Vista installation freeze

[AtaruMoroboshi18]

So here's what happened. I have Win XP Pro, got Vista Ultimate to create a dual boot system. I used Vista for a while and then went back to XP to use programs that wouldn't run on Vista. XP got a virus that just all screwed up my system so I uninstalled it and then reinstalled it. Now I have XP but Vista wouldn't start no matter what, just a black screen and restart. I've tried multiple solutions to reinstall Vista and they've all failed, the Vista installation freezes my computer and restarts it too.

Tried:
Formatting Vista partition
fixmbr and fixboot in Win XP recovery console
Installing Vista from XP
Installing Vista from CD at reboot
VistaBootPro Install Legacy Boot

I'm getting frustrated! The entire reason I got Vista was for DirectX 10 and now I can't even reinstall it at all! Can anyone help me?

 

[Nocturnal]

Hmm, from the sound of things, you may have made a boo boo when you re-installed XP and then attempted to use Vista again.

I think upon deleting or formatting the XP partition, Vista took over as the primary OS on the hard drive.

Vista cannot be installed first, which in this case, that is what happened, Vista took precedence over XP, since XP was formatted/deleted, and now when you re-install XP, XP will work but Vista will not.

I hope I am making sense.

 

[Skypix7]

Ataru, I've posted this in a couple other threads to warn others about the potential problems with installing Vista and XP, and to see if anyone can fix mine. I still haven't found a working dual boot software solution but VistaBootPro, EasyBCD and BootIT have all been suggested. I haven't tried any yet, saw your post and wanted to drop this info on you.

Like you I need XP for a couple programs Vista 64 won't run and may never run, according to the software company.

My first mistake apparently was installing XP after I installed Vista. Big, big mistake.

Then after 7 installs of Vista, and after installing XP first, and with Vista and XP installed on separate hard drives (both SATA), (my rig: 8GB memory, Quad 6600 cpu, Asus P5W DH Deluxe), and even after I then installed each OS with the other hard drive physically unplugged, I still get boot record corruption errors ("BOOTMGR missing") on Vista.

The two OSs just don't seem to like each other on my system, even after I set up each system completely independent of the other.

The Vista boot problem happens when I select the XP hard drive in Bios as normal (I haven't tried using a dual boot set up or program yet), boot up on XP, use it for however long I want to without problems, but when I boot up the next time, by select the Vista hard drive in Bios, and try to boot, I get the BOOTMGR error.

Popping the Vista install disk into the drive, rebooting from that, then doing a startup repair, gets me back into Vista...but it takes at least 20 minutes to do that.

Certainly not worth the hassle every time I want to use Vista!

I'm looking for some software solution that will allow me to dual boot without all this hassle, and without having to go into bios each time. But after all I've been through, and losing about 6 weeks worth of working time, I'd caution you to make sure you know what you're doing and above all, install XP first.

Because it seems both XP and Vista write some garbage on the other's master boot record whether they're supposed to or not, which messes things up.

 

[QuixoticOne]

I know I've seen some good articles on dual booting XP and Vista.
I know I had it working at one point myself, though it is a bit
of a pain in the rear to manage and does leave you more vulnerable
to having BOTH your OSs wiped out due to an error that occurs in one.

I seem to recall that one thing that made it easier was to install XP FIRST,
then install VISTA since VISTA can't be easily booted by XP's boot
manager, but VISTA's "special" boot manager can boot XP as I recall.

I think there was some kind of deal with bcdedit, bootfix and other
kinds of utilities that were new / different for VISTA to repair VISTA's
bootability after some other OS wiped out VISTA's MBR or something....

You have a powerful system with a lot of memory; what might work for you
if you have some relatively "simple" applications that don't work in Vista 64
(e.g. NOT contemporary games or really demanding multimedia / photoshop
type stuff), is to just run XP in a virtual machine via VMWARE or the free
Microsoft Virtual PC / Virtual Server or whatever they call it. It'll be
slow compared to running natively on XP, and won't support things like
most USB devices and DirectX 9 graphics etc. but for something simple like
a financial software package or whatever it'll probably do the job.

VISTA's installer is kind of picky about the partition / drive it's WILLING
to install on even if there's a perfectly acceptable place for it to install.
I've had best luck with making the VISTA install partition go on the
"primary" drive (as set in the BIOS boot order, at least, otherwise as
wired / cabled / detected as the primary / master boot drive).
So as the first partition on the primary boot / primary master drive VISTA
should be happy installing.

XP can go on the secondary drive / partition.. see if that works.

Unplugging the XP drive during VISTA install is a little problem only
because then VISTA won't detect your other installed OS and won't
set up a boot-loader option to boot it instead. In theory that's fine
if you use your BIOS boot selection menu / controls to select the boot
order of the drives or whatever. Otherwise you'll have to mess with
whatever the vista tools are bcdedit, bootfix, booteasy (3rd party I think),
diskpart, etc. to get VISTA to give you an option to boot XP from the
vista boot loader screen.

Of course if this is REALLY critical for you to have them non-interfere you
could probably just get a couple of eSATA hard drive enclosures;
want to boot XP? Power that drive on, boot.
want to boot Vista? Power the XP drive off, boot the VISTA drive.
That way they'll NEVER interact, which is probably good for security /
reliability anyway even if a pain in the rear.

What the BIOS should do is have an option to turn certain drives,
certain amount of memory, certain cards or USB peripherals completely OFF
from being reported / usable for the OS so then you can have really
independent configurations without device problems from drives / devices
you don't support using in one of your OSs.

 

[Skypix7]

Thanks QuixoticOne, I've been through even more since that last post.

Now I'm working with VistaBootPro, which I'm just about to get working...I think. Weird things happen, I've rebuilt bootmgr more than once, but at least now I've learned what to do to get back into Vista or XP when I need to, while I try to finally sort out the problem.

It's all a matter as you describe of knowing what to do when something screws up. The VistaBootPro people have a whole guide on copying system files into the system drive (which on my system right now is neither the Vista nor XP partition, but another partition, which I don't understand at all. Then running it all from the VBP (VistaBootPro) bootloader.

I've been tantalizingly close but just when I think I've got it figured out, whack, there goes the bootmgr and I can't get into Vista. What a giant pain in the butt.

Good suggestion re the SATA enclosures. If I don't get this sorted out today with VBP, I'll probably do something like that. I just can't stand doing it this way any longer, it's crazy.

thanks
JIm

 

[AtaruMoroboshi18]

Yeah, I got to the point at doing this when I said screw it and I'm just going to go at my own pace while installing Vista, if I ever get it installed, because the frustration factor is just immense with Vista. The entire reason I wanted to install Vista was to play Crysis with DirectX 10, but if it gives me this much trouble I'll just stick with XP.

 

[Skypix7]

Thanks for posting, it reminded me I didn't report back here.

I did get dual boot working with VistaBootPro. Works great, although first cold boot in the morning in my chilly office, it either hangs or gives me a BOOTMGR is missing message. But when I do a manual reset, I get right to the bootloader and then select which OS I want to work in.

The key was installing VistaBootPro (VBP) in the XP, not Vista, partition. XP seems to handle it better. Then making sure the three boot files in XP (ntdlr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini) were on the root drive C:, and also copying the bootmgr file and Boot folder from the Vista root drive into the XP root drive. Then running VBP and installing the bootloader.

Now it runs fine, except for a first in the morning hiccup where the system hangs. A manual reset and it boots fine, I think it has sometihng to do with the temperature as it gets down to about 50 over night in the office.

Guides and lots of troubleshooting info for getting VBP to work for Vista and XP or other OSs are here: http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/about92319.html

Good luck with your setup, it's worth the hassle once you get it running.