Windows 98/2000 dual boot gone bad

[lukmeg]

Actually, just the 98 part..

I have a 30Gig Maxtor partitioned with 98 on a 20Gig partition and 2000 on the other. This has been my setup for over a month no problems at all. I have mainly been using 98. Well today when I fired up my computer and chose 98, it says I have an invalid system disk and when I press enter it tries to boot from the cd. If I choose 2000 boots up perfectly. I then use Norton to check out the C drive and it's ok no errors. Any idea what happened and what I should do next? Thanks..

 

[AndyHui]

Boot up from a Win98 bootdisk, then type the command sys c:. That should restore Win98, but it will remove the Win2K boot menu.

Restore the Win2K boot menu after performing the sys by booting up from the Win2K CDROM and performing a Repair when given the option.

 

[igiveup]

Or you could boot into recovery console and use the commands FIXBOOT and FIXMBR. See what these will do for you first. To get to the recovery console you need to boot from your CD and then follow the instructions.

 

[DainBrammage]

Definately use the recovery console and type fixboot then hit enter
The system will tell you that fixboot target is drive c: and you to confirm then follow the on screen directions

 

[lukmeg]

Thanks for all the help. I must be doing something wrong because I can't get sys c: or fixboot to work. I've been booting from the 98 cd and I've tried it with and without cd-rom support and still it won't work. What exactly is the recovery console? Is that the screen that pops up after I boot from the cd asking if I want to run setup or run with or without cd-rom support?

 

[obenton]

Possibly your win98 bootsector file, bootsect.dos, got corrupted. It's in C:\. To fix it, as was said, you run "sys C:" from a DOS boot floppy such as the win98 startup floppy; and then, to restore the w2k boot sector (which gets overwritten by sys c and create the new bootsect.dos file, you run "fixboot" from the recovery console. The win2k recovery console is one of the repair options on the menu you'll get when you boot from the win2k cd and select repair. An option, other than the recovery console, is to select manual repair and uncheck all options except for inspecting the boot sector.

 

[lukmeg]

Ok I've tried booting from a floppy and the 98 cd and typing sys c: just leads to an invalid command. I don't know what's wrong.

 

[obenton]

When you boot with your floppy do you get an A:\> prompt?

 

[PliotronX]

Do you use Norton Speed Disk by any chance? If so, go here.

If that doesn't help (which it didn't for me and the problem documented in the above link), I don't know what else to advise, but good luck!

 

[Kinesis]

Would this also work if something goes wrong with Win98? I have the 98/W2k dual boot, and well, I tend to have 98 around for some testing purposes, but I ever need to reinstall it, without damaging W2k, would the FIXBOOT apply here?

THanks

 

[lukmeg]

Hey PliotronX, thanks I think that link might help. I had forgotten that I had used Speed Disk right before. Didn't even think that might have anything to do with what happened. I'll try out and see if it helps. If it doesn't I'll just back-up and reformat and reinstall. Thanks for all the help everyone. And obenton I do get the A:\> prompt when I boot from the floppy.