Main partition wont boot.

[nick3318]

So I've been running Vista 32 on this pc for a while with no problems, its installed onto a 4 disk raid array.
I decided to try and install the 64 bit version of the windows 7 beta onto an empty 1tb drive i had. I booted up into the windows installer and got some sort of missing files error from the installer, i just figured i messed up burning the disc.


Anyway, I decided to work it out later and removed the extra hard drive and installer disc. But now my old vista install wont boot.
My raid configuration tool detects all the drives just fine and lists it as Bootable but it just hangs on a flashing underscore like i dont have a disc to boot from. Its number 1 on the boot priority list so it should be working just fine.


Any ideas? I dont see how anything has changed to cause this problem... I mean i had to cold boot it after the installation failed but i dont think that could really cause this problem.

 

[GhislainG]

In order to install Windows 7 and not mess up your other Windows installation, you had to disconnect the other drives (I know because I ran into similar issues with Windows XP). You need to undo the modifications that Windows 7 did to the bootloader by fixing your Vista 32 installation. You could also reinstall Windows 7 on the 1TB drive (leaving the RAID drives connected) and then you'd probably be able to boot Vista 32 and Windows 7.

I fixed mine using EasyBCD http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/EasyBCD+Documentation+Home;jsessionid=E16303951E9DCFB5F048CF84DAFD673F.

 

[nick3318]

Apparently reinserting the windows 7 installation disc and cancelling as soon as it gives you the option will also fix the bootloader. Problem seems to be solved. Thanks for the help!

 

[GhislainG]

That's nice to know.