Olin K. McDaniel wrote:
| 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.

Are you saying that only one machine is involved, & you replaced its MB
& CPU? So-- you now have a single machine that is 2.6 GHz? There is this
article to consider...

http://support.microsoft.com/default...08&Product=w98
Windows protection error in NDIS with a CPU that is faster than 2.1 GHz

HOWEVER... I think thankfully it does not apply to you, because you are
Win98SE (Second Edition). Also, you do not report that same error.
Finally, I believe you may have said the old HDD still will work on the
faster machine.

| Also I cloned over the multiboot
| OS's from drive 1 to another HD, since the older one was showing signs
| of failing.

The machine had only one HDD? Then, it is called HDD0-- they start
counting them at zero.

| 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.

You cloned HDD0 to a new HDD. Yea, as MEB requested-- describe the two
HDD. What are their size & type?

| 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).

I don't know BootMagic. Does it seem to have been copied over to the new
HDD by TrueImage? (I don't know TrueImage, either.) Or do you think you
might need to install it separately? Did you copy the 3 partitions over
to the new HDD in the same order they are on the old drive?

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

Describe what you did to accomplish that? How do things look in Device
Manager in Safe Mode-- any red/yellow ?/!'s on any devices?

| 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.

Yea. I see that article...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/146419
Error Loading Kernel. You Must Reinstall Windows

You did it right! Too bad it didn't work!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...oogle+Se arch
Google finds about 138,000 for Error Loading Kernel

| 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.

What are you saying-- just that you get a menu from BootMagic? Or can
you be saying Win98 will actually boot from the old drive? How did the
new drive boot to Win98SE Safe Mode-- through a BootMagic screen? How
did it boot to Win2K?

| 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.

I don't know TrueImage or BootMagic. What does the process of copying a
partition to a new hard drive normally entail? Are there extra steps to
do in its instructions in order to make the drive bootable? Did you do
them? Looks like you do boot to Win98SE Safe Mode & fully to Win2K. SO--
something must be right. As far as BootMagic, what is it like to install
it? Maybe try that on the new drive, just in case TrueImage didn't get
all of 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.

Keep at it. I think you are close, if you get to Safe Mode. But how are
you getting there?

| Thanks, Olin McDaniel

You are welcome.

| To reply by email, please remove "abcd" from Return address
| -----------------------------------------------------
| "Ignorance is treatable, Stupidity is incurable. Sometimes
| the difference is hardly distinguishable, however."

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR