Unable to Boot XP Pro from C:

[degustibus]

I have my Dell desktops set up with several partitions, 1=fat32, the rest = NTFS. I have always been able to Install my XP Pro to one of the NTFS partitions, leaving C=fat32 for some older programs that need fat32. Thinking I could do the same with one of my Dell notebooks, I repartitioned my Inspiron 1000 into c=fat32 and D & E = NTFS. I was unable to complete an install of XP Pro no matter how I tried-- the installation files got copied to D: as I wanted, buty on the reboot I got an error, "disk error, press any key to reboot" -- in short unable to boot from C to complete installation. When I examined the drive in a Live CD rescue I can see the installation files on D & I can see boot.ini and other files on C. Using Hirens I was able to install MS Dos on C and boot to Dos. But any attempt to complete installation of XP failed -- until I tried a utility CD called Boot XP -- gave me a menu :: I could select D partition to boot XP, and now I'm running XP Pro fine -- but still have to use boot XP as my boot disk. I upgraded the Bios, have all the 1000 drivers I need to run it without problems, but for some reason the 1000 will not recognize C as a boot drive (I also tried to install a couple of linux distros, and had the same problem). There's nothing wrong with the drive, and XP pro runs perfectly--I'm using it now.I keep thinking that this might be a bios problem, that the bios is looking for some hidden Dell partition or file, but I've searched and can't find any reference to this kind of a problem --also updated to most recent Bios download. Perhaps it just will not boot to fat32....but all my other Dell desktops boot to fat32.... I thought perhaps SP3 might be an obstacle, but I recently installed XP Pro sp3 to a Lenovo R61e notebook using a similar partitioning scheme, boots to a fat32 partition without any problems.Mystified

[Peachy]

I'm thinking that during the installation the active partition flag got clobbered. Since C: is FAT you might try booting from a DOS diskette or USB key that has the correct version of fdisk.exe and have it set the C: partion as active. Alternatively you can use any partitioning utility to do the same.

[goretsky]

Hello,The separate FAT32 volume is for running MS-DOS applications, correct?Have you considered using one (or more) NTFS partitions, and running the MS-DOS-based applications insde a virtual machine such as Bochs, VirtualBox, VirtualPC, VMware and so forth? That might be an easier and a more portable solution than trying to run configure the newer hardware to properly run MS-DOS.Regards,Aryeh Goretsky

[Ed_P]

in short unable to boot from C to complete installation.

If you're installing to D: is D: set to be the Active partition?I have some old apps that require FAT32 partitions also, basically because the apps don't have an NTFS support, and at this point I have my partitions scattered amoung my NFTS partitions. FAT doesn't have to be on C:.

[degustibus]

Hello,The separate FAT32 volume is for running MS-DOS applications, correct?Have you considered using one (or more) NTFS partitions, and running the MS-DOS-based applications insde a virtual machine such as Bochs, VirtualBox, VirtualPC, VMware and so forth? That might be an easier and a more portable solution than trying to run configure the newer hardware to properly run MS-DOS.Regards,Aryeh Goretsky

I've done that on computers running Vista with more RAM. The Vostro 1000 doesn't have enough ram to make that feasible. Besides, I'm annoyed that this seems to be the only computer I have NOT been able to configure that way -- & I've done Shuttles and other Dell desktops.

[degustibus]

I'm thinking that during the installation the active partition flag got clobbered. Since C: is FAT you might try booting from a DOS diskette or USB key that has the correct version of fdisk.exe and have it set the C: partion as active. Alternatively you can use any partitioning utility to do the same.

Thanks. I've been through this process several times. C is set as active boot partition. I did install Dos to check this out and was able to boot from dos on C: Even so, was not able to complete installation of XP. In order to complete installation of XP I had to use a CD called Boot XP, which locates the XP files on D and runs them. It also allows me to run XP, after installation, the only hitch being, I have to boot from the CD first.Which makes me think that I might try to install Win98 or Win2K.......but dang I've got XP running so well now...except for the boot.

[degustibus]

If you're installing to D: is D: set to be the Active partition?I have some old apps that require FAT32 partitions also, basically because the apps don't have an NTFS support, and at this point I have my partitions scattered amoung my NFTS partitions. FAT doesn't have to be on C:.

D: is not set to be Active. C is the boot partition, but won't boot from C: True, Fat doesn't need to be on C: (old habits die hard) In fact this computer also has an unused E: fat32 partition. I can convert C: to NTFS (but not back again) -- I may try that, if I was sure that I could boot from C -- may as well try it anyhow.

[degustibus]

Resolved .... went back and started from scratch...deleted all partitions, repartitioned into 3, C active boot, 3G, D & E the extended ... all 3 Fat32 (I was thinking of trying an install of Win98 if XP failed.) XP did not fail. Installed flawlessly.When I started over I got some drive errors on my boot partition, could not fdisk with a dos boot...finally used one of the partition programs on Hirens (I had used linux-based PMagic previously--decided to go another route).Of course I lost everything from my previous flawed install (but nicely setup XP). Now it's running the ways it's sposed to.I could have saved a lot of time if I'd grokked the faulty partitioning earlier -- but since I had installed dos on it at one point to check it out, I thought the problem was elsewhere.I also shrank the size of C from 7G to 3G -- don't know whether that was critical or not.All is good, now I started this because I wanted to multiboot a linix distro. .... off to complete my research.

[Ed_P]

Happy to hear you got your problem resolved. If the install uses DOS to complete the process the switch from 7GB to 3GB was probably the solution.Just for the record the Hirens's CD is classified as WAREZ. There are a lot of legal utilities to resolve pc problems on a UBCD4WIN CD.