Urgent help!!! Re:Boot-up failure

digitalx · Aug 28, 2002

I am running two Operating Systems on one Hard Disk; WinXP pro & Win98SE. First, my HDD has only one partition running with Win98SE. I used Partition Magic7 to add another partition and installed it with WinXP. I then installed Bootmagic7 for easy switching from OS to OS. Later, I uninstalled Bootmagic7 and installed Bootstar805.
I noticed that bootstar did not recognize my WinXP HDD label, instead 1NTFS was displayed. Win98 was therefore recognized. Being curious on this, I switched to WinXP after using Win98, then I got an error as follows:
"STOP: C000021a {Fatal System Error}
The session manager initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc00003a (0x000000 0x000000).
The system has been shut down."

And it stopped there!

I restarted, still bootstar asked which OS I choose, so, I went back to Win98SE OS, and got this DOS message:

Bootmanager Bootstar: Normal (the Win98SE option)
Starting Windows 98.......
Type the name of the command interpreter (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM)
A>

I tried to type C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM, then hit return, but it keeps on repeating:
A>C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM

I kept on restarting and restaring and all I got was the same error and message.

I have lots of important files on my HDD specifically in Win98SE partition. I need to recover them.

Please help me how to recover and restore my Windows on both partitions without losing any of my files.

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

teutonu · Aug 28, 2002

first of all don't panic !!!! the chances are very high that nothing from your partitions is lost, and i mean NOTHING. But only if you don't try any crap software recovery methods in the first instance.
What I would advise you to try first is: having posted here it's clear you still have access to internet so go and download XOSL from h**p://www.xosl.org
This is a bootmanager which is free, has a lot of features and most of all is very flexible and pretty easy to use. At the same time being very little in size.
Most things in the setup are self explaining but before installing take a look at the good manual (html) it comes with.
Very handy thing is that it can be installed on a tiny own partition (47 MB - Fat16) - which I would do if I where you. So also before installing just use partition magic again, do a little partition at the very beginning of the disk.
then boot to dos with the windows 98 cd. Transfer the unpacked xosl to a diskette and install it from there. If you still have problems after that ... shout again for help and I will try to help further.
Anyway, remember NOT TO DO ANYTHING WITH YOUR PARTITIONS FOR THE MOMENT. THERE SHOULD BE NO DATA LOST.

Good luck

Direct Links are not allowed I have edited yours >>> .Please read the Rulez >>> Tnx >>> joripe

digitalx · Aug 29, 2002

teotonu

Thank u very much for your help. Sounds comforting........
L giv u feedback as soon as M done downloading & nstalling.
C.U.

teutonu · Aug 29, 2002

there is also a way to check that the system partitions are still there: Bottmagic, which you gave up, should have made for you a Boot disk. There is a little proggie there (pqboot.exe if i remember well) which allows you to boot one of the partitions after showing you the partition table. Give it a try before installing anything.
And also a way to look at your partitions if they are still there is to boot to DOS, run partition magic and look at the actual status of the partitions. Maybe you can make one of them active, but don't move anything around, then return to DOS say at the command prompt:
fdisk /mbr
and reboot. Normally it should now boot to the active partition.
Good luck!

digitalx · Aug 29, 2002

I've tried PM7 but I got this error:

"Init failed: error 117
Partition drive letter cannot be identified."

Anyhow, I'm done downloading & studying the manual first.

Thanks.

Keep you posted.

teutonu · Aug 29, 2002

it seems that your partition table has errors. read this:
h++p://www.powerquest.com/support/primus/id15.cfm
you should try the trick with fdisk /mbr and again try to see if pm7 recognizes the partitions.

digitalx · Aug 30, 2002

teotonu,
XOSL helped me recover my 2 partitions. At least my important files have been backed up successfully.
Some of the programs in both OS partitions were corrupted, but still windows is working and some other programs.
I will reformat my HDD and install a new operating system, and start all over again.
thank you for your help.

Poko,
I agree with you that bootstar is extremely dangerous. As far as M concerned, bootstar works for me, and i don't have problems with it so far. What i don't like is the big title in it.
I will try Acronis OS selector and see d difference.

Thanks.

Johnny™ · Aug 30, 2002

i would suggest u install winxp first after the format and use system commander 7 to install win98se afterwards.... sys commander 7 is a very simple and effective program to use and u dont have to partition before installing a second O/S it does evrything for u including boot options

digitalx · Aug 30, 2002

Thanks m8 4 sharing ur idea!!!