Hi... I have multi boot system. New version VISTA and older version Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional. Everything were fine and all of a sudden I probably corrupted my bootfiles cause right now Vista and XP are okay but when Server 2003 started to boot ... it won't boot up ... it just keeps on restarting back and forth back to 2003 windows.. so I know i messed up my boot.ini files if i am right or whatever files are that involved ... Could somebody help me on this one please .. I will appreciate ... thank you very much...

What are you using to multi-boot? A third party boot manager program, or - an operating system's built in support? If you using an operating system's built in support, which operating system did you load (install) last? In any case, it sounds like the multiboot is working fine, there's probably nothing wrong with boot.ini, and the actual problem is you have a problem with Server 2003 you need to fix. Try repeatedly pressing F8, don't hold down that key, immediately after you select Server 2003, to see if you can get into the boot choices menu for Server 2003 - if you can, try selecting Safe mode to see if it will then load successfully. If you do get the boot choices menu for Server 2003, I don't know what your choices are. If they are the same as for XP, you could also try selecting - Last Known Good... - Enable VGA mode - if that works, your problem probably has something to do with the specific video drivers that are are being loaded in normal mode. You can un-install video drivers in Enable VGA mode. Sometimes you can't do that in Safe mode. - Disable automatic restart on system failiure - if that works, you may then get an error message you can investigate about what un-recoverable error is causing Server 2003 to reboot automatically If Safe mode works, Enable VGA mode does not, then your problem is caused by something that isn't being loaded in Safe mode that is being loaded in normal mode, but it probably has nothing to do with the specific video drivers that are are being loaded in normal mode. ...... Disable automatic restart on system failiure only works the one time when you select it from the boot choices menu. If you want that setting to be on (disabled) all the time, this is how you do that in XP - it may be the same or similar in Server 2003: "Win XP is set by default to automatically reboot when it encounters an unrecoverable error. To have XP possibly display an error message you can investigate instead of the computer rebooting: 1. Click Start, and then right-click My Computer. 2. Click Properties. 3. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Settings under Startup and Recovery. 4. Under System failure, click on the small box beside Automatically restart to remove the checkmark. 5. Click OK, and then click OK."

The boot.ini file being corrupted would affect your booting options before log in and/or not allow any of your operating systems to boot, depending on the default OS in the boot.ini file. Sounds like a Server OS issue as stated... Regards. Jarvis -Technician TekTime www.time4tech.com

Jarvis... Thank you very much for your time.. I am just curious on Boot.ini even though the whole thing is booting up... Server 2003 issue made a lot of sense.. I don't feel like reinstalling the OS .. anything I should do ... cause reinstalling is my last option...

Tubesandwires.... Thanks a million times for devoting your extra time on me..The Server OS is a possibility like you said . Anyway, I cannot get in to boot choices in Server 2003 Windows no matter I try... In XP did not do anything ... I might reinstall the Server 2003 soon cause I needed it even though it's my last thing to do...

I don't know much about Server 2003. Maybe it's not F8 you need to press repeatedly to get the boot choices menu - it is for 2000 and XP. NOTE that I often must start pressing it immediately after choosing the operating system on a fast system - have my fingers ready over the Enter and F8 keys. You might be able to do something similar to an XP Repair installation of Windows, and not lose the data already on the Windows 2003 partition. If so, it only takes a little less time to run than Setup did originally, and you'll know in less than an hour whether it fixes your problem or not. . http://www.windowsreinstall.com/win...

Gentlemen.... I appreciate very much for all your concerns.... I got everything back the way it is supposed to be..GREAT !! I was able to use my boot disk for some reason it went through the process this time that I was not able to do before... and that repairs everything.. ( all files were back)...a combination of using Server 2003 first...and that removes the the newer version Vista in the OS Menu ...then I put Vista back in menu .. XP is fine ... it was not involved in the process.... wonderful... thanks to all... qcpjr