Help vista boot problem

[David B]

Hello,

I currently am having a issue dual booting XP and Vista. To get you started understanding i have two hard drives and a few partitions. I first installed XP on the G:\ partition (dont ask why its not on C:\). Everything was set up fine. I then proceeded to install Vista on the C:\ partition. Everything installed fine rebooted a few times and then after i finally got into Vista it shut itself down (normally as in telling me it was shutting down) and rebooted. It then went haywire. It seems that as soon as it hits the boot menu it crashes and instantly resets. I cannot get it to stop at the right spot to get the error. I havent tried much with BCDEdit and Bootrec. I am just curious if anyone has any help to give on this situtation. If i could obtain the error i would be in business but it happens so quick and the break key wont allow it to pause when i need it to... Thanks in advance!!!

David B

[Terry60]

Hi David, welcome to NST.
Hit PF8 when you boot Vista and you should get the multi-option menu "last good config, safe mode, etc etc" One of the options is "no auto restart" or words to that effect, and if you use that option, the boot will stop on the error instead of carrying on so fast that you can't read it.
Post back if you still need help after finding the stop error code.

[David B]

Thanks for the quick reponse... I didnt even think about loading the boot menu. It seems to crash at the "Windows Boot Manager" where i pick the operating systems "Vista" or "Earlier Version of Windows" I dont even get a chance to select a OS it just crashes and restarts. Does Windows Boot Manager load prior to being aloud to Press F8 or after? because if it loads before i dont think i will be able to access the boot menu via F8.. does that make any sense?

[Terry60]

Hold PF8 down as soon as you see your BIOS splash screen, before you get to the bootmanager screen.

[David B]

It didnt work i tried holding F8 down (i want to make sure PF8 means the same thing) i believe the issue is before it is trying to boot. Holding down F8 did nothing and it did thesame thing. I tried using the Setup Repair and they say it couldnt fix the problem because :
Roo Cause

System Disk = Device\HardDisk0
Winodwsdirectory = D:\Windows
Autochk run = 0

[Terry60]

When you say the setup repair doesn't work, are you referring to the "repair startup" choice after you boot your Vista DVD and ask it to "repair my computer" ?

[kairozamorro]

This problem happens quite often. Simple changes to the disk can cause the computer to reset continuously. Enter your BIOS as you are booting the computer to stop it from rebooting and to change the boot priority so that your disc drive is at the top of the list. Insert a vista dvd/recovery disc and select "Repair my computer" after booting from it.. It should automatically detect the misconfiguration and correct it for you. If not, select your installation and click next and then "Startup Repair".

[David B]

Just an update... Looks like some how my boot sectors on my HD got corrupted and a simple bootrec /fixboot fixed the issue thanks for all the help guys!!!