Dell Inspiron 6000 xp SP3 2 partition XP on both.
Use 2nd Part for music software only clean install.
Was working fine but is seams after I installed Cakewalk Pyro it worked till I rebooted. Now it wont boot from cd or to 2nd part and just gives black screen after dispaying "windows is checking your.......Installed Recovery Console on c: and ran fixmbr and fixboot chkdsk reported no errors. Will boot vista cd although vista not on machine.
XP cd will boot if I remove Harddrive

Hi,
I do not understand, "will boot to Vista CD" "XP cd will boot if I remove Harddrive".
How are you booting windows, only from a boot CD?
How are you able to work on "C" if the CD will not work?

try safe mode ,f8 on bootup .if you get in uninstall cakewalk

Its a 2 partition disk boyh have xp sp3.
It will not boot to 2nd partition
Windows xp set up disk SP 3 will not boot but Vista cd will
If I pull HD xp cd will boot

Its a 2 partition disk both have xp sp3.
It will not boot to 2nd partition
Windows xp set up disk SP 3 will not boot but Vista cd will
If I pull HD xp cd will boot

Once I select 2nd partition Im dead just stays as black screen. Main partition boots fin and so does recovery console for c drive since I cant run from CD

Hi,
Have you checked your CD/DVD in "Device Manager'?
Try updating the driver or even disable it and let windows reinstall it on reboot.
Have you checked your hard drive in "Computer Management"? ("START" right click "MY COMPUTER" click "Disk Management")

My last post, that should read.. uninstall not disable...Sorry

Sounds like a dual boot gone bad.
Why would you put the same OS on 2 partitions on the same drive?
It's a wonder you didn't run into problems sooner.
If the main partition boots ok, can you access the 2nd from "My Computer", if so, copy the files you need to disc or to a USB drive and delete that partition. Create a new partition and just use it for storing your files and such.
Really not an ideal situation to install more than one OS per drive, even if it's the same OS. Get a 2nd HDD for that.

Hi,
I have been running an extra partition with an extra XP (A clone of the first) just to keep in case anything really bad happened to my first. It is now not up to date but there in case I need. I think it is a good idea. But I do not use the 2nd windows partition. I also have a partition for all programs and another with Acronis just to run new programs in to try them (Part of Acronis).

I have been running dual boot for years with no issues. I need it for a clean install of xp for my music creation software. No antivirus, no net cards etc. should I reinstall ntldr and ntdetect ????

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