Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows Vista > Vista General Discussion > Vista wont boot without disk in the drive
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sportsfanboy   06-25-2008 at 08:01:48 AM

Hey everyone,

I built a dual boot system for a friend that needs both xp pro 32 bit and vista 64 bit.

The problem I'm having is, I can only boot with the windows disk in the dvd drive. The same goes for both partitions.

System specs are q9300, asus striker 780i, 8gb ozc, 9800gx2, plexter dvd, and 2 western digital hard drives with xp on 1 and vista on the other.

With the xp disk in the drive I can boot both Vista and XP depending on what I choose. Without It I recieve A Boot Disk Failure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thx in advance

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Zoron   06-25-2008 at 08:36:08 AM
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How did you install everything? Are you using the mobo's boot menu or the Windows boot menu? If you're using the Windows menu, it might just be a simple matter of repairing the boot record.

------------------------------ Desktop: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit; Intel Q6600 CPU; E-VGA 780i SLI motherboard; E-VGA E-GeForce 8800GT; OCZ Vista 4GB dual-channel kit; Ultra X2 750W power supply; 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB in RAID 0. Laptop: Acer Aspire 8730-6314;
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sportsfanboy   06-25-2008 at 08:49:53 AM
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I installed xp first, then vista, then booting from the windows option of: earlier version of windows or windows vista. When I choose one I get a boot disk failure untill I pop the disk in.

Boot menu in the bios? Do mean boot priority?

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Scotteq   06-25-2008 at 02:30:06 PM
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XP and Vista don't use the same setup for booting. Vista understands how to do XP, but not the other way around. This is normal in the case of a newer and older OS, BTW.

How to perform a Startup repair:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/ [...] epair.html

------------------------------ Which Chip? Well, it depends on which set of thieving b@stardz you choose to support: The ones who use insider trading to enrich themselves while running their company into the ground, or the ones who illegally pay vendors to not support the first group.
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sportsfanboy   06-25-2008 at 03:31:36 PM
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One question Scott, If I do that repair with the win vista disk, will my startup say: earlier version of windows, windows Vista (recovered)?

I did a repair before and it said that in the boot sequence. I'm trying to avoid the computer saying recovered evey time I pick the OS.

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Scotteq   06-25-2008 at 03:41:56 PM
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If you don't like it saying 'Recovered' there is a way to change the wording... I'd have to go in the manual to see how. Unfortunately, the book is at home and I'm at work. But if you want your dual boot to work, you have to repair the boot sector using the Vista disc.


If you're not afraid to play around with the internals, there's another way:

http://www.msfn.org/board/How-to-I [...] 00672.html


Message edited by Scotteq on 06-25-2008 at 03:44:26 PM
------------------------------ Which Chip? Well, it depends on which set of thieving b@stardz you choose to support: The ones who use insider trading to enrich themselves while running their company into the ground, or the ones who illegally pay vendors to not support the first group.
 Reply to Scotteq
sportsfanboy   06-25-2008 at 04:10:51 PM
- 0 +

What are your thoughts on easybcd? And I'm slightly afraid of the manual process just because I'm really late getting this thing to him as it is and I don't want to start over.

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sportsfanboy   06-25-2008 at 05:18:48 PM
- 0 +

Hey Scott... could you post a link to a manual or ( I know I'm asking a lot) reply with how to change the wording?

Very gratefull or the help, this dual boot build is going to put me in the grave ten years earlier than expected.

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EllH   06-25-2008 at 06:44:31 PM
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just a quick thought, i was having this problem with cd recently, it would not boot unless the drive had my xp disk sat in it.. i realised after weeks of this that i had at some point altered a setting in bios so it had the first boot device set as cd.. i altered this to hard drive and it booted perfectly after that.. give it a try, may work!

just my 2 cents worth :D

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sportsfanboy   06-25-2008 at 06:49:59 PM
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No the boot order was the first thing I changed after I finished the install.
Thanks for trying though.

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sportsfanboy   06-26-2008 at 09:18:02 AM
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solved!!

I change the order of the sata cables on the motherboard and boom, no errors.

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