anemones2 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I need some help with this.I have a factory image from a HP Presario PC on a USB.I used Easeus partition manager to copy it there perfectly.I have a Presario LAPTOP, obviously not the same thing but I am trying:Even though it is built for XP and runs XP now.Even I am aware the hardware is far from the same between what the image was made for.This is Pentium 1.6ghz, 798 mhz 504mb ram. XP sp2. The PC was 2gb stock RAM,but about 3 y.o where as the Lappy is a little older (if this makes it even worse to try this).Trying to install the Vista image onto the HP laptop.1. I have booted from USB successfully into the Image's boot from RAM/or recovered Vista screen.2. It came across a 100c or something error when loading the restore part...I guessed this is because of USB - RAW - HDD conflict.I have partitioned this HD, current OS XP i.e. C:\ is at the front of the HDD,then a dead space of 30 gb (the HDD is 60gb) then copied the 10gb factory image to the end of the drive.My options in Easeus and my idea is to activate the Image partition, which gave a warning of what I feared..."this may cause CANNOT BOOT! error"... because it prioritizes boot to this partition...So if I get an error in recovery mode of installing Factory Image to 30gb Primary NTFS formatted partition,I am boogered.There is no way in Bios to priority boot from HDD drives only devices.What are the chances of this even working? Will it come across a conflict between the Factory Image and this Laptop. I have gone through the process on the PC I fixed...It formats the HDD, it Installs the image which happens to be Vista and drivers and it worked fine.If not going the Easeus path of deactivating C:\ is there some other way to use the image?But yeah, I just felt like trying Vista and I need to reformat and refresh OS on Lappy anyway.THANKS!!! .s2~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anemones2 Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Forget that... .So I just used my Sp3 disc from PC not the Sp2 one that the laptop had with it.And it worked fine with Lap-key.So on C:\ I have original OS as before... all junk from years...Then on O:\ drive I put sp3 xp.SOWhen Booting up, windows would ask 'which OS do you want to run'"XP home edition"or"XP home edition"And they both worked....SO... I then installed the sp2 XP over and onto C:\ partition... (from its' original disc)So it formatted C:\ and installed OS.When done.. it booted right to C:\ and O:\ had been re assigned the letter D:\ but I checked and the windows folder and same used file size is there.BUT on Boot windows doesn't prompt which OS...So I thought' maybe in the install of xp2 XP onto C:\ the load files or something mixed up my O:\ OS... 'so I have put in the sp3 XP and done a repair attempt... but when 'searching for previous operating systems' it only came up with C:\ not now D:\ xp3 OS....Sigh.Is there a way in repair commands I can MAKE the pc boot from D:\ I think the drive being reassigned a new letter by the new OS formatting C:\ partition is creating a conflict in the Actual O:\ drive which I believe is what it would be IF I could boot into that OS... but being D:\ because of this one... isn't allowing registry of that drive to recognize itself.haha so confusing?Hopefully someone can follow that enough to give me a pointer.I pulled up the list of commands and tried forceboot or something and something else, but I don't know what i'm doing in repair console.It lets me 'logon' to D:\ in an explorer command sort of way... or chose what drive... but I don't know how to enact any changes.Is there a program I can use to select boot drives from bios type screen.. so if it doesn't work I can just allocate back to C:\/Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psycho-gHo Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Although I did not read the message to its entirety, I can for see driver conflicts coming up that will not allow certain devices to work fully or at all.Best thing to do is grab Win7 or if you are willing, a Linux distribution. That will give you the best option to making it usable again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienForce1 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Is there a program I can use to select boot drives from bios type screen.. so if it doesn't work I can just allocate back to C:\/Thanks! No , you only need to edit (be carefull what you do) one file : `boot.ini` . B)For more info read here : How to edit the Boot.ini file in Windows XP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anemones2 Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 I can't locate boot.iniAlso... Basically... I got Vista image to load up this time by booting from the partition copy on USB...I think having a copy of the partition on the HDD and the 255mb unallocated sector at the end of the HDD worked in my favour.So I choose to 'fully recover/restore/install vista' over C:\ which had xp sp2.... It got to formatting the partition... and failed...Anyway... I think I then activated D:\ in Easeus via C:drive OS to see if the xp sp3 os on there would run... but it just comes up with 'NTLDR is missing'.Now I have no OS to activate C:\ again instead of D:\/.Yeah you're right, it must have created two Bootfiles and conflicted and yes you're right... vista asked me for the 'drivers for your hard discs',seeking system information files.. but I didn't know where or what drivers.. so figured putting it on a laptop is a bad idea...I clicked next instead of putting drivers on.. and it crashed when formatting in the installation process of vista...without formatting.Anyway... so where can I find Boot.ini and In Easeus I changed the drive letter of D:\ to O:\ again...Then I did "MBR repair"... but the point I am at is still NTLDR is missing trying to boot with O:\ activated.SIIIGH..If I had changed D:\ to logical would this have let me boot from it...What would I type in Boot.ini to get this to work... ATM i'm trying to get a USB bootable OS to get into Partition Manager (installing it on the OS or figure out hiren's)then activate C:\ then find Boot.iniLOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anemones2 Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 ok so... http://tinyempire.com/notes/ntldrismissing.htm is a championbut This worked for me:http://www.5starsupport.com/faq/booting.htm#7-9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anemones2 Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 I edited Boot.ini to[boot loader]timeout=30default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Home" /fastdetectAnd it works now! :DAt boot I get option of XP for C:\ and Home *(same install I just renamed it to identify) for D:\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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