Can't multi-boot, tried several methods

[tpmwr]

I have been trying several methods for 2 days straight and CANNOT get this to dual-boot.

 

I have 1 60GB drive in my laptop, it is set us like so:

 

Partition 1 (50GB, Vista)

Partition 2 (6GB, OSX)

Unpartitioned Space (4GB, want to be XP)

 

Vista was already installed, I installed OSX on second partition, OSX Install finished, attempted to boot OSX, then just froze at a black screen. I decided I would come back to that and get the multi-boot working first so I can access the internet to help me fix it.

 

I put the vista disk in, then set the Vista partition to active. Vista boots. I copy chain0 to C: then do the bcdedit stuff. I reboot and the Vista bootloader shows:

 

Microsoft Windows Vista

Macintosh OS X

 

I chose Macintosh OS X and the screen goes black for a second then brings me back to the Vista boot loader. I tried everything several more times same issue. So i proceeded to grab EasyBCD 1.6 and I reset my MBR to scratch and tried adding Generic X86 PC under Macintosh. Once again I reboot, once again Macintosh OS X is in the menu, and once again when i select it it flashes black then goes back to the Vista boot loader.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Anthony

[fangoria]

Personally I think using Acronis OS selector is the path of least resistance for multi OS installs, now or for the future. I'm a total noob to technical stuff, but it was easy installing triple OS system on my pc even for me.

[tpmwr]

I tried Acrona (version 8.0b) and it recognized Vista as XP and OSX as nothing. Is there a newer version?

[fangoria]

I'm using Acronis version 8. It doesn't know what osx is -- just that it is some unknown operating system, but it can still boot it.

[tpmwr]

I found the problem is that it is going to the darwin bootloader and darwin is auto-selecting windows because it is the active partition. Any way around this?

[Computer Guru]

You have to edit your Darwin menu file and set OS X as the default or else delete the Windows entry.

[Sabr]

You have to edit your Darwin menu file and set OS X as the default or else delete the Windows entry.

 

Care to tell us what the Darwin menu file is called?

 

As far as I know, you can set the OS X partition active through the terminal: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=22844

[fangoria]

First thing I did was make a bunch of partitions on the first booting HD. I set aside like a 200 meg partition at the beginning of the HD as primary, active partition. Then I make partitions for windows, osx, linux, linux swap, etc all of which are primary partitions except swap. Then I installed windows, Then ubuntu with its grub loader. Then I use acronis boot selector to make boot menu for these two OS's. It will ask which OS the first 200 meg partition has or something towards the end. I choose windows xp. Acronis sets up the boot menu accordingly, and all works. Finally I install osx on last partition. After install I use acronis boot CD to update/repair/rebuild boot selector. I think acronis will ask again which OS the first 200meg partition belongs to -- i forget. I say windows xp again. Then I'm done. No editing this or that file or loading up any other {censored} to set this partition that or that partition this. This seems to be the easiest method of doing multiple OS's on the PC of all the methods I've ever read. I could install 100 more OS's on my HD doing the exact same thing.

[tpmwr]

The problem I am having i from what I have read there is no way to edit the OSes or OS order in darwin through a config file. And if I set the apple partition as active the bootloader is going to start with darwin not vista, bringing me to OSX first, where as I want my computer to boot to vista nativly unless i tell it OSX.