Boot probs: XP boot.ini & swap & multiple disk controllers
Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2014 6:10 am
I can't quite figure out what I'm doing wrong trying to boot XP Pro/SP3 from a backup copy of my boot partition, so I'd appreciate some help.
Here's the situation: My main 32-bit XP Pro/SP3 system contains three different disk controllers: (1): UltraSCSI-320 (primary boot device), (2): Sil-4124 SATA Raid zero, and (3): an 8-port Marvell SATA non-raid controller (a SuperMicro model AOC-SAT2-MV8) with multiple hard drives.
I made a cloned backup of my main boot partition from the first partition of the RAID 'drive' on controller 1 (the UltraSCSI) to the second partition on a disk on controller 3 using Acronis Disk Director 11 update 2. For troubleshooting reasons, I want to boot from that cloned backup partition. I'm using the latest version of BootIt Bare Metal (v1.24).
Naturally, I knew I had to modify the boot.ini file on the cloned partition (on controller 3). I've read: How Partition Numbers are Assigned in BOOT.INI (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=159) That disk has exactly two partitions, and they are both primary partitions (the cloned partition is number 2 counting from 1 as needed for boot.ini) So, I changed the partition() field to "2" in that boot.ini file. The file then reads as follows:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=optin
Then I started the Maintenance mode of BootIt BM, and added a new boot entry in the boot manager that pointed to the correct disk and partition, and enabled the "swap" checkbox.
But when I try to boot using that BootIt entry, I first get (from the boot loader) the message "Invalid boot.ini", which is followed shortly thereafter with the old "missing or corrupt hal.dll" message, and that's the end of that!
What am I doing wrong? Might it have something to do with the 3 different controllers (regarding, say, the disk() or rdisk() values)? Are there some special requirements for the encoding of the boot.ini file? I'm stumped!
Here's the situation: My main 32-bit XP Pro/SP3 system contains three different disk controllers: (1): UltraSCSI-320 (primary boot device), (2): Sil-4124 SATA Raid zero, and (3): an 8-port Marvell SATA non-raid controller (a SuperMicro model AOC-SAT2-MV8) with multiple hard drives.
I made a cloned backup of my main boot partition from the first partition of the RAID 'drive' on controller 1 (the UltraSCSI) to the second partition on a disk on controller 3 using Acronis Disk Director 11 update 2. For troubleshooting reasons, I want to boot from that cloned backup partition. I'm using the latest version of BootIt Bare Metal (v1.24).
Naturally, I knew I had to modify the boot.ini file on the cloned partition (on controller 3). I've read: How Partition Numbers are Assigned in BOOT.INI (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=159) That disk has exactly two partitions, and they are both primary partitions (the cloned partition is number 2 counting from 1 as needed for boot.ini) So, I changed the partition() field to "2" in that boot.ini file. The file then reads as follows:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=optin
Then I started the Maintenance mode of BootIt BM, and added a new boot entry in the boot manager that pointed to the correct disk and partition, and enabled the "swap" checkbox.
But when I try to boot using that BootIt entry, I first get (from the boot loader) the message "Invalid boot.ini", which is followed shortly thereafter with the old "missing or corrupt hal.dll" message, and that's the end of that!
What am I doing wrong? Might it have something to do with the 3 different controllers (regarding, say, the disk() or rdisk() values)? Are there some special requirements for the encoding of the boot.ini file? I'm stumped!