Dual-boot SCO OpenServer 5.0.7 ans Windows XP

Discussion:

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alb

2005-04-04 14:41:26 UTC

Been struggling with this for a few days. Tried using System Commander,
which claims will allow the dual-boot, but it just doesn't work.
Abandoning System commander, I am able to install SCO Open Sesktop
5.0.7 fine on a Toshiba laptop (SCO certified) on Partition 0. When
doing so, I left room for another partition. After the install, SCO
boots fine. I am then able to install Windows XP in the empty partition
and it then boots fine. In theory, I now have 2 bootable OS's
installed. System commaber lets you creat a boot CD which allows you to
go in and change the active partition. When I do that, changing the
active partition back to SCO, SCO no longer boots, stopping with a "CYL
OVF" and never gets to a boot prompt. If I change the active partition
back to Windows XP, that still boots fine.

Any suggestions?

Bob Bailin

2005-04-04 16:29:11 UTC

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Post by alb
Been struggling with this for a few days. Tried using System Commander,
which claims will allow the dual-boot, but it just doesn't work.
Abandoning System commander, I am able to install SCO Open Sesktop
5.0.7 fine on a Toshiba laptop (SCO certified) on Partition 0. When
doing so, I left room for another partition. After the install, SCO
boots fine. I am then able to install Windows XP in the empty partition
and it then boots fine. In theory, I now have 2 bootable OS's
installed. System commaber lets you creat a boot CD which allows you to
go in and change the active partition. When I do that, changing the
active partition back to SCO, SCO no longer boots, stopping with a "CYL
OVF" and never gets to a boot prompt. If I change the active partition
back to Windows XP, that still boots fine.
Any suggestions?

The WinXP master boot sector cannot boot an OpenServer partition.
From SCO TA 104767:

III. Replacing the Boot Sectors
If you destructively scan the drive in section II, step 4, you may get the error 'NO OS'
after the first reboot. If this is the case:

1. Power off the machine, and reboot with the emergency boot floppy in the floppy drive.

2. Press <Enter> at the Boot: prompt and insert the root floppy when prompted.

3. At the '#' prompt replace masterboot by typing the command:

# /bin/dparam -w

4. Replace hdboot0 and hdboot1 with these commands:

# /bin/dd if=/etc/hdboot0 of=/dev/hd0a
# /bin/dd if=/etc/hdboot1 of=/dev/hd0a bs=1k seek=1

<end of excerpt>Avoid this problem by installing Openserver after DOS or Windows.You can
easily boot WinXP from the Openserver boot: prompt byusing the bootos command:boot: bootos
4will boot the O/S located in partition #4. You can determine thepartition number by
running the fdisk command in Openserver.(Partition numbers differ from what you see in the
DOS fdiskcommand.) You can leave the Openserver partition as the activepartition.To make
matters even simpler, you can define an alias in/etc/default/boot:win=bootos 4and then
just type: winat the boot: prompt to start up WinXP.Bob

alb

2005-04-04 16:42:24 UTC

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I'm not getting NO OS. The scenario you describe at the end is what I
am hoping for, having decided to give up on system commander.

alb

2005-04-04 21:11:56 UTC

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Well, i wiped the disk clean. I installed Win XP from CD and left half
the drive unused. That went fine - was able to boot into XP. Then I
installed 5.0.7 from CD. Created a UNIX partition from the unused
space, activated it and finished the install. No problem, until I try
to reboot - once again I get "CYL OVF". I can boot up with a DOS disk,
make XP partition active and then boot into XP again just fine.

Any ideas?

alb

2005-04-05 02:26:01 UTC

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Further Progress... I am to the point where I have 2 bootable
installations (5.0.7 and XP). However the bootos command from 5.0.7
boot prompt just hangs. Bootos ? shows me the partition numbers. I try
bootos 3 (XP partition number) but nothing happens after that - just
sits there. In order to boot either OS, I have to run fdisk and change
active partitions to change the boot OS.

Richard

2005-04-05 14:33:29 UTC

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I use Partition Magic (currently sold by Symantec) to set up dual-boot
partitions on both Toshiba and HP notebooks. The instructions can be a
little confusing, but it works perfectly, giving you the option of which
operating system to boot to when you start/restart the system. A major
advantage is that it allows you to resize (i.e., shrink) an existing Windows
parition without having to reinstall Windows. One thing to remember:
OpenServer's boot filesystem (/stand) must be within the first 1024
cylinders.

--
Richard Seeder
AApex Information Systems

Ian Wilson

2005-04-05 16:15:41 UTC

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Maybe XP trampled on something that SCO relies on?

I have a laptop with XP, OSR507 and Linux (FC3). I installed XP first
(actually it was preinstalled) then resized and split NTFS partitions to
make room for OSR5's boot partition below the 1024K boundary (if you
don't do this you get the CYL OVF error), after installing Linux I used
the Grub Bootloader to present a boot-time menu of the three OS's -
works fine. It is also handy to have a small FAT partition as all three
OS's can read and write to that.

Transpower

2005-04-14 18:30:56 UTC

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I dual boot using two external SCSI drives, one for SCO OpenServer
5.0.7 and one for Windows XP. I use the Adaptec 39320D SCSI host
adapter. You will need to download the BTLD for the ad320. The UNIX
drive must go on Channel A, the Windows drive on Channel B. During
boot you decide which drive to boot by going into SCSI setup (Ctrl-A)
and choosing which Channel. Works perfectly.

RWS
***@aol.com

Transpower

2005-04-14 18:31:48 UTC

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Transpower

2005-04-14 18:32:32 UTC

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Transpower

2005-04-14 18:33:30 UTC

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Transpower

2005-04-14 19:12:53 UTC

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