Windows XP and Redhat 7.3 HELP!

I just installed Redhat 7.3 for the first time and it all went great!
Bad news is that my Windows XP won't boot now!!

I installed Partition Magic 8 on the original windows xp partition so that I could install Linux on the same drive. I run Partition Magic and it all seems to work. Everything seems to go fine. I resize the main partition to ~11Gdb and create an ext3 partition for Linux. It set the windows partition to inactive. I did not think that was going to be a problem. I install redhat 7.3 just fine (am typing this from mozilla!). I set up GRUB to dual boot butt when
I try to boot back into windows I get an error! It can't seem to find 'xmnt2002.exe' and 'autocheck'. The windows NTFS partition is currently 'inactive'. Will setting it back to active fix the problem? If so, how can I set the NTFS partition back to active from Linux? If not, have I toasted my NTFS partition???

Thanks in advance for any help you can give,
Matt Levy

sound like the grub.conf file needs to be setup for windows xp

title WindowsXP
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

David,

Thanks for the GRUB info. I had already set up grub to work with WIndows:

from /boot/grub/grub.conf:

Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

I have tried all various options (e.g. removing makeactive, etc...) but to no avail.

GRUB look like it sucessfully boots XP, but then the XP dies with the error messages 'autochk failed'... or something close to that. After reading a bit about the problem in other forums, it is not a unqiue problem, only I do not yet have the answer. The best suggestion I have found so far is that somehow the install of GRUB messed up the MBR for XP.

This forum may not be appropraite for this problem. Sorry to inflict my windows problems on you all.

Wish me luck!

-matt

Windows has to be on an active partition.Did you run PM8 from the CD and reset C: to active?
lynch

try booting the windows cd and run fixmbr
or fdisk /mbr with a win boot floppy

you will need to reinstall grub if it's going to boot your systems from the mbr, so have a working linux boot disk.

Sorted!!
Thanks for all the help!
From GRUB I did a 'unhide' on the XP partition. Solved the problem.
I also put a unhide for the partition into grub.conf.
Seems to be taking care of things.

Thanks again,
Matt

hi,
i just installed Redhat 7.2 on my laptop which had windows XP. I had used Parititon magic 8 to partition windows XP. I made my linux partition as active and that made the windows partition hidden. I then installed linux and that went fine. Also installed Grub on the MBR. But now when i boot up Linux works fine. But when i boot into windows XP after the Xp logo screen it says that "autochk programme not found- skipping autocheck" Then the computer gives a stop message and shuts down. I have tried to setactive the windows partiton usinf the grub.conf but the problem still persists. Even after running fixboot from the XP installation CD windows does not boot. Is there a way out so that i can get to the windows partition. IS there some way of making that partition unhidden from linux.
thanks in advance
kaal

Originally posted by mattMonkey Bad news is that my Windows XP won't boot now!!

...errrrr, I do not see any problem here.
Unable to boot Windows ? What's the point ?

I have the same problem with SuSE Linux 8.2.
Can you post the entries here?

these are my confs:
title Windows XP
unhide(hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
makeactive

Originally posted by mattMonkey Sorted!! Thanks for all the help! From GRUB I did a 'unhide' on the XP partition. Solved the problem. I also put a unhide for the partition into grub.conf. Seems to be taking care of things. Thanks again, Matt

Partition Magic can also be used to toggle the active bootable status of any primary partition. It is an option in one of the menus when you are looking at the graphic display of your harddrive. I am not sure if that is causing the problem kaal is having or not. I do not have Win XP but do have Win 2K, Win ME, PC DOS 2000, SuSE 8.2, RH 7.3 and Red Hat 9 all on this computer. I also use Partiton Magic.

Does the the Partiton Magic or System Commander boot menu come up first when you boot up or does GRUB come up first? On my computer the System Commander menu comes up first and then if I select Linux GRUB or LILO is called. If I select Windows 2000, the normal Windows bootloader is used. When you install Linux with either Partition Magic or System Commander it is best to have LILO installed in the "root sector of the boot partiton" instead of the MBR option. I assume the same could and should be done if using GRUB. I do not know if you did that or not but if not doing that would result in the Partition Magic MBR being overwritten and then GRUB would just come up instead of the System Commander menu. I have made that mistake an had to boot from the System Commander Utility Disk 1 to to allow System Commander to detect the problem and correct it automatically. I am not sure from what you said if that is your problem or not?

One other thought is do you have a Win XP boot disk or a Win XP repair disk? If you have the Win XP boot disk you could try booting your computer up using that.

Here is one other thought that I would like to add to what I said above. On my computer I am able to run Partition Magic before booting up into Windows or any other operating system. I have found that it can be used even when Windows is not working for one reason or another. In the System Commander boot menu that first appears there should be an option on top of the screen for Partitioning which should run Partition Magic for you. Anyway, is that available for you to use? If that menu does not appear when you first boot up I would suspect that the System Commander or Partition Magic MBR has been overwritten by the GRUB MBR. I am not sure if that is your situation or not?

Here is a little cheap insurance for us xp users who haven't
cut loose from windows yet. Microsoft knowledge base 305595.
You can make a bootloader floppy that will let you boot xp. If
you can see xp but can't boot you can use midnight commander
to copy the needed files to a floppy.

problem is solved. it is in fact a partition magic problem. pm sets the ntfs partition to hidden and the system fails to start after that.

one solution could be to enter the drive with another computer (windows) and installed pm. pm recognises the hidden drive. set the drive to unhidden and windows will work again.

thank you very much for your great efforts!!!

all the best!

Originally posted by DavidPhillips sound like the grub.conf file needs to be setup for windows xp title WindowsXP root (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1

Spent 3 hrs on this issue.To make matters worse, I am an absolute newbie, so Ididnt even know how to set these parameters.Played around a bit at Grub screen and found out how to get to the prompt and set the options exactly as above other than Title which I left at WinDOZE.


Worked like magic. Saw a message...
Partition Magic completing....
system restarted to Windows Normally after that

Thanks many .You are my angel

fine!

So next time you solve a common problem, post it on the web so that it can be found by others... because it makes them happy, too