Multiboot issue

[Muse]

I have two HDs in this midtower:

120GB IDE internal
2TB SATA internal

The 120GB is evenly divided into 3 partitions. The 2TB is one partition, added (I think) after installing WinXP SP3 on the first partition of the 120GB HD.

Going into WinXP, the install partition is set to C, as expected. The 2TB HD is G.

I have been having issues with the machine, and so I went forward today with my plan (even before having problems, this was the plan) to install WinXP in the other 2 partitions of the 120GB IDE HD. So, I install WinXP in the 2nd 120GB partition. Everything done during the installation was completely typical. Windows XP gets done installing and I'm at the desktop. I haven't even done any of the driver installs. I have changed absolutely nothing yet, no Windows Updates. Going into Explorer, however, I see where the drive assignments are this:

2GB SATA HD is C
1st 120GB IDE partition, with the original WinXP install is set to D
2nd 120GB IDE partition, with the new WinXP insgtall is set to E
3rd 120GB IDE partition, as yet without it's OS installed is set to F
DVD-RW drive is set to G

When I was booting to the original WinXP install the drive letters were this:

2GB SATA HD is G
1st 120GB IDE partition, with the original WinXP install is set to C
2nd 120GB IDE partition, with the new WinXP insgtall is set to D
3rd 120GB IDE partition, as yet without it's OS installed is set to E
DVD-RW drive is set to F

I want the drive letters for the partitions and optical drive to be the same no matter which OS installation I'm booting to. That's the way it used to be before swapping out the dead mobo recently. Never had a problem doing that in the past.

So, I figure maybe go into disk management and see if I can change the DVD-RW drive letter to, say H. That device is not there, so I go see if I can change the drive letter of the 2TB SATA drive from C.

Windows tells me that I can't change the drive letter assignment for the 2GB SATA HD which is now assigned to C because it's a system partition. WTH! How and why did that HD get picked for a system partition? When I installed, I simply picked the 2nd partition of the IDE HD for installation!

What do I do now to fix this? Both the 1st partition of the 120GB IDE HD and the 2TB SATA HD have system files on them, such as autoexec.bat, NTLDR, config.sys, etc. This is screwed up!

I suppose, maybe, I could disconnect the 2TB HD while doing the other OS installations. Is there another way to straighten this out?

 

[Muse]

Restarting the machine, I'm surprised to find that I'm not given a choice of which installation I want to boot to. I thought that this would be set up automatically when I installed in the 2nd partition, that's always happened before when I set up multiple WinXP installations on my desktops. However, when I restarted the machine it just booted into the first installation! What's up with this? How do I straighten things out? Why did the 2TB HD get system files installed to it?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The multi-boot menu? I'd still be ruminating your description to get an idea as to what happened, unless I simply suggest this to you and continue in my daily forum sojourns.

Download either Mini Tool (free) or Macrium Reflect Free. Install either or both. Make a Rescue Disc from either or both. Boot to the CD/DVD, and find an option to "fix boot problems." If you cannot find a second installation because it didn't have a drive letter, but you find an installation that is recognized as "C :", the fix needs two iterations. First, go forward with making the recognized system volume bootable. Then enter that OS's desktop, and assign a drive letter to the other disk. Then re-enter the rescue/utility disc and find the second operating system. Add it to the list with the one already "fixed," and "fix it again.

What are you still doing with IDE drives? You're an old hand here, so I'm sure you have your reasons.

Also -- people criticized me for wanting Win 7 and Win 10 in dual-boot: "Win 7 is ten years old!" they'd say. So . . . you're going to have two different boot system installation of XP, huh? OK . . .

 

[Muse]

Wow, sounds complicated. My first thought was this (i.e. pretty darn simple):

1. From the first XP install, make the hidden OS files on the 2TB drive visible, delete them!

2. Disconnect the 2TB HD (after deleting it's Windows directory!)

3. Reinstall XP in the 2nd partition of the 120GB IDE boot HD.

4. Fix any boot issues, if any.

5. Reconnect the 2TB SATA HD.

Why this system?

It's my HDTV/HTPC system, has an HDTV HD PCI card. Best to install apps/OS to different HD than the data HD. The 120GB IDE was in the system before I had to swap out the dead mobo a few months ago. Crystaldiskinfo says it's still "Good."

I not only want 2 XP installations on this system, I want 3. If one goes whack, I can use another, etc. I've done that for years. Much easier to boot a different installation than fix or reinstall a badly behaving installation. Sometimes just doing the easy thing seems best.

I'm told that my HDTV card can be made to work in Win7, but things have to be set up a certain way. I could go there, but Win7 would cost me ~$150. It works fine with XP. If I'm careful, I think I'll be fine with it.

 

[Muse]

I did as I outlined in my last post and managed to set up the alternate XP boot. I'm in it right now, in fact after wrangling with several issues. Unfortunately, the reason I did this right now hasn't been resolved. Dang system refuses to wake up from S3 Suspend... ever!!!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

OK. I don't yet see a light at the end of the tunnel, because I can't visualize the symptoms. But I'd say turn off sleep, hybrid sleep and hibernate until you resolve the boot menu issue. If you have multiple OS system volumes, the utilities I mentioned can repair the boot configuration data and set it all straight. You only have to get the utility to recognize all the system-volumes you need in the multi-boot menu.

I can see that you don't want any interruption to your Green Button access. Even a half-day's down-time for my HTPC-enabled machine is in-freakin'-bearable.

 

[Muse]

After my reinstall of the 2nd boot partition, AFAIK the boot menu works fine. I have it set to allow me to switch from the default boot installation for 3 seconds. Hitting the down arrow key will switch to the other OS install. This is the way I've always had it.

Yeah, I always like to multi boot my HDTV machine in case something goes wrong I should still have an installation that's working. I don't know how people can live with just one PC with one OS partition.

Still have that problem where this particular machine will not wake from S3 Suspend. That's terrible for an HDTV machine that gets set up to do automated recording. I may have to get a different motherboard from the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R I am using now.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

After my reinstall of the 2nd boot partition, AFAIK the boot menu works fine. I have it set to allow me to switch from the default boot installation for 3 seconds. Hitting the down arrow key will switch to the other OS install. This is the way I've always had it.

Yeah, I always like to multi boot my HDTV machine in case something goes wrong I should still have an installation that's working. I don't know how people can live with just one PC with one OS partition.

Still have that problem where this particular machine will not wake from S3 Suspend. That's terrible for an HDTV machine that gets set up to do automated recording. I may have to get a different motherboard from the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R I am using now.

Oh, S***! I had two of those EP45-UD3R's. One of them got zapped because I connected it to a cheap "promotional" $50 500W PSU. The other one died a slow death for leaving it in Sleep mode for days at a time. Best I can remember, the PSU died slowly and took the mobo with it. I had some Gigabyte mATX mobos in PCs built for the fam-damn-ily, and there was some difficulty or impossibility in configuring Sleep states. I'm glad we got rid of all of them, but they served the purpose otherwise -- one mATX ran non-stop for 8 years.

Just offhand, I'll note that I'm awash in cyber-junk kept on hand for contingencies, or just as surplus. I've been saving this EVGA 780i mobo with an E8600 C2D still in the socket (I can check again to be sure). It was suppose to be a backup in case my 680i board WHS-11 server died. But I've built the replacement hardware for that with an IB i5-3470 -- waiting in a corner of the room for my time and attention..

Send me a PM or whatever they call it these days. You can have it for shipping and chump-change, if you think you'd rather replace the Gigabyte. All the features still worked on that board -- replaced in one of our systems with another Z77 parts combo. Just an option for you, since you're working with that old C2D/C2Q Conroe-Kentsfield-Wolfdale technology. [and UPDATE/PS: I may have a kit of 2x2 G.SKILLs for it. I'll have to check the parts locker.]

 

[Muse]

Oh, S***! I had two of those EP45-UD3R's. One of them got zapped because I connected it to a cheap "promotional" $50 500W PSU. The other one died a slow death for leaving it in Sleep mode for days at a time. Best I can remember, the PSU died slowly and took the mobo with it. I had some Gigabyte mATX mobos in PCs built for the fam-damn-ily, and there was some difficulty or impossibility in configuring Sleep states. I'm glad we got rid of all of them, but they served the purpose otherwise -- one mATX ran non-stop for 8 years.

Just offhand, I'll note that I'm awash in cyber-junk kept on hand for contingencies, or just as surplus. I've been saving this EVGA 780i mobo with an E8600 C2D still in the socket (I can check again to be sure). It was suppose to be a backup in case my 680i board WHS-11 server died. But I've built the replacement hardware for that with an IB i5-3470 -- waiting in a corner of the room for my time and attention..

Send me a PM or whatever they call it these days. You can have it for shipping and chump-change, if you think you'd rather replace the Gigabyte. All the features still worked on that board -- replaced in one of our systems with another Z77 parts combo. Just an option for you, since you're working with that old C2D/C2Q Conroe-Kentsfield-Wolfdale technology. [and UPDATE/PS: I may have a kit of 2x2 G.SKILLs for it. I'll have to check the parts locker.]

I just had a look at that mobo online. 2 PCI. Well, maybe that would work. I have 2 PCI cards in the Gigabyte right now, which has 3 PCI slots. Thing is, the HDTV PCI card has a daughterboard bolted to it that hangs out over the 3rd PCI slot. So, the question is, can I get those cards in there as well as my PCI sound card? Looking at the image it appears that there are PCIe slots between the PCI slots, so yeah, maybe I can accommodate the 2 PCI cards + a daughterboard.

I couldn't use (looks like) the Q8200 quad core that's in my Gigabyte system, however you say you have the CPU C2D for it. I think the RAM in my Gigabyte system is compatible. DDR2 667mhz, 2x 2GB sticks.

I actually need two mobos now. The one in my other midtower I think went belly up a couple days ago, strong smell of burning electronics. So, Gigabyte system works but never comes out of S3 Suspend, the other won't boot, only gives 3 one second beeps and smells immediately.

 

[ninaholic37]

Just use grub4dos as the bootloader. It can hide partition 1 when you boot into partition 2 so new XP will show up as C.

title Windows XP Old
unhide (hd0,0)
root(hd0,0)
chainloader /ntldr

title Windows XP New
hide (hd0,0)
root(hd0,1)
chainloader /ntldr

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I just had a look at that mobo online. 2 PCI. Well, maybe that would work. I have 2 PCI cards in the Gigabyte right now, which has 3 PCI slots. Thing is, the HDTV PCI card has a daughterboard bolted to it that hangs out over the 3rd PCI slot. So, the question is, can I get those cards in there as well as my PCI sound card? Looking at the image it appears that there are PCIe slots between the PCI slots, so yeah, maybe I can accommodate the 2 PCI cards + a daughterboard.

I couldn't use (looks like) the Q8200 quad core that's in my Gigabyte system, however you say you have the CPU C2D for it. I think the RAM in my Gigabyte system is compatible. DDR2 667mhz, 2x 2GB sticks.

I actually need two mobos now. The one in my other midtower I think went belly up a couple days ago, strong smell of burning electronics. So, Gigabyte system works but never comes out of S3 Suspend, the other won't boot, only gives 3 one second beeps and smells immediately.

Well . . . reading what you say and any implications between the lines, I leave it to you to check manufacturer CPU-compatibility lists -- EVGA or Giga. The 680i was cut off for being Kentsfield-ready, Wolfdale ready but Yorkfield impossible. I thought it was different for the 780i. But it's an NVidia chipset. Like I said -- I'll either pass it on for chump-change and postage, or send it to the recycler by mid-summer. Just checking -- it will run Yorkfield, such as a q9650. There would have been BIOS updates for any late releases in that line.

I also have an i3 Ivy Bridge with a P8Z77-V motherboard meant as a backup spare. But send a PM if you're interested in any of it. I really need to build an inventory of stuff in my storage chests for the appropriate forum.

I can only say "more power to you" who tinker with old-gen parts. My friend in Virginia has those inclinations, and they have been a great help to me.

 

[Muse]

Just use grub4dos as the bootloader. It can hide partition 1 when you boot into partition 2 so new XP will show up as C.

I don't care what drive letter each partition is assigned to but I'd like it if each partition had the same designation no matter which partition I'm booted to. I'm OK with the way it's working now. Except, of course, for the fact that neither partition wants to resume from S3 Suspend. That has me sour on the system. It may work with Win7, I'm going to try a trial install to find out.

 

[XavierMace]

Yeah, I always like to multi boot my HDTV machine in case something goes wrong I should still have an installation that's working. I don't know how people can live with just one PC with one OS partition.

Because I can reinstall Windows in far less time than you or Bonzai have spent troubleshooting your multiboot issues?

Seriously, I can do a clean install of Win 10 in 5 minutes. ~2 minutes to reinstall Plex. ~2 minutes to install software for the tuner. Done, my HTPC is back up and running, just like it was before. IIRC, you had a thread before about needing to keep XP because of the old tuners you have. I think I said in that thread, your setup could be greatly simplified and it's worth mentioning again here. Plus when that drive fails, it's taking out all 3 OS's anyways. Not to mention the OS and Applications on the "backup" partitions are by design always going to be out of date.

I upgraded my HTPC to 10 as soon as it was available. Automatic updates, and I haven't had to touch it since save for installing a new video card because I replaced the one in my primary.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Because I can reinstall Windows in far less time than you or Bonzai have spent troubleshooting your multiboot issues?

Seriously, I can do a clean install of Win 10 in 5 minutes. ~2 minutes to reinstall Plex. ~2 minutes to install software for the tuner. Done, my HTPC is back up and running, just like it was before. IIRC, you had a thread before about needing to keep XP because of the old tuners you have. I think I said in that thread, your setup could be greatly simplified and it's worth mentioning again here. Plus when that drive fails, it's taking out all 3 OS's anyways. Not to mention the OS and Applications on the "backup" partitions are by design always going to be out of date.

I upgraded my HTPC to 10 as soon as it was available. Automatic updates, and I haven't had to touch it since save for installing a new video card because I replaced the one in my primary.

You must not have an appetite for cable premium channels. I need another ice-floe to jump on before I cart off my SiliconDust HDHR'-s to the county recycle center.

I could use any advice or guidance about getting the same "stuff" through the internet and integrating it. I like Media Center too much . . . .

It's always taken me more time to completely rebuild with a fresh OS install, if I have a general-purpose system loaded with software. During the hardware test and configuration phase, I've had difficulties with an eSATA HDD and ODD because the BIOS PCH-Storage wasn't configured properly for Hot Plug. My Win 7 installation required two steps backward to download an ASUS utility and slipstream the original install disc to a new ISO.

I know it sounds crazy, but if you work for a living, not out for green pastures and plenty of time, it has a different value. I've just about eliminated every red-bang-Event and general malfunction in the house, but this? I started this in mid-September. As for the case and time-consuming part of the duct-thing, add another couple months with a different mobo, processor and case. Not for full-time devotion, but I spent many hours working in the garden, watching TV or just life-management while thinking about what I would do to get the result I wanted with the least amount of work and blood spilt with sharp tools.

I get a kick out of this. And I'm ready to plant the flag on K2 or Everest -- [in my own perspective of it . . ]

I was re-testing my overclock 4.7 on the Win 10 system. I'd posted today at "CPUs . . . " about an adverse discovery. I nailed it down to . . . you-know-what -- my $30 lifetime-licensed software for bridging gaps in the storage pyramid . . . I'm back . . . I'm bad.. This is likely going to be good.

I also need advice about what parts of an order totaling $1,500 should I spring for -- so far just put off because there's no hurry. Not with this. Gotta go back and change my sig machine back to "4.7 Ghz."

 

[XavierMace]

You must not have an appetite for cable premium channels. I need another ice-floe to jump on before I cart off my SiliconDust HDHR'-s to the county recycle center.

No, I don't pay for premium cable TV. It's a gigantic waste of money and they still make you watch commercials. I can do OTA or unencrypted cable recordings but honestly I don't bother any more. I'll just buy the shows I want online via iTunes/Amazon or wait for them to come out on BluRay and rip them. Admittedly I've still got a sizable backlog of disks to rip, because I'm lazy.

I realize my statements are personal preferences, but I see a trend on these forums of the people having the most issues are the people that "fiddle" with their systems the most. I'm not talking overclocking, that's set and forget it. I'm talking oodles of customization that take hours and hours to setup and/or replace often purely just because that's the way they've always done it. I am not picking on either of you guys in this regards. "This is the way we've always done it" is frequently used as a justification for doing something stupid at the company I work for so it's a sore subject for me.

I've adopted a computing policy of keeping things simple and clean. Yes, that probably sounds a bit ironic considering I'm running a pair of servers, but here's what I mean by that. He's a quick rundown of my home network.

1x ESXi Host - This runs my Router/Firewall, Domain Controller, File Server, and a Game Server.
1x SAN - This stores the data for the above host. I'm in the process of virtualizing onto the host and converting this into a straight backup system.
1x Desktop - This lives in my room and functions as my primary PC.
1x HTPC - This lives in the living room. Occasionally it's used as a gaming system when I have guests over.
2x WAP's - These are zero setup devices integrated/managed by the Router/Firewall (Sophos UTM).

There's a handful of mobile devices and what not, but for this discussion the above is all that matters. The desktop has a single 512Gb SSD, no optical drive, running Windows 10. The HTPC has a single 256Gb SSD, and a single Bluray burner, running Windows 10. Any important data I care about in the slightest lives on the storage server. I've got File History turned on for both the desktop and HTPC and backing up to the file server. If both boxes dropped dead right now, I could have them both back to the state they are in right now in an hour or less.

If the HTPC died, process would be reinstall Windows (5 minutes), reinstall Chrome (1 minute), reinstall Plex (2 minutes), repair Logitech media keyboard (1 minute), add regkey to autosign in with my dedicated HTPC account (1 minute). At this point it's back up and running as an HTPC. As mentioned above I don't even use the DVR anymore so I probably wouldn't even bother installing the software, but lets call it another 2 minutes. I could get by without downloading the latest nVidia drivers until somebody wanted to play a game on it, but add 5 minutes for that.

If the desktop died, process would be reinstall Windows (5 minutes), reinstall Chrome (1 minute), install current nVidia drivers (5 minutes), install AIO software (2 minutes), sign into Chrome to resync favorites etc (1 minute), reinstall Steam (1 minute), reinstall Stellaris, Grim Dawn, and Star Trek Online from Steam (30-ish minutes). Stellaris and Grim Dawn both have Steam Cloud saves and Star Trek Online is an MMO, so no progress lost on any of them.

Done. Yes, some sacrifices were made, but honestly as time has passed, I don't miss them. It's not even about the time per say as the stress/work. If either the desktop or the HTPC died completely, I have no critical need to get either back up and running right away. There's multiple XBox One's and PS4's in the house that can serve media off the Plex server just fine, and I've got a phone, two tablets, and a laptop I could surf on. Not being able to play PC games would annoy me, but the system dying wouldn't be a weekend ruining event or anything nor would it have me running down to the local electronics store to buy replacement parts RIGHT NOW. I could have the mobo swapped on either rig in under 10 minutes.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

No, I don't pay for premium cable TV. It's a gigantic waste of money and they still make you watch commercials. I can do OTA or unencrypted cable recordings but honestly I don't bother any more. I'll just buy the shows I want online via iTunes/Amazon or wait for them to come out on BluRay and rip them. Admittedly I've still got a sizable backlog of disks to rip, because I'm lazy.

I realize my statements are personal preferences, but I see a trend on these forums of the people having the most issues are the people that "fiddle" with their systems the most. I'm not talking overclocking, that's set and forget it. I'm talking oodles of customization that take hours and hours to setup and/or replace often purely just because that's the way they've always done it. I am not picking on either of you guys in this regards. "This is the way we've always done it" is frequently used as a justification for doing something stupid at the company I work for so it's a sore subject for me.

I've adopted a computing policy of keeping things simple and clean. Yes, that probably sounds a bit ironic considering I'm running a pair of servers, but here's what I mean by that. He's a quick rundown of my home network.

1x ESXi Host - This runs my Router/Firewall, Domain Controller, File Server, and a Game Server.
1x SAN - This stores the data for the above host. I'm in the process of virtualizing onto the host and converting this into a straight backup system.
1x Desktop - This lives in my room and functions as my primary PC.
1x HTPC - This lives in the living room. Occasionally it's used as a gaming system when I have guests over.
2x WAP's - These are zero setup devices integrated/managed by the Router/Firewall (Sophos UTM).

There's a handful of mobile devices and what not, but for this discussion the above is all that matters. The desktop has a single 512Gb SSD, no optical drive, running Windows 10. The HTPC has a single 256Gb SSD, and a single Bluray burner, running Windows 10. Any important data I care about in the slightest lives on the storage server. I've got File History turned on for both the desktop and HTPC and backing up to the file server. If both boxes dropped dead right now, I could have them both back to the state they are in right now in an hour or less.

If the HTPC died, process would be reinstall Windows (5 minutes), reinstall Chrome (1 minute), reinstall Plex (2 minutes), repair Logitech media keyboard (1 minute), add regkey to autosign in with my dedicated HTPC account (1 minute). At this point it's back up and running as an HTPC. As mentioned above I don't even use the DVR anymore so I probably wouldn't even bother installing the software, but lets call it another 2 minutes. I could get by without downloading the latest nVidia drivers until somebody wanted to play a game on it, but add 5 minutes for that.

If the desktop died, process would be reinstall Windows (5 minutes), reinstall Chrome (1 minute), install current nVidia drivers (5 minutes), install AIO software (2 minutes), sign into Chrome to resync favorites etc (1 minute), reinstall Steam (1 minute), reinstall Stellaris, Grim Dawn, and Star Trek Online from Steam (30-ish minutes). Stellaris and Grim Dawn both have Steam Cloud saves and Star Trek Online is an MMO, so no progress lost on any of them.

Done. Yes, some sacrifices were made, but honestly as time has passed, I don't miss them. It's not even about the time per say as the stress/work. If either the desktop or the HTPC died completely, I have no critical need to get either back up and running right away. There's multiple XBox One's and PS4's in the house that can serve media off the Plex server just fine, and I've got a phone, two tablets, and a laptop I could surf on. Not being able to play PC games would annoy me, but the system dying wouldn't be a weekend ruining event or anything nor would it have me running down to the local electronics store to buy replacement parts RIGHT NOW. I could have the mobo swapped on either rig in under 10 minutes.

A more elaborate network than mine, you have. I'm just reaping the ~ $180 investment I made in two HDHR' triple-tuners. We have a bundled cable-TV-internet-phone subscription, the bill split three ways, so the monthly cost per person is about the same as one person's subscription to internet IP-provider service.

I tinker a lot, as you know. But I've come to the view that you can't add layers of complexity without adding to future trouble. If it's simple and it works, the upfront investment in sweat-equity and time diminishes as an average spread over a longer time. I just have more time to "fiddle," but these last two weeks I've been basking in self-proclaimed triumph. I'll blame Build 1703 before I accuse myself of complicating things with a dual-boot of two Windows OSes. That's a "layer of complexity" offered in the installation of Windows versions, and a lot of folks had trouble with their BCD for simply a single boot system as they transitioned to Creators Update. The trouble I found in fixing it was the same trouble the single-OS folks would have. If I was still finding out what I was doing (that I didn't really know at the beginning), the drive imaging software made it possible to restore all of the configuration to previous order in maybe two hours.

So there are always going to be compromises with the complex, and time taken in arranging the simple.

 

[XavierMace]

You arguably have more simplicity in hardware which is always the more reliable side of thing. You have far more complexity in your software. But I guess that's really beside the point of the thread anyways, so nevermind. LOL.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You arguably have more simplicity in hardware which is always the more reliable side of thing. You have far more complexity in your software. But I guess that's really beside the point of the thread anyways, so nevermind. LOL.

To cache or not to cache -- that is . . not-the-point-of-the-thread.

But it's like Muse's triple-quadruple XP installation: you weigh the costs and benefits. If you try it, and it works, you keep notes on the trouble it might cause. I think I'll keep it . . .

 

[XavierMace]

I wasn't referring to Primo, just you guys setups in general. I haven't dual booted since I was in highschool and thought dual booting Red Hat made me cool. I know we've had other discussions where I suggested you eliminate things (IE your KVM). In fact, I suspect by pure box count, you have more physical machines than I do. But again, that's neither here nor there. The only reason I mentioned you in my original post is you mentioned that people don't understand why you dual boot.

But it's like Muse's triple-quadruple XP installation: you weigh the costs and benefits. If you try it, and it works,

It's not working, which is why we're having this conversation in the first place. In Muse's case it's jumping through hoops just to avoid replacing ancient hardware or changing routines in the slightest. You like to fiddle. Fine, to each his own. I don't understand it, I see no benefit to it, but we can agree to disagree. It's a matter of preference I guess.

But, I get no impression from Muse that he likes having to deal with these problems. So I'm advising him (again) to build a simpler setup, even if it means some small sacrifices or making a new routine. I haven't had a problem with my HTPC since I switched to Plex and a Logitech media keyboard which was probably 3 years ago? Maybe more. If money is tight and you can't upgrade/replace stuff, that's one thing. But I don't get any impression that's the case here. It seems to be holding on to old stuff just to avoid change. Computers don't run forever. Even if you fix this problem, you're just going to have another problem, probably sooner rather than later. How long are you going to keep shopping for antique (in computer terms) hardware, just to avoid change? I'd suspect my mom is in you guys age range and she's far less saavy. If she can learn a new way, so can you.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I wasn't referring to Primo, just you guys setups in general. I haven't dual booted since I was in highschool and thought dual booting Red Hat made me cool. I know we've had other discussions where I suggested you eliminate things (IE your KVM). In fact, I suspect by pure box count, you have more physical machines than I do. But again, that's neither here nor there. The only reason I mentioned you in my original post is you mentioned that people don't understand why you dual boot.



It's not working, which is why we're having this conversation in the first place. In Muse's case it's jumping through hoops just to avoid replacing ancient hardware or changing routines in the slightest. You like to fiddle. Fine, to each his own. I don't understand it, I see no benefit to it, but we can agree to disagree. It's a matter of preference I guess.

But, I get no impression from Muse that he likes having to deal with these problems. So I'm advising him (again) to build a simpler setup, even if it means some small sacrifices or making a new routine. I haven't had a problem with my HTPC since I switched to Plex and a Logitech media keyboard which was probably 3 years ago? Maybe more. If money is tight and you can't upgrade/replace stuff, that's one thing. But I don't get any impression that's the case here. It seems to be holding on to old stuff just to avoid change. Computers don't run forever. Even if you fix this problem, you're just going to have another problem, probably sooner rather than later. How long are you going to keep shopping for antique (in computer terms) hardware, just to avoid change? I'd suspect my mom is in you guys age range and she's far less saavy. If she can learn a new way, so can you.

Well, I have to agree about the IDE drives, and I wouldn't see a need for multi-boot XP/XP/XP.

That's just what he wants to do. And then again . . . maybe he's not so keen about it.

I just learned a lot of things over the last couple months, borking my dual-boot menu and figuring out how to fix it. I've reduced the disk space allocated to the Win 7 system-volume, because I can see where this is going. But I can't cut loose of it -- not yet.

 

[Muse]

I haven't had a problem with my HTPC since I switched to Plex and a Logitech media keyboard

I'd like to (and hopefully will) answer to a lot of the issues/suggestions that have been brought up here. But just now, feel I should try to justify my hanging onto my now-ancient (well, pretty old) HDTV solution, being the MIT MyHD-130 PCI HDTV card (and it's for extra bucks DVI daughterboard).

There are many HDTV file-playing softwares out there, I presume some may be tied to hardware of some sort. However, I have it on pretty good authority that the MyHD hardware and its software application enjoys an important disctinct advantage over all the others:

It can jump into an in progress recording at any point, enjoy FF/REW, and progress past the jump-in point ... seemlessly. Thus, I bought an HD Homerun recently, haven't unboxed it yet. I'm told that many MyHD users have done the same and enjoy watching their HDHR recordings in progress using the MyHD card(s) + software for the playback solution.

Here's a link to the info:

Post 12735 here

where it's stated:
- - - -
"Adding clarification (I hope) to SHF's reply, you can use MyHD to view in-progress recordings being captured by other tuners (including other MyHD units) but you cannot use a single MyHD unit to simultaneously record and play a recording. When you play a recording that is in progress on another tuner, MyHD allows you to view any part of the recording that has been captured up to the current time. This is unlike any other playback device in my experience. The others can access only that part of the recording that was finished at the time that the playback began, so you need to restart the player periodically to access later parts of the recording.

Thus, if you use MyHD to play an in-progress recording being made by an HDHR tuner, for example, it will behave very similarly to what you are used to seeing with MyHD's built-in TimeShift mode."
- - - -
Now, as I said, MyHD has its limitations. AFAIK, it's won't run in Win10, you have to install it in XP compatibility mode when using in Win7 (which I've never tried, but might). It works fine in XP and in fact works fine in Windows 2000 Professional. Of course, those last two OSs aren't supported so precautions must be taken. If not browsing or doing email, such a machine should do fine as an HDTV solution.

Now, I could ditch the MyHD stuff and go Plex along with the HDHR, but why? Plex costs money. And AFAIK it doesn't enjoy the in-progress access to recordings as well as MyHD.

To reiterate, I've got the multibooting issue sorted out now. I'll also mention that AFAIK, there's no downside to multibooting XP, even in 3 partitions. It just gives me alternate installations I can go to in case the one I typically use goes haywire for some reason. When I want to watch a program I want to watch it, come hell, high water or bugs. I'll deal with issues later as necessary, at my "convenience."

 

[XavierMace]

Yes, we've previously discussed Plex won't meet your requirements. But AFAIK, SiliconDust's will when using their software. That would eliminate your dependence on outdated hardware and software.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Somebody rattled my chain in e-mail the other day to inform me that the problem with getting cable-premiums through HDHR' ('=Prime), cableCARD with their Kickstarter HDHR DVR project has been solved. Remember that WMC isn't included in Win 10, and apps like KODI and the others won't present encrypted premium content. The fix comes with Build 1703 and an app-store program freebie that's meant as an addon to the OS.

So as soon as I went to the link of the e-mail, I installed the HDHR' front-end software to configure the 2x triple-tuner HDHR'-s. Then I found their new VIEW program at the App Store and downloaded that.

You have to install another video encoder/decoder/whatever for MS Windows build 1703, also from the App store.

I do believe they've done it. I think you can now configure KODI, Media Portal -- certainly HDHR VIEW -- and make it worthwhile for the encrypted premiums.

Since the monitor hooked up to the Skylake sits on the other side of a non-HDCP-compliant KVM, I have to re-arrange my cables and assignments so I can direct-connect to the BenQ (HDCP-compliant) monitor to test for the real encrypted premiums, but I noticed that KODI handles the premiums by simply cutting them out of the lineup, and VIEW eventually puts a notice about it on their app, so you'd switch to another channel (so many channels!). The BenQ provides its own "S-switch" "V" of KVM. I think the HDCP issue is handled differently between the software, and if I run a DVI-to-DVI directly to the monitor, I can configure it on the BenQ before connecting the HDTV to the Skylake and dedicating it to KODI and gaming (as I might wish). I think the trick of using a second monitor as a desktop extension without the desktop icons main toolbar and system tray was tricky for Win 10. If you get this dual-monitor thing screwed up, the system will boot to the wrong display, to your surprise and confusion. Again -- another complication for a dual-boot system.

But I have strong indications that the premiums are now available. That's the main thing. What will it mean?

It will mean that I'll have less use for Windows 7. Less use for a dual-boot system.