Dual Boot Problem.

I have both Win98 and XP installed on my system.98 on C: and XP on E:.
I was doing some fidgeting with my partitions using partition magic and in doing so I created a new partition between C and D:. My actual D and E drives were renamed to E and F drive resectively. When I rebooted the system instead of showing me the option to chose the OS simply loaded the Win 98 on C: and did`nt showed me the option of Win XP which was now on drive F(previously E).

After sometime I deleted the additional drive that i created between C and D and my orignal D and E drives were restored(thier Drive Letter changed from E and F to D and E respectively). But even when the drive names were restored the dual boot option was nt diaplayed when the system started.

So now please guide me how to fix that problem so that the Win XP that is installed on my E drive can be picked up by my PC while booting.

I guess I`ve to edit the boot.ini file of 98 but I don`t know from where to open it and what code exactly is to be put there.

If Windows XP/2K/NT can not boot:
• Repair the Boot Sector, see below.

If the boot paths are incorrect: • Also read #2 Boot.ini below.
• Check has Master/Slave been switched if dual-booting two hard disks (see below).
• Copy ALL boot files to C:\, or current system partition, if not there. Windows likes
the PC system partition to be drive C:, so the drive letters may have changed.
• Advanced users: Check the boot paths in Boot.ini in relation to the Wins' installed.
rdisk(n) where 'n' is the disk number on that channel (counting from 0)
partition(p) where 'p' is partition number on that HD (count from 1; Primaries first)
Reboot. Test.

If XP/2K/NT will still not boot, or the dual-boot does not work:
• Execute Full Repair, below. If that fails, then
• Restart Setup. From Recovery, choose the option to recover a destroyed system or system disk.

XP/2K: To Repair a damaged Windows XP or 2000 Boot Sector:
1. Make the CD-ROM, or floppy drive, the first Boot Device in the BIOS/CMOS.
2. Boot from the XP/2K CD or the installation disks.
3. At the Welcome screen, press F10.
4. Select Repair.
5. Select Console.
6. Type in - and then press [Enter]
FIXBOOT
Answer Y. You sometimes must specify the PC system partition (read FIXBOOT).
7. Type in Exit to exit the Console/reboot. Rectify BIOS's first Boot Device. Test.


#2 BOOT.INI - ADD XP/2K/NT BOOT PATHS
Unsure of the correct syntax for a XP/2K/NT line in Boot.ini ?
All of the following lines can be added to the [operating systems] section of Boot.ini. Then keep rebooting until you select the option that works. You can now remove the unwanted new lines.
The first four lines refer to a first hard disk with up to four partitions [rdisk(0)partition(1-4)].
The last four lines refer to a second hard disk with up to four partitions [rdisk(1)partition(1-4)].
• First backup C:\Boot.ini.
• Then make timeout=30 in the [boot loader] section of Boot.ini.
• Now add all eight lines to the [operating systems] section of Boot.ini.
• Then change each WINNT to the name of the XP/2K/NT installation directory.
Place the lines after the existing similar line(s) in the [operating systems] section, but before the final line of C:\="Microsoft Windows 9x" if it exists. Save, reboot, test each option.

::: Copy the EIGHT lines below this line to under [operating systems] :::
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="XP 2K NT, hd1, partition 1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="XP 2K NT, hd1, partition 2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="XP 2K NT, hd1, partition 3"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="XP 2K NT, hd1, partition 4"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="XP 2K NT, hd2, partition 1"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT="XP 2K NT, hd2, partition 2"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="XP 2K NT, hd2, partition 3"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4)\WINNT="XP 2K NT, hd2, partition 4"
::: Copy the lines above this line ::: Be wary of word wrap if using long lines :::

Partitions are counted from 1. All Primaries are counted first. All the above lines are for IDE, EIDE, and ESDI drives. You must change every occurrence of multi to scsi for some SCSI drives. However, multi is still used if the system uses a SCSI adapter that does not have a built-in BIOS.


All of the above comes from the following resource:

http://tweakhomepc.virtualave.net/du...rdualboot.html

A second option repair install of XP may fix the prob too. :cool:

thnx a lot 4 ur reply but i already got my problem fixed. Actually i searched my system for the boot.ini file and i found 2 of them. One in my C: and I found my older one in the E:. I just moved it in C: and the whole thing worked.

However thnx for ur assistance.