Hopefully this won't get too longwinded, but as a bit of background, I
recently upgraded my hardware and wanted to keep all the software as
before. I installed a new M.B. and CPU to go from a 600MHz Pentium 3
unit to a 2.6 GHz Celeron unit. Also I cloned over the multiboot
OS's from drive 1 to another HD, since the older one was showing signs
of failing. The program used for cloning was Acronis True Image.
There were 3 OS's on Drive 1, and they also are now on the newly
installed HDD. The heart of the multiboot system is Powerquest's Boot
Magic, that has worked wonderfully for years. The 3 OS's are DOS 6.22
(rarely used anymore), Windows 98SE (most heavily used) and Windows
2000 Pro (used somewhat).

The problem developed subsequent to several days of allowing the new
M.B. and CPU to install all its drivers, etc.

Essentially, I cannot boot up (on the NEW Hard Disk 1) into Win98SE in
Normal mode - I get an error message that says "Error loading KERNEL.
You must reinstall Windows". BUT - much to my annoyance, it WILL
boot up fully in SAFE mode. Nothing that I've tried has cleared up
this anomaly. I've followed the procedure found on MS's web site
which tells me to "extract Kernel32.dll" from my installation CD and
copy it to the folder Windows\System\, all to no avail, after multiple
efforts. In addition, I've copied it over from the presumed "failing"
hard drive, again with no success. I'm about ready to throw in the
towel - hopefully, someone can give me an out. Before someone asks,
there is NO problem booting up in Win2000 on this drive.

Finally, as a further frustating fact, I can still do the multiboot if
I swap out the new HD 1 to the old failing one. But I don't trust it
lasting much longer.

I'm admittedly out of ideas - and if it should be a problem with the
MBR, then I don't know how to repair it.

Sorry it got this long - and it may not have all the useful info
someone might think would lead to a clue. If so, please tell me what
to check.

Thanks, Olin McDaniel

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"Ignorance is treatable, Stupidity is incurable. Sometimes
the difference is hardly distinguishable, however."