinNT and Win2000
on the same machine.

My preference would be to use something like XOSL (free).
Unfortunately it won't do you much good for the current
exercise, because you would have to reload every OS.
Your existing OSs would appear under the wrong drive
letter if you started hiding partitions.

"Inaccessible boot device" errors are usually caused by
changed hardware. Did you perhaps install Win2000 on one
hard disk, then port it across to the new disk with an imaging
program?

If this was my machine then I would probably do this:

1. Remove the existing disk.
2. Install the old disk.
3. Create a 15 MByte primary FAT partition on that disk.
4. Install XOSL in that partition (dedicated installation).
5. Install Win2000 in the remaining partition.
6. Re-activate XOSL (it was probably de-activated in Step 5).
7. Add Win2000 to the XOSL boot menu, and test it.
8. Install the new disk as a slave disk.
9. Add the primary partition of the slave disk to the XOSL
boot menu. Make sure to hide the Win2000 installation
on the master disk!
10. Hide all partitions on the slave disk from the Win2000
installation.

This approach has the advantage that you can do a clean
Win2000 installation, without risking your existing OSs.

Having a copy of a DriveImage emergency recovery disk
would be a great advantage: It would allow you save &
restore partition images at will.

Post again if you need more details.

 

[innovate2000]

Thanks, but actually I DID say the order of the OS's (read the partition
info AND the boot.ini). Additionally, the q article Q217210 instructs on the
order and supposed ease of creating a multiboot system. I however, DO
appreciate your suggestion. I am currently doing research on XOSL to
determine the risk of complicating this excercise further. From what I can
tell so far, it doesn't seem likely to complicate things further, but I need
to be sure. One advantage that I can see so far, is that I might even be
able to install differing configurations of the SAME OS - could you tell me
if this is true? If so - that could be an unexpected benefit of this problem
and your helping me. I appreciate that.
Thanks,

ch

Hello all -
I need to test software for several platforms. Logical choice is multiboot.
I know there is ample info on the multiboot process on the www, however I
cannot seem to figure out the issue I'm having. I've read littlewhitedog.com
& RedHat & several other site's docs as well as Q217210 & Q306559 to guide
me.

Computer: (DIY) PIII - 550 mHz - 256 MB RAM - (been working fine for 4 years
now). Recently replaced HDD with WD40 GB EIDE HDD. Clean, from scratch
setup - no legacy issues.
Partition 0: (drive C 400MB/FAT16 - installed MSDOS 6.22 (works fine!)
Partition 1: (drive D 1.6GB/FAT32 - installed Win98SE (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 2: (drive E 4GB/NTFS - installed WinNT4.0 SP6 (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 3 (drive G 5GB/NTFS - installed Win2KPro - but upon first boot
for the GUI portion of the setup - after the black & white progress bar -
and then the color W2K welcome screen and THAT progress bar reaches abou t
75% the Blue Screen Of Death appears with:
"STOP 0x0000007B" - the parenthesis have several combinations in the first
two arguments: arg1 has been 0x8142F930 & 0x8142F5D0 and several more
combinations I didn't write down - arg2: usually 0xC0000006 - (the last two
are always 0x0) - then "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" and the CHKDSK/F
stupidity. I've updated the bios to the latest available that I could find
on the Net and reinstalled 8 times.

I've tested the other OS's between W2K installations to ensure their
stability and they appear to be stable.
The only thing I could think of is that since the CDROM is drive F: (and
therefore the W2K partition is G: when the last logical drive (NT4) is E
perhaps something is getting lost in translation (no pun intended) between
the boot loader and the OS. I've discounted that as highly unlikely - but
could I be wrong?


I am up against a wall here as I pretty much let it be known that it was no
big deal (based upon reading Q217210 & Q306559 primarily and other sites).

I don't know what else to try.

Here is the Boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows"


Thanks to all who try to help.

ch

I'm not comfortable at all with your approach of using
a multi-booting machine for testing software while all
partitions are visible. A far better setup would be to have
exactly one partition visible at any one time, with all the
other ones hidden away and inaccessible. This would
eliminate any interference between the OSs and the apps
you're trying to test. One such interference is the boot
process: You never say in which order you loaded the
OSs, yet this is critical when running WinNT and Win2000
on the same machine.

My preference would be to use something like XOSL (free).
Unfortunately it won't do you much good for the current
exercise, because you would have to reload every OS.
Your existing OSs would appear under the wrong drive
letter if you started hiding partitions.

"Inaccessible boot device" errors are usually caused by
changed hardware. Did you perhaps install Win2000 on one
hard disk, then port it across to the new disk with an imaging
program?

If this was my machine then I would probably do this:

1. Remove the existing disk.
2. Install the old disk.
3. Create a 15 MByte primary FAT partition on that disk.
4. Install XOSL in that partition (dedicated installation).
5. Install Win2000 in the remaining partition.
6. Re-activate XOSL (it was probably de-activated in Step 5).
7. Add Win2000 to the XOSL boot menu, and test it.
8. Install the new disk as a slave disk.
9. Add the primary partition of the slave disk to the XOSL
boot menu. Make sure to hide the Win2000 installation
on the master disk!
10. Hide all partitions on the slave disk from the Win2000
installation.

This approach has the advantage that you can do a clean
Win2000 installation, without risking your existing OSs.

Having a copy of a DriveImage emergency recovery disk
would be a great advantage: It would allow you save &
restore partition images at will.

Post again if you need more details.

 

[innovate2000]

I cannot seems to find the XOSL application referred to here - the site
"onlythebestfreeware" had screenshots that seemed encouraging, but the files
and site are not available. What would be your suggestion? Do you know of a
site that has the software of which you speak?

Thanks again,

ch

Hello all -
I need to test software for several platforms. Logical choice is multiboot.
I know there is ample info on the multiboot process on the www, however I
cannot seem to figure out the issue I'm having. I've read littlewhitedog.com
& RedHat & several other site's docs as well as Q217210 & Q306559 to guide
me.

Computer: (DIY) PIII - 550 mHz - 256 MB RAM - (been working fine for 4 years
now). Recently replaced HDD with WD40 GB EIDE HDD. Clean, from scratch
setup - no legacy issues.
Partition 0: (drive C 400MB/FAT16 - installed MSDOS 6.22 (works fine!)
Partition 1: (drive D 1.6GB/FAT32 - installed Win98SE (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 2: (drive E 4GB/NTFS - installed WinNT4.0 SP6 (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 3 (drive G 5GB/NTFS - installed Win2KPro - but upon first boot
for the GUI portion of the setup - after the black & white progress bar -
and then the color W2K welcome screen and THAT progress bar reaches about
75% the Blue Screen Of Death appears with:
"STOP 0x0000007B" - the parenthesis have several combinations in the first
two arguments: arg1 has been 0x8142F930 & 0x8142F5D0 and several more
combinations I didn't write down - arg2: usually 0xC0000006 - (the last two
are always 0x0) - then "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" and the CHKDSK/F
stupidity. I've updated the bios to the latest available that I could find
on the Net and reinstalled 8 times.

I've tested the other OS's between W2K installations to ensure their
stability and they appear to be stable.
The only thing I could think of is that since the CDROM is drive F: (and
therefore the W2K partition is G: when the last logical drive (NT4) is E
perhaps something is getting lost in translation (no pun intended) between
the boot loader and the OS. I've discounted that as highly unlikely - but
could I be wrong?


I am up against a wall here as I pretty much let it be known that it was no
big deal (based upon reading Q217210 & Q306559 primarily and other sites).

I don't know what else to try.

Here is the Boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows"


Thanks to all who try to help.

ch

I'm not comfortable at all with your approach of using
a multi-booting machine for testing software while all
partitions are visible. A far better setup would be to have
exactly one partition visible at any one time, with all the
other ones hidden away and inaccessible. This would
eliminate any interference between the OSs and the apps
you're trying to test. One such interference is the boot
process: You never say in which order you loaded the
OSs, yet this is critical when running WinNT and Win2000
on the same machine.

My preference would be to use something like XOSL (free).
Unfortunately it won't do you much good for the current
exercise, because you would have to reload every OS.
Your existing OSs would appear under the wrong drive
letter if you started hiding partitions.

"Inaccessible boot device" errors are usually caused by
changed hardware. Did you perhaps install Win2000 on one
hard disk, then port it across to the new disk with an imaging
program?

If this was my machine then I would probably do this:

1. Remove the existing disk.
2. Install the old disk.
3. Create a 15 MByte primary FAT partition on that disk.
4. Install XOSL in that partition (dedicated installation).
5. Install Win2000 in the remaining partition.
6. Re-activate XOSL (it was probably de-activated in Step 5).
7. Add Win2000 to the XOSL boot menu, and test it.
8. Install the new disk as a slave disk.
9. Add the primary partition of the slave disk to the XOSL
boot menu. Make sure to hide the Win2000 installation
on the master disk!
10. Hide all partitions on the slave disk from the Win2000
installation.

This approach has the advantage that you can do a clean
Win2000 installation, without risking your existing OSs.

Having a copy of a DriveImage emergency recovery disk
would be a great advantage: It would allow you save &
restore partition images at will.

Post again if you need more details.

 

[innovate2000]

I'm sorry to have forgotten to reiterate this - but the drive (only one
drive) is a 40gb clean install (brand new drive). The hardware configuration
was set before MSDOS 6.22 was installed and was not changed. Again, I
installed the OS's in the fashion prescribed by MS Q217210.

The frustrating part is the BSOD error that occurs AFTER the COLOR Win2K
screen comes up which I am guessing comes from the hard drive that contains
the boot device that it cannot access. Strange. Still - I like the XOSL idea
and am willing to start from scratch - my credibility is almost all gone and
I need to make progress here. Is there a XOSL that you'd suggest (as I
cannot seem to find the original any more and am open to better versions but
do not have the time to test them all)?

Thanks again -

Hello all -
I need to test software for several platforms. Logical choice is multiboot.
I know there is ample info on the multiboot process on the www, however I
cannot seem to figure out the issue I'm having. I've read littlewhitedog.com
& RedHat & several other site's docs as well as Q217210 & Q306559 to guide
me.

Computer: (DIY) PIII - 550 mHz - 256 MB RAM - (been working fine for 4 years
now). Recently replaced HDD with WD40 GB EIDE HDD. Clean, from scratch
setup - no legacy issues.
Partition 0: (drive C 400MB/FAT16 - installed MSDOS 6.22 (works fine!)
Partition 1: (drive D 1.6GB/FAT32 - installed Win98SE (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 2: (drive E 4GB/NTFS - installed WinNT4.0 SP6 (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 3 (drive G 5GB/NTFS - installed Win2KPro - but upon first boot
for the GUI portion of the setup - after the black & white progress bar -
and then the color W2K welcome screen and THAT progress bar reaches about
75% the Blue Screen Of Death appears with:
"STOP 0x0000007B" - the parenthesis have several combinations in the first
two arguments: arg1 has been 0x8142F930 & 0x8142F5D0 and several more
combinations I didn't write down - arg2: usually 0xC0000006 - (the last two
are always 0x0) - then "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" and the CHKDSK/F
stupidity. I've updated the bios to the latest available that I could find
on the Net and reinstalled 8 times.

I've tested the other OS's between W2K installations to ensure their
stability and they appear to be stable.
The only thing I could think of is that since the CDROM is drive F: (and
therefore the W2K partition is G: when the last logical drive (NT4) is E
perhaps something is getting lost in translation (no pun intended) between
the boot loader and the OS. I've discounted that as highly unlikely - but
could I be wrong?


I am up against a wall here as I pretty much let it be known that it was no
big deal (based upon reading Q217210 & Q306559 primarily and other sites).

I don't know what else to try.

Here is the Boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows"


Thanks to all who try to help.

ch

I'm not comfortable at all with your approach of using
a multi-booting machine for testing software while all
partitions are visible. A far better setup would be to have
exactly one partition visible at any one time, with all the
other ones hidden away and inaccessible. This would
eliminate any interference between the OSs and the apps
you're trying to test. One such interference is the boot
process: You never say in which order you loaded the
OSs, yet this is critical when running WinNT and Win2000
on the same machine.

My preference would be to use something like XOSL (free).
Unfortunately it won't do you much good for the current
exercise, because you would have to reload every OS.
Your existing OSs would appear under the wrong drive
letter if you started hiding partitions.

"Inaccessible boot device" errors are usually caused by
changed hardware. Did you perhaps install Win2000 on one
hard disk, then port it across to the new disk with an imaging
program?

If this was my machine then I would probably do this:

1. Remove the existing disk.
2. Install the old disk.
3. Create a 15 MByte primary FAT partition on that disk.
4. Install XOSL in that partition (dedicated installation).
5. Install Win2000 in the remaining partition.
6. Re-activate XOSL (it was probably de-activated in Step 5).
7. Add Win2000 to the XOSL boot menu, and test it.
8. Install the new disk as a slave disk.
9. Add the primary partition of the slave disk to the XOSL
boot menu. Make sure to hide the Win2000 installation
on the master disk!
10. Hide all partitions on the slave disk from the Win2000
installation.

This approach has the advantage that you can do a clean
Win2000 installation, without risking your existing OSs.

Having a copy of a DriveImage emergency recovery disk
would be a great advantage: It would allow you save &
restore partition images at will.

Post again if you need more details.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, ch.

Ignoring everything else, your

Partition 3 (drive G 5GB/NTFS - installed Win2KPro - but upon first boot
for the GUI portion of the setup - after the black & white progress bar -
and then the color W2K welcome screen and THAT progress bar reaches about
75% the Blue Screen Of Death appears with:
"STOP 0x0000007B"

is the classic example of what happens when you do not press F6 when invited
during the early part of Win2K Setup to install drivers for SCSI or other
mass storage devices. That is reinforced by:

Recently replaced HDD with WD40 GB EIDE HDD. Clean, from scratch
setup - no legacy issues.

Classic again. Those 40 GB HDs were not on the market in February 2000 when
the Win2K CD-ROM was produced, so drivers for them are not on the CD. You
have to get the drivers onto a floppy and use the F6 procedure to install
them. This is not necessary to use that 40 GB HD as a secondary drive, but
if you plan to boot from it, then Win2K Setup must be allowed to customize
your copy of Win2K for that environment.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP

Hello all -
I need to test software for several platforms. Logical choice is multiboot.
I know there is ample info on the multiboot process on the www, however I
cannot seem to figure out the issue I'm having. I've read littlewhitedog.com
& RedHat & several other site's docs as well as Q217210 & Q306559 to guide
me.

Computer: (DIY) PIII - 550 mHz - 256 MB RAM - (been working fine for 4 years
now). Recently replaced HDD with WD40 GB EIDE HDD. Clean, from scratch
setup - no legacy issues.
Partition 0: (drive C 400MB/FAT16 - installed MSDOS 6.22 (works fine!)
Partition 1: (drive D 1.6GB/FAT32 - installed Win98SE (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 2: (drive E 4GB/NTFS - installed WinNT4.0 SP6 (installed all
Windows patches & updates - works fine!)
Partition 3 (drive G 5GB/NTFS - installed Win2KPro - but upon first boot
for the GUI portion of the setup - after the black & white progress bar -
and then the color W2K welcome screen and THAT progress bar reaches about
75% the Blue Screen Of Death appears with:
"STOP 0x0000007B" - the parenthesis have several combinations in the first
two arguments: arg1 has been 0x8142F930 & 0x8142F5D0 and several more
combinations I didn't write down - arg2: usually 0xC0000006 - (the last two
are always 0x0) - then "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" and the CHKDSK/F
stupidity. I've updated the bios to the latest available that I could find
on the Net and reinstalled 8 times.

I've tested the other OS's between W2K installations to ensure their
stability and they appear to be stable.
The only thing I could think of is that since the CDROM is drive F: (and
therefore the W2K partition is G: when the last logical drive (NT4) is E
perhaps something is getting lost in translation (no pun intended) between
the boot loader and the OS. I've discounted that as highly unlikely - but
could I be wrong?


I am up against a wall here as I pretty much let it be known that it was no
big deal (based upon reading Q217210 & Q306559 primarily and other sites).

I don't know what else to try.

Here is the Boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Windows NT Workstation Version
4.00 [VGA mode]" /basevideo /sos
C:\="Microsoft Windows"


Thanks to all who try to help.

ch

 

[I'm Dan]

Thanks, but actually I DID say the order of the OS's (read the
partition info AND the boot.ini). Additionally, the q article
Q217210 instructs on the order and supposed ease of creating
a multiboot system. I however, DO appreciate your suggestion.
I am currently doing research on XOSL to determine the risk
of complicating this excercise further. From what I can tell so
far, it doesn't seem likely to complicate things further, but I need
to be sure. One advantage that I can see so far, is that I might
even be able to install differing configurations of the SAME OS
- could you tell me if this is true? If so - that could be an
unexpected benefit of this problem and your helping me. I
appreciate that.

Just listing your OS's doesn't tell us in what chronological order the
OS's were installed. As Pegasus said, the order is critical *when using
the MS boot loader*. However, the issue is kind of moot here because,
as Pegasus also hinted, you shouldn't even be trying to use MS's lame
multiboot method here, you should be using a real boot manager like XOSL
(or BootIt NG, or System Commander, or GAG, or ... anything else other
than MS's method). Disregard all MS KB articles on multibooting, as
none apply to third-party boot managers and all assume you will use only
the MS method (which will not work for your needs).

You will *not* be able to merely switch to XOSL (or any of the other
third-party boot managers) at this point, you will have to reinstall. I
didn't repeat your boot.ini file here, but it (as well as your reference
to partitions by drive letters) suggests you installed several of your
OS's the MS way, which means that if you want to redo it right and use a
third-party boot manager, you'll have to wipe and reinstall your OS's.
If you want to understand the "why" of all this, I've got plenty of
details (and links to other info elsewhere) on my webpage at
www.goodells.net/multiboot.

FTR, I'm not sure whether I'm misreading or whether Pegasus misread, but
it sounds like he believes you want to multiboot using two HDDs, while
it seems to me you are using only one HDD.

BTW, the XOSL site (www.xosl.org) is not working, but all files are
available at the XOSL newsgroup -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xosl/).

 

[I'm Dan]

Thanks, but actually I DID say the order of the OS's (read the
partition info AND the boot.ini). Additionally, the q article
Q217210 instructs on the order and supposed ease of creating
a multiboot system. I however, DO appreciate your suggestion.
I am currently doing research on XOSL to determine the risk
of complicating this excercise further. From what I can tell so
far, it doesn't seem likely to complicate things further, but I need
to be sure. One advantage that I can see so far, is that I might
even be able to install differing configurations of the SAME OS
- could you tell me if this is true? If so - that could be an
unexpected benefit of this problem and your helping me. I
appreciate that.

Just listing your OS's doesn't tell us in what chronological order the
OS's were installed. As Pegasus said, the order is critical *when using
the MS boot loader*. However, the issue is kind of moot here because,
as Pegasus also hinted, you shouldn't even be trying to use MS's lame
multiboot method here, you should be using a real boot manager like XOSL
(or BootIt NG, or System Commander, or GAG, or ... anything else other
than MS's method). Disregard all MS KB articles on multibooting, as
none apply to third-party boot managers and all assume you will use only
the MS method (which will not work for your needs).

You will *not* be able to merely switch to XOSL (or any of the other
third-party boot managers) at this point, you will have to reinstall. I
didn't repeat your boot.ini file here, but it (as well as your reference
to partitions by drive letters) suggests you installed several of your
OS's the MS way, which means that if you want to redo it right and use a
third-party boot manager, you'll have to wipe and reinstall your OS's.
If you want to understand the "why" of all this, I've got plenty of
details (and links to other info elsewhere) on my webpage at
www.goodells.net/multiboot.

FTR, I'm not sure whether I'm misreading or whether Pegasus misread, but
it sounds like he believes you want to multiboot using two HDDs, while
it seems to me you are using only one HDD.

BTW, the XOSL site (www.xosl.org) is not working, but all files are
available at the XOSL newsgroup -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xosl/).