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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.uwa.edu.au!classic.iinet.com.au!swing.iinet.net.au!news.uoregon.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!agate!cimsim.IEOR.Berkeley.EDU!cander From: cander@cimsim.IEOR.Berkeley.EDU (Charles Anderson) Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Broken multi-boot install Date: 23 Oct 1995 05:06:44 GMT Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 36 Message-ID: <46f7t4$ms6@agate.berkeley.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cimsim.ieor.berkeley.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup:29535 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:7958 I'm trying to install Windows 3.5.1 (from the development platform CD's) on a PC that has been running DOS and FreeBSD, and now it won't boot DOS or complete the NT install. Before: I was running DOS and BSD on a 1.8 GB SCSI disk. I had ~350MB for DOS and ~500 for BSD - the rest was unallocated. I've been using the FreeBSD boot manager to pick and choose between the two. During: The NT setup program copied the NT files onto my C: drive and asked for a reboot. After that the boot manager prompt gave me the usual choice of DOS and BSD. When I choose DOS, nothing happens - the system is dead. I can boot BSD fine, and I can boot DOS from a floppy and see my C: drive, and it seems fine. After: I've since retried the NT installation onto a new DOS partition, but that didn't work either - same symptoms. BTW< The new DOS partion fits in the first 1024 cylinders, which is a whole 'nother story :-(. I've tried the DOS fdisk to re-activate the primary DOS partion, but that didn't help either. My guess: based on stuff in the FreeBSD group, the BSD fdisk or boot loader has tweaked some stuff in the MBR that NT doesn't like. If could install a vanilla DOS boot loader (without support for BSD), and complete the NT installation, I'm hopeful that I could restore the BSD boot manager or tweak the NT loader to boot BSD. The problem is I don't know didly about DOS and fear that the only way to install a boot manager is from format. Any silver bullets out there? -- Charles Anderson IEOR Graduate Student