Dual Boot Issues

[Knighthis]

I currently run a dual boot system with Win XP Pro on my two Maxtor SATA drives in RAID 0 running off my SI SATA controller. (drive "F")

I have a third drive running off the IDE channel with Win98 SE. (drive "C")

Win98 has become corrupted and will not start. If I disconnect the drive then my Win XP will not run as the there seems to be an issue with it needing the start files on the Win98 drive to boot up.

My question is, How can I format my "C" drive getting rid of Win98 and then using it for storage and backup, while making my "F" drive the primary boot drive?

When I boot without my Win98 drive powered, my system wants to boot from disk, I put in my WinXP disc but when it gets to the setup it tells me it cannot find any hard disks.

It's been so long ago that I set all this up I forgot how I did it in the first place.

My system spec's should appeare below so you can see my hardware.

Thanks much for the help.


__________________
Gigabyte GA-8KNXP 875P
P4C 2.8 Northwood @ 3.5Mhz
Vantec AeroFlow w/ TMD
Corsair 2x CMX256A-3500C2PT
BFG 6800 GT OC 256mg
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 17
Maxtor 2x 80gig SATA DiamondMax Plus 9 in RAID 0
IBM 1x 40gig ATA100 60GXP
Creative Audigy 2
Plextor PX-712SA/SW DVD+R/RW 12x DVD
Creative 52x CD ROM
Vantec VAN-470A 470
Addtronics ET-6896A Full Tower
WinXP Pro / Win98 SE Dual Boot

 

[khha4113]

Boot your comp using XP CD. Press F6 to install SATA RAID driver (it's essential or you can't access your RAID HDs). At its Setup menu, choose Repair (R). Enter the number of your Windows XP installation (usually is 1 if your HD only has XP), then press ENTER. Supply admin password when it prompts (if you're using HOME, its password by default is blank so just press ENTER).
Type 'fixboot' (w/o quotation marks) and EXIt to restart your comp. Now you'd be able to boot directly from XP partition (remember to set your comp boot first from RAID).

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[Knighthis]

Thanks for the info.

I did the F6 but when it comes to the point of wanting to load the "SCSI drivers" it wants to access the "A" drive. I don't have the drivers on a floppy. Is this the way I should go?
Can I get the driver for the Silcon Image RAID on a floppy disc, or is it too big?

I'm still alittle lost.

 

[folken]

Yes they will easily fit on a floppy. Just download the Sil3112 drivers <A HREF="http://america.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/FileList/Driver/driver_raid_silicon_3x12.exe" target="_new">here</A>, extract the files, and copy the textsetup.oem and winxp drivers onto a floppy.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[Knighthis]

I found my old disk with the Sil 3112 driver on it. Yea!

I'll give it a try now.

Thanks much!

 

[Knighthis]

More problems.

I followed your instructions and it did not go as planned.

First, when I got to the part where I type in "fixboot", I had to type it in after "C:\WINDOWS" and it told me it was an invalid directory.

I went through the process again and it seemed to work. It asked me if it was OK for a new boot sector to be written to the C partition. I typed "y" and enter. It said that the new boot sector was written succesfully.
I hit the reset button and now it comes up telling me
"NTLDR is missing"
Press "Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

What did I do wrong?

The existing WinXP is running on my two SATA drives as the "F" drive. Is this the problem?

If so, how can I change the the directory to this drive when it comes up as "C"?

I'm not opposed to just reformating the whole thing but would rather not if possible.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[khha4113]

You can repair your Windows installation using XP CD. At its Setup menu, press ENTER instead of R (for Recovery console). When it comes up with the menu and list of your XP partition, press R (Repair) here to fix your system files (it should copy 3 files ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini into your XP's boot sector).

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.