Windows Forum

Ask something
Question Locked

WinXP DIsk allocation/Boot.ini

0 helpful
14 replies

by puzzledofnorfolk

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Replaced CMOS battery on XP SP3. My system (paranoia rules!) has triple boot Win98/2000 and XP.

Had to rebuild boot.ini with recovery disk after this, as the usual hal.dll missing problem showed although it still showed 'correct' disk allocation according to Disk Management. The XP OS which sits on disk 1 part 2 now needs to be set in boot ini to rdisk 3 part 2.

Other puzzle is that 'recovery' only found the W2000 installation and the CDROM Windows OS during repair.

All now working well but with this bizarre setting. Disk 3 is actually a 160GB Sata with NO OS! Where is the 'rdisk' settings stored and how can I see what the rdisk allocation is in XP please?

14 replies

by older mycroft

Rather than telling us what you've NOW got, because none of us can tell what has changed unless we know where it all was before.

RDISK got dropped after NT4 I think.

Having Win98 I can understand but for the life of me I can't fathom out why you would have W2K [u]and[/u] XP.

by balge

hi
not quite sure what you're after here, you had triple boot, and now you've got triple boot?
This explains boot.ini quite well - http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000492.htm
Having Win2k & XP I can understand but for the life of me I can't fathom out why you would have win98...
cheers!

by puzzledofnorfolk

Your really should learn not mock the afflicted! I'm happy with what I've got and thank the Lord I had 2000 'cos it was the only one recovery could find :-)))

Anyway, to answer your query

OLD Boot ini

[boot loader]
timeout=8
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\W2000="W2000" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98"

NEW boot ini

[boot loader]
timeout=8
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(3)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(3)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(3)partition(1)\W2000="W2000" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98"

No hardware changes (apart from battery) and disk allocation in Disk Manager shows disks 0 to 3 EXACTLY as before.

Your go.

by balge

hi

So it works as you want it to?
Frankly as long as it works I wouldnt bother about Windows keeping track of everything!
At a guess windoze has written a new bootloader and is now using this to locate drives, but I don't know and don't much care - if it works leave it be?
cheers
ps -not knocking W2K, I only 'upgraded' to XP at home six months back...

by rob miners

Disk Management to see the location of the 160GB drive. It may have moved to another position when you reset CMOS. If it is working OK you can leave it or you can disconnect the 160GB and redetect the original drive.
Have you considerd using a Virtual Drive to run Win98 and 2000. I have Win98 and XP Pro in a Virtual Dual Boot Drive. I run it on XP Pro and it works a treat.

by puzzledofnorfolk

Thank you Jacky - yes, all is exactly as it was, with the 160GB 'storage only' drive still shown as Disk3. A big puzzle. I have looked at the Virtual machine, yes.

The only reason I would like to know (yes, Balge, I know it IS working!) is my instinctive distrust of things that pop out of the 'Gateswork' and bite you when you least expect, so to find a reason would be good in case this 'rdisk' allocation is relevant to any other functon than boot ini.

by rob miners

have you got connected. I was under the impression that you had a single drive with 3 OS's and a second drive that was blank.

If that is the case the first drive should show in Disk Manager as Disk0 and the empty Sata drive should show as Disk1.

Something doesn't sound right here.

by rob miners

that when mixing IDE and Sata I have a better success rate if the Sata drives are not on the lower Ports. Especially if I'm booting from IDE. If your boot.ini is back to normal you can stop worrying. ;)

by rob miners

are the IDE's jumperd? One Master and two Slaves with the Sata on a higher port other than Sata0 or Sata1.

by rob miners

be just a glitch. If it's working OK don't worry about it. You could boot up XP and at a command prompt type in diskpart and then type list disk. That should show the order that they are detected.

by puzzledofnorfolk

IDE drives are jumpered
Disk 0 Master 1
1 Slave 1
DVDROM 2
2 Slave 2
SATA is I think on SATA 2

Yes, leaving well alone, but I suspect a dodgy connection somewhere in the CMOS battery side as this am it happened again and after exactly the same kerfuffle I finished up with the ORIGINAL boot ini working fine and rdisk indicating normally!!!

by rob miners

check the BIOS settings after replacing the Battery and when all was good save the settings and reboot. I normally do that when changing a Battery or the Memory (RAM). Is the DVD set as a Master it should be.

This discussion is closed to new replies.