Hi,My prob is this..I am running 2 partitions with XPsp2 on both.OS1 boots fine everything working normally.OS2 hangs with black screen AFTER windows logo.MS website says boot disks won't help at this stage.I can view drive D: through OS1 and everything is there.Only things on OS2 is word and iTunes.I thought it beneficial to seperate wifes itunes from the rest since i tend to pick up alot of hijackers/virus from my surfing habits.Anyways,at startup I can still choose which OS i want to boot into doesn't this exclude boot.ini as the problem?What are some things i could further research since OS1 works fine.Doesn't that exclude boot sector and such as being the problem?All the dual/multi boot problems i have read usually refer to 2 different OS'.Mine are both XPsp2 and have been working for a few months.Any help is appreciated

You're correct in that it's not related to the boot.ini, bootsector, mbr etc... Possibly, in the damaged installation, you have a damaged/corrupted display driver... or (less likely) another driver. Best run a repair install to that version and allow XP to check for and replace any damaged files... Be sure to select the correct version/installation to "repair". Run the repair via a CD (or 6 floppies + CD) boot, not from within the working version. Repair installation: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Strangely the post immediately prior to this one has a similar event... and Chuck2 suggest this liomk: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314503/en-us which does suggest problems with: Master boot record Partition tables Boot sector NTLDR file Not sure I understand why the above files etc., would cause the problem... As in my post above I would be more inclined to suspect other issues; this especially as you can boot Ok to the other version on this occasion?

trvlr,I to read the previous black screen post and that MS link is the one that says boot problems AFTER logo will not be helped.I guess thats my next question,do multi boot use the same boot sector? Thanx for the quick response.I'm not at home so I can't try anything right now

Yes, in a multi-boot (at least for NT/W2K/XP) - the only thing that is different is the actual location of the OS chosen to boot. That location is determined/indicated by the entry in the boot.ini which refers to the chosen OS to boot. You have two versions of XP installed; one will be shown as being in partition(1) the second as being in partition(2) in their respective ARC path/statements. Typically they will be: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS and: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS Also thanks for noting the distinction in the MS-KB reference... The problem there is BEFORE the logo etc... whereas yours is AFTER the logo screen... didn't pick up on that subtle point. The essential vga (XP compliant) drivers are loaded after the logo screen if I remember correctly; prior to that they are default XP vga/safe-mode style drivers... If the actual drivers specific to your vga card are damaged... then I can see that as being a possible cause of the black screen you describe...

trvlr,THANK YOU!!!Now,if VGA driver s are the culprit does that mean I'm actually in OS2?Cause I tried to play audio cd (blind)and didn't hear the music.Or is VGA causing it to hang.Also my 19in. LCD spectre usually displays "no video" if for example computer is off and monitor is on.I have been tweaking XP in OS1 for gaming performance such as increasing swapfile size etc.Have also been tweaking setting of my xtasy ATI graphics which is new.Wait a minute did I just solve my own problem?I recently installed this graphics card and I don't remember loading anything in OS2 for it.How should I proceed now?Thanx again trvlr!

Try to boot to the second version (the one that doesn't work) in safe-mode... If it boots OK then this at least tells you the OS itself is OK. Then reboot and see if a normal-boot finds the vga card and then either loads the XP bundled drivers (if they exist) or prompts you to supply them etc.?