bootmgr error

[tylerbe992]

hello!
i have had xp and i upgraded it to vista..i dont like vista really tat much so i tried dowgrading it to xp again...when i stick the recovery cd in it works until it gets to "hard disk preparation" then reboots....when i try to load up the os it says bootmgr missing...plz help ....right now im using my friends computer for now...

 

[ace777]

scratched disk maybe?

 

[tylerbe992]

nope..checked...not scratched

 

[ace777]

try another install and see if it fixes the problem, did you partition the hdd, format? or just quick format??

 

[tylerbe992]

yess! its at partition the hdd drive and all of a sudden shuts down the system

 

[ace777]

oh lol sry didn't get that the first time, thats wierd man.....

 

[tylerbe992]

any ideas on what to do?
im trying to put a os on a usb
idk if that'll work

 

[A True Folder]

You need to delete and recreate the partition, format it again, then reinstall, you probably won't be able to do this with a proprietry brand pc recovery disk, you'll need an XP disk. Be careful that you only delete the correct partition as most brand name pcs have a "recovery partition"

Vista uses BCD for boot manager, XP uses boot.ini, XP can not read BCD, that is causing your problem

 

[tylerbe992]

so i cant use my gateway recovery disk?
only a xp one?

 

[A True Folder]

As far as I know (never had or seen a Gateway so this is based on my experience with other brand names) the recovery disk doesn't have the functionality to delete and create partitions, so i doubt the option is available.

When you boot from the recovery disk does it give you any partition options like an XP disk?

You only need to borrow a disk to delete, recreate, format, once the format is done you should be able to load with the recovery disk.