Need help with a dual boot setup.

I need some help with a dual boot setup.
It was working great, I tweaked it, it broke.

I've sought help at a couple of other forums but don't have the answer yet.
There were some good suggestions made, but what I am really looking for is a way to get this system back to the dual boot configuration I had before.

The members here at wilders have a really impressive range of knowledge so I thought I would see if anyone could suggest anything.

computer description
HP p7 1235 desktop, CPU = AMD A8-5500, Motherboard = MSI 2AE0 (P0)
Hard Drive = Hitachi SATA Disk, 1 tb, GPT formatted
UEFI BIOS = JAS_707.ROM
HP setup utility = American Megatrends ver. 2.14.1219
OS = win 7 64 bit

This computer came with win 7 64 bit on a 1 tb SATA HDD, call it "HDD1".
I Installed win xp 32 bit onto a different 1 tb SATA hdd, call it "HDD2".

HDD1 (win 7) was unplugged during the win xp installation process.
Win xp was installed from a custom disk made with nLlite to slipstream a custom driver for win xp (it works).
After installing win xp, there was a single partition on HDD2 (win xp) of about 1 tb labelled C:.
When Win 7 was the active OS it would see HDD2 (win xp) as a volume labelled f:.
When Win xp was the active OS it would not see HDD1 (Win 7) at all.
Both HDDs are always plugged in to the same SATA ports as when it worked.

It worked perfectly for several months. I could boot either OS by selecting its HDD from the BIOS boot menu.
It was not necessary to use a boot manager, just tap esc at startup to get to the boot menu, then select the desired HDD, either SATA0 for win 7 or SATA1 for win xp.

Then I tweaked it to make it better.
A few weeks ago I created 3 new partitions on HDD2 (win xp), and this problem started.
I used Acronis on a different computer to create 3 new "logical" partitions of 250, 500, and 136 gb.
The OS and the boot flag on HDD2 remained in the C:\ partition, about 50 gb in size.

The problem now is this.
If HDD2 (win xp) with its new partitions is plugged in the computer will only boot into win xp.
If HDD2 is not connected, the computer will perform "Startup Repair", then boot to HDD1 (win 7).
But if I reconnect HDD2 (win xp), I get a black & white screen that says "windows is loading files",
then a scroll bar across the bottom of the screen, then it boots into win xp.
From then on, any choice in the BIOS boot menu boots to win xp if HDD2 is plugged in .

Since the only change was partitioning HDD2 (win xp), that must be what caused the problem.
But since the partitions were made using a different computer, and no change was made to HDD1 (win 7), I
can't figure out how partitioning HDD2 (win xp) could have changed the boot options, which depend on the BIOS, afaik.

What I want to do is get the computer back to that original dual boot configuration. That is, tap esc,
get to the boot menu, and select which HDD to boot.

I really appreciate any suggestions anyone can offer.

 

login123,

Are you using the computer in UEFI or MBR mode? I assume UEFI as the first HD is GPT.

Edit... Why did you partition the second HD in another computer? Just curious.

 

Hi, Brian K

I am not sure how to determine that. This Computer is using the default boot that it uses for win 7.
Afaik, win 7 is on is a UEFI partition, GPT formatted drive. Would a screenshot help?

I have Acronis DD on the other computer. Didn't know enough about partitioning in win 7 to try it on that machine.

 

login123,

Thanks for PMing those screenshots. Win7 installed in UEFI mode.

I'm not a fan of Acronis Disk Director. I suggest putting your partitions back to the pre-Acronis state. Your three logical volumes are empty so boot from your Partition Wizard disk, delete the three logical volumes and resize the WinXP partition to the full size of the HD.

Does that help? There seems to have been crosstalk between the OS since you made those partition changes.

 

OK.
Not at the computer right now, will do that when I am.
Thanks.

 

One thing I noticed in your BIOS that appeared strange was the Boot Order.

For UEFI Boot Sources you have Windows Boot Manager which is correct.

For Legacy Boot Sources you have SATA 0 in several screens which doesn't look correct. (SATA 0 is your Win7 UEFI disk) Can you change this to SATA1?

 

Yes, can do that.

Pictures with _2012_ in them are from 2012, everything was working.
Pictures with _2013_ are after the problem started.
Pictures with _default_ are from the HP website.

Several pictures from before and after, and also the ones from the HP site, show SATA0 under Legacy.
Also, I know for sure that BIOS1c_2012_bootmenu_2hd.jpg shows the boot menu when the computer was working right.

That's why I didn't try that yet. But I could.
Also could just use the disks to reset win 7 to factory original. That way we would know for sure the BIOS was right.
Would be OK to do that, user data is backed up anyway.

 

Weird, but try it anyway. Delete the partitions and edit the BIOS.

 

OK. Will try deleting the partition first. Will be a day, maybe two before I can post back.

Thanks very much for looking in to this issue. I'm stumped.

 

Me too. I hope we're not still stumped in two days time.

 

Hi, Brian K.
Well, its fixed. Have no real idea why its fixed, but here's what I did.

- Deleted that extra partition, didn't help.
- Reinstalled win xp to HDD2, didn't help.
- Ran startup repair 3 or 4 times, it only helped until I booted win xp, then had to run it again to get to win 7.
- Did not move anything around in the boot menu, was afraid to.
- Reinstalled win 7 from the HP recovery partition. That fixed it.

Now, a normal boot with no user input goes to win 7.
esc > f9 > to Windows Boot Manager goes to win 7
esc > f9 > to either HDD goes to win xp. No idea why?
Back to a normal boot after booting win xp goes to win 7

Now the boot menu looks like this.

EFI Boot Sources
- Windows Boot Manager
Legacy Boot sources
- ATAPI CD/DVD Drive
- - SATA2
- Hard Drive
- - SATA1
- - SATA0
Network Controller (Atheros Boot Agent)

It looks different from any of those pictures. SATA0 and SATA1 have switched places. The DVD drive is back up where it originally was. There is no mention of the Hitachi by name. Everything is listed under "Legacy" except the Windows Boot Manager.

Its a strange setup. I don't understand it nor fully trust it, but it is allowing a boot from either OS. Fingers crossed.
I am still looking around for information about this BIOS, HP is mostly silent about their newer BIOSs.

Thank you so much for looking in to this with me. I'm sure you would have eventually arrived at a better solution, but this works, not as slick as the original setup, but it works.

If you have any ideas or suggestions about why this happened or want to suggest some other fixes that would be great, but if not that's OK, it is working now, can boot either OS.

I do wonder, though, if recreating a new partition on the win xp drive would mess it all up again. You think so? Now that I know I can get back to a working setup I feel a bit bolder about experimenting.

Thanks again, its one I owe you.

 

Creating a new partition on the win xp HDD did not mess up the booting.
This time the new partition is a primary partition, not a logical partition.
Now there are two: C: at about 45.5 gb, and D: at about 886 gb.
Both OSs still boot successfully. Fingers crossed.
Thanks again, Brian.

 

login123 is referring to this thread....

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...efi-mode-after-adding-another-hard-drive.html