Reinstalling Windows on a Duel Boot system – Don’t ignore the ESCD!

I am using a duel boot setup, with Windows XP being the main workhorse, and Windows 98 hanging around just in case. (98 – First Partition, XP – Second.) I am running an EPOX 8KHA+. (Via 266A Chipset.)

I originally made up a description of how to set this up for those who haven’t tried, but I lost it. (If you click on another word file, and then close word, ‘Document1’ might be the ONE YOU WERE WORKING ON!) Anyway – here’s the short, frustrated writer version. 2 Partitions, at Least 5 Gigs for XP, Install Windows 98 or ‘ME’ FIRST, on first partiton. (C Drive) Install XP on second one. Use Fat32 if you want to see XP files from Windows 98. Done! Boot menu provided by XP setup!

Anyway, I decided that Windows 98 had to be redone, (Too many upgrades, to few drivers fixed.. Just messy.)

What I discovered may be some benefit to others in this position! (By position, I mean being unfortunate enough to only know as much as ME.)

First question – What happens to the nice Boot menu that Windows XP made for me? Nothing! Well, almost. Win98 changes itself to the default system. You can change that back in XP when you’re all done. (Control Panel / System / Advanced / Startup and Recovery Settings)

The second question was an unexpected one! Why is Windows 98 refusing to work with my system? In the device manager, the ACPI was not working, and the error read as follows;

“Windows could not load the driver for this device because the computer is reporting two ACPI.SYS bus types. (Code 2) Contact your computer manufacturer to get an updated BIOS for your computer.”

Ok. Well, The board is new, and the BIOS is newEST. (Windows 98 being about 3 years older then BOTH..) I think I’ll take the error message with a grain of salt. Could the two bus types mentioned have something to do with duel booting?? Hmm.

Microsoft’s support site had nothing. Newsgroup searches had little more. Several other people had seen it, but there were no answers – but there was ONE CLUE. Duel booting seemed to be a common thread!

So the question NOW is - If you boot off a floppy, and install Win98 into a NEW directory on your c: partition, what influence could XP have?? The only difference in the duel boot setup is the boot menu, which I don’t think would cause the problem.

I thought I needed to install the VIA 4in1 pack, so I tried, but the installer crashed with a Registry Error!!

I tried another thing, and thought it worked for a bit, changing the ACPI driver to a ‘fail safe’ one provided with Windows98. Devices were seen now, but none would work! The 4in1 installed, but didn’t help.

Intriguing? I installed 3 times with the same result. I figured it would have to be a card in my system causing it, but my old install was not like this! So I avoided opening the case.

My mind kept coming back to the ESCD. You know – that little place where on your mainboard where the BIOS and the OS leave ‘notes’ for each other. (Full name: Extended System Configuration Data) I kept thinking, could XP be leaving something there that is throwing 98 off? It seemed to be the only thing left! (Not that I had REALLY eliminated everything else, but it was a gut feeling.)

First I tried resetting the BIOS defaults. No good.

So I jumped into the BIOS again, and under the PCI configuration section, I saw the ‘Reset Configuration Data’ option. It promised to wipe the ESCD out when I exited! So I enabled it, booted off the floppy, and setup Windows 98 again. Was I ever impressed to see everything working just as I had hoped!! After I had several more critical drivers running, I went back into XP. XP just stared at me as if to say, ‘What? Why you lookin at me? You think something’s wrong?’ (XP rocks. SO much less pickyness.)

Then I booted back into Windows 98. It was fine still too! All the drivers are running now, (Fully loaded machine!), and everything is happy!

The lesson here is don’t underestimate the influence of that little ESCD! It may seem insignificant, and you may never think about it, but it can cost you HOURS if you forget it at the wrong time!

Thanks for reading!
Phil Davis
phuzzy_davis@yahoo.com