Howdy,

I'm running two hard drives on my PC and i"m trying to re-install XP pro to both drives due to some nasties I can't rid myself. I'm installing with a XP pro upgrade CD. (My upgrade CD wont allow me to boot from the CD drive and install so I have to install to slave drive first than switch masters and install again) I can install to the slave drive with no problems. but when I switch the jumpers and try to reboot I get an error saying "invalid partition table". I've tried formatting with both NTFS and FAT formats but I get the same results. At start up the BIOS is recognizing that the new install is the master and the other HD is the slave; so i feel reasonably confident that I've got the jumpers set correctly. What am I missing? I've read that this error can be caused by having more than one partition active. Could this be my problem and Is there something that i can adjust in the master boot record?

Thanks

Hi mabantot,
Can't be 100% sure because I can't see your actual partition setup.. but..
If what you said is accurate..then..
you can probably use the procedure you described BUT...
you have to RE-INSTALL YOUR PREVIOUS VERSION OF WINDOWS TO YOUR SLAVE DRIVE FIRST...then..
use your "updrade CD" in the way you are attempting to install it.
Hope this helps
RGPHNX

I'm partitioning each drive as one space and i've already been able to install to the slave drive but when i try to switch masters it wont boot to the new master. To get a boot up I have to reset from boot setup. do you know how to check the master boot record on XP? Is their such a thing with NTFS partioning?

When you switched the drives (master/slave) did you change the 1st boot device in the Bios to specify which drive to boot off of? If you switch drives like that it's going to look at the last drive there and if it's not set to as an active partition it's not going to see a boot strap.

I have found that you set your jumpers first then install the OS, not vice versa. Anytime you change the hardware you usually have to change the software to compensate. Do the hardware first, then the software then you won't have to change it if your hardware is right. If you reinstall XP after moving drives (master/slave) it will see the other XP partition and put it in a mutliboot automatically.

Ok for this one you need to understand how Win XP, 2000, 2003 set up.

If you have 2 hard drives we will call them "C" and "D".
If you install one of the above mentioned operating systems to drive D then
for it to be able to boot up it also writes information into the partition table of drive C.
This is because drive C is the default drive that an OS will install to... when you install the OS to drive D... then drive C is called the "System" drive and must remain there for the OS on drive D to be able to start up.

As soon as you switch these two drives around... then the operating system is looking to the wrong place and can't find the correct information to start up.

Or you can change your boot.ini to reflect where the partitions are located.

Unfortunately if you install to Drive D there is no boot.ini on Drive D it is on Drive C which after you switch the drives around... you are still left with no boot.ini... the problem lies in the Master Boot Record... not the boot.ini file.

after switching the drives you can start your system up with your Windows XP install disk and choose fix an install with the console.

once logged in type help.
it will give you a list of available commands.

one is fixmbr which stands for fix master boot record. This MAY fix your troubles. It gives you a warning before continuing... so read carefully.... it will not do permanent damage as you can always start from scratch on the drive again (re-install) but in most cases it works fine.