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Thread ID: 28897 2003-01-04 06:43:00 Dual Booting PC reload problem Dolby Digital (160) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
110962 2003-01-04 06:43:00 Greetings,

I have a pc which dual (triple?) boots Win98, Win2000 Pro and Mandrake Linux 8.2 (not at the same time of course :D ). Win98 has decided to get upset so I thought I would reload it. Alas when I try, it gets upset about the boot sector of the HDD and says "no go".

Can I reload Win98 without having to reload all the above os's.

Cheers
Dolby Digital (160)
110963 2003-01-05 01:59:00 Unfortunately, the loading order for a multiboot is: W9x, W2000, Linux . :D

Installing W98 makes a W98 boot sector . Installing W2000 installes a Windows multi boot sector . Linux then makes a lilo (or grub) boot for the whole catastrophe . lilo saves a copy of the Windows sector . I don't think grub does .

So: Make a "boot floppy" (not a "rescue floppy" for Linux, and one for W2000 (which I hope you won't need) .

Then: First, if you use lilo, try booting Linux, and going "lilo -u" . That will restore the Windows multi boot . See if that allows you to reload W98 . If not (or you used grub) you'll need to do a "w98 DOS" "FDISK /MBR", and then reload W98 . Then boot Linux from the floppy, and rerun lilo or grub to restore the Linux multiboot . That should get you back to where you were .

I think that this will work . :D If no one howls too loudly, you might think it's worth a try . The usual "MS guarantee" applies: No promises mean anything, if the media is corrupted you can get another copy, and if you don't like the conditions you can get your money back . :D :D
Graham L (2)
110964 2003-01-05 22:24:00 >
> So: Make a "boot floppy" (not a "rescue floppy" for
> Linux, and one for W2000 (which I hope you won't
> need) .

Win2K cant make a "boot floppy" AFAIK . 4x insall floppies come with it depending on what type of liscence you purchased, but you CAN boot from the CD itself and run a repair which will then simply fix and files and restore its boot settings!

You can also run repair once booted from the floppies, they just load SCSI drivers, CD-ROM Drivers and a few other things, the process is the same, only by FDD it is a lil slower :)
Chilling_Silence (9)
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