Windows 7 Yet another dual boot thread... but different.

karossii

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Okay, read through many dual boot threads here but none seem to be quite like my problem.

My system drive failed in a media center PC I have built. I used my XP MCE 2005 install CD to create a new system drive, on a 1TB disc which had formerly been reserved for movies only. There was still plenty of free room, so it installed fine, ran off of it fora few hours no problem.

I then decided that since I was about to go through the process of reconstructing the whole system again, setting up preferences, installing all my software, etc., I may as well download Win 7 and try it out.

So I did, installing it on the new replacement drive (another 1TB drive). It was a clean install from a burned DVD onto a blank HD. I have had it up and running for days with no major issues.

Today I decided to install some games, and they won't load onto Win7. That was when it occurred to me, I haven't been getting the option to load that old XP MCE system - I can't dual boot. I go and check the drive, and it has all of the files and folder tructures for windows, left intact and untouched.

So how do I make the machine recognize it?




For a more detailed list of what happened, my machine had 3 drives; a 320GB system drive (D:) and two 1TB media (C: And E:) drives. The system drive failed (D:), and I installed an OS onto one of the media drives (E:). When I installed the new OS, it relabeled the drives (now down to two) as C: (the new system drive, formerly E:) and D: (the old primary media drive, formerly C:). I then downloaded Win7 and burned a DVD, then I booted using the DVD and installed Win7 on a NEW 1TB drive, and AGAIN all of my drives got swapped around; the Win7 drive is now C: (no previous designation), the primary media drive is now D: (formerly C:, then D:, and now still D:) and the WinXP MCE 2005 Drive is now E: (formerly E:, then C:, now back to E:).

When I go into Win7's startup options (right click 'computer' and get properties, then I go to Advanced System Settings, then Startup and Recovery Settings), the default operating system is Win7, and no other choices are listed - it doesn't seem to recognize WinXP MCE 2005. The check box for 'Time to disy list of operating systms' is checked and the value is 30 seconds. But I don't get a list on booting up.

I go into the E: drive and look over the Windows folder structure and whatnot, and it is valid as far as I can tell... no missing files or anything.

Any help?
 
There's two things you can try, One being boot off the Windows 7 disk and attempt to repair the boot sector, or run EasyBCD and attempt to repair the boot sector. Both are about the same ease of use, so whatever you choose is up to you.
 
not to sound stupid, but have you used your boot settings in your bios?

try to boot from the drive you have xp installed on and see if it works.

I can boot from any of my 3 drives this way.
 
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