Ostriig on 27/10/2008 at 15:04
I got my laptop back from Acer servicing (mainboard defect), and it's back to having Vista on it. I'd like to set up an XP installation on it as well, since I'll mostly be using it for University work, but I don't know how to go about it. The single HDD is split into two NTFS 60gig partitions, but the BIOS obviously can't see that, so I can't use its Boot priority to switch from one OS to the other. I haven't worked with a boot agent before, and I could use any advice or software recommendations.
Matthew on 27/10/2008 at 15:28
I think that Vista's boot agent should probably be able to let you do that itself? At least, Vista automatically gave me the choice to load my old XP install at startup.
Also, I would like to introduce you to (
http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1) EasyBCD.
Ostriig on 27/10/2008 at 18:49
Thanks! I've downloaded the .exe and skimmed the documentation, seems to be what I need. As much as I wanted to get right on it, though, I'm probably gonna have to sit on it 'till tomorrow to get an XP license off my Uni.
bikerdude on 27/10/2008 at 18:57
they only thing I couldnt get EacyBCD to do properly is hide vista from xp and visa versa... even though the utility says it can do it...
biker
Matthew on 28/10/2008 at 11:13
Quote Posted by Ostriig
Thanks! I've downloaded the .exe and skimmed the documentation, seems to be what I need. As much as I wanted to get right on it, though, I'm probably gonna have to sit on it 'till tomorrow to get an XP license off my Uni.
Heh, that's what I did - free Vista Business 64 is fun.
Ostriig on 28/10/2008 at 22:03
Well, I got it sorted out - dual booting Vista Home Premium and XP Professional. A couple of hic-ups with some faulty firmware, but it's booting fine and I'm installing SP3 for XP as I'm typing this. EasyBCD did the trick, thanks Matthew!
And Biker, I guess I'd share your disapproval of EasyBCD's inability to hide one OS from the other, if only I knew what exactly that meant. :p
I do feel the need to vent about this one issue, though - one problem seems to have not been fixed with the whole servicing malarkey. When shutting down from Vista it's all good, but when doing so from XP, the computer saves settings, logs off ok, but doesn't actually shut down. Just stays on the "Windows is shutting down" screen while I retain mouse control. At this point, I suspect it may be something with the BIOS. Mine is a version 1.33, with the Acer support site offering two distinct versions of 1.34, one for XP and one for Vista running systems (don't know, just saying what they have on there). This problem has persisted through servicing and multiple different distributions of XP, and it only shows up with XP. I don't want to mess with the BIOS version, since the support site specifically warns that using the wrong update may cause more severe problems, requiring yet another return to base.
To be honest, I think I just might give up on this one - I haven't been prompted to check file integrity after turning the laptop off manually when reaching the stopping point, and I'm not too bothered about holding my finger on the power button for five seconds after it's logged off.
