whudats May 30, 2006 Share whudats Member May 30, 2006 So, I have Windows XP 64-bit installed, and I only one issue, really. BF2 keeps crashing to desktop in-between rounds. I might be able to play 2 rounds in a row, but after that, BAM, straight to the desktop. I've tried everything else, from memory timings to file dumps, everything I could find on the net I tried. SO, I have a copy of XP Pro sittting around and I want to install it without wiping out everything else. My only question: Is it like having two completely different computers? If I boot from XP Pro will the desktop/my documents/program files all be the same as on x64, or will it all be new? Will I have to install BF2 in the new OS environment to play it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox May 30, 2006 Share appalachian_fox Member May 30, 2006 It basically acts like two different computers, but you can mount the other partition to gain access to the files on it. This can cause some serious problems if you use user-level file permissions, because the users are going to have different GUIDs even if they have the same name, but most people running XP don't do that, and there are workarounds anyway. But bottom line, AFAIK you will need to "reinstall" everything on the other partition. Also, I assume you are partitioning one HD into two smaller logical devices. If this is the case, YOU MUST DO A DEFRAG FIRST. Omitting this step can cause irretrievable data loss. Good luck and follow the directions (there are plenty out there) to the "T" (whatever that expression is supposed to mean). I have done multiboots several times and never had problems, but I have been very thorough with the directions. Good luck and let us know how it works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ash- May 30, 2006 Share Guest ash- Guests May 30, 2006 So, I have Windows XP 64-bit installed, and I only one issue, really. BF2 keeps crashing to desktop in-between rounds. I might be able to play 2 rounds in a row, but after that, BAM, straight to the desktop. I've tried everything else, from memory timings to file dumps, everything I could find on the net I tried. SO, I have a copy of XP Pro sittting around and I want to install it without wiping out everything else. My only question: Is it like having two completely different computers? If I boot from XP Pro will the desktop/my documents/program files all be the same as on x64, or will it all be new? Will I have to install BF2 in the new OS environment to play it? Do you have your page file disabled? I get the same problem with mine disabled. I have 1.5GB of ram while BF2 uses up 1.3GB of memory. I think there's a memory leak in BF2 that causes it to use up more and more memory as the rounds go by without freeing it. About dual booting; you can't do it without wiping everything from your hard drive unless you already have a spare partition big enough to install XP and BF2. You could run VMWare and install XP on a virtual machine. This way you could run both XP 64 and XP at the same time but obviously that's not gonna cut it for BF2. Also, you can have multiple operating systems on the same hard drive and have individualized settings for each OS. So yes, it is like having two completely different computers only they reside on the same hard drive with the same hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whudats May 30, 2006 Author Share whudats Member May 30, 2006 Thanks guys. I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes... Do you have your page file disabled? I get the same problem with mine disabled. I have 1.5GB of ram while BF2 uses up 1.3GB of memory. Where do you enable/disable the page file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox May 30, 2006 Share appalachian_fox Member May 30, 2006 About dual booting; you can't do it without wiping everything from your hard drive unless you already have a spare partition big enough to install XP and BF2. What's changed besides NTFS? I've done that with Linux before, works fine. I had to use third-party software (I chose FIPS) to repartition the drive, I chose a freeware bootloader (GRUB is popular now, though if you are using two copies of Windows I don't see why NTLDR wouldn't work unless the x64 version doesn't play nice with the XP 32 version) and if you don't defrag first you're likely to lose data, but the only sticky wicket is repartitioning the drive on the fly (ie, without losing the data that's there) and that's quite possible with freely-available software...unless something else has changed. If FIPS doesn't do NTFS by now (which I thought it did, but I could be wrong) PartitionMagic I'm pretty sure does. http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html As another option, you could always just pull a spare HD from somewhere and physically swap the drives for testing purposes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whudats May 30, 2006 Author Share whudats Member May 30, 2006 I'm just going to install it on a separate HD. I don't foresee any issues, but who knows...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ash- May 30, 2006 Share Guest ash- Guests May 30, 2006 (edited) Thanks guys. I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes... Do you have your page file disabled? I get the same problem with mine disabled. I have 1.5GB of ram while BF2 uses up 1.3GB of memory. Where do you enable/disable the page file? If you don't know where it is or how to disable it then everything is ok. The page file is enabled by default so you would only encounter this particular problem if you disabled it. Other than that idk what could be causing your BF2 to crash. I do know that XP 64 is MS's new redheaded buggy stepchild though About dual booting; you can't do it without wiping everything from your hard drive unless you already have a spare partition big enough to install XP and BF2. What's changed besides NTFS? I've done that with Linux before, works fine. I had to use third-party software (I chose FIPS) to repartition the drive, I chose a freeware bootloader (GRUB is popular now, though if you are using two copies of Windows I don't see why NTLDR wouldn't work unless the x64 version doesn't play nice with the XP 32 version) and if you don't defrag first you're likely to lose data, but the only sticky wicket is repartitioning the drive on the fly (ie, without losing the data that's there) and that's quite possible with freely-available software...unless something else has changed. If FIPS doesn't do NTFS by now (which I thought it did, but I could be wrong) PartitionMagic I'm pretty sure does. http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html As another option, you could always just pull a spare HD from somewhere and physically swap the drives for testing purposes... I've never repartitioned on the fly. I didn't even know this was possible until you mentioned it. I wouldn't recommend that whudats do such a thing for his first time anyway. Been there done that with my data under different circumstances. Just ditch XP64 until Vista hits, I hear nothing but complaints about software compatibility with it. I'm just going to install it on a separate HD. I don't foresee any issues, but who knows...? I suggest you research the topic heavily before you do it. I've never dual booted two copies of windows on seperate hard drives but I have done the same thing with Linux and Win2k and the result was a disaster! Always make backups before you do any sort of major changes involving hard drives, even if you know what you are doing. I've learned the hard way more than enough times Edited May 30, 2006 by ash- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whudats May 30, 2006 Author Share whudats Member May 30, 2006 Just ditch XP64 until Vista hits, I hear nothing but complaints about software compatibility with it. This is actually my only issue. Other than that I have had no problems... But yes, this is a big enough pain in the butt to where I probably will just ditch it. Oh well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL May 30, 2006 Share dwEEziL Member May 30, 2006 I've had two installations of Windows XP running on the same box before (one on the C: drive and one on the D: drive. One little "gotcha" to remember is there are 7 files (at least for XP) that will get installed on the first primary partition regardless of where you install the OS: autoexec.bat, boot.ini, config.sys, io.sys, msdos.sys, ntdetect.com, and ntldr. For my example (2 XPs on different partitions), both examples installed the above files on the c: drive and both shared them. Dunno if XP64 uses different versions/formats of these files or not, but if it does, the overwriting "might" become an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nut May 30, 2006 Share nut Member May 30, 2006 my bro did it with redhat and XP pro it was intresting.. but i am sorry i forgot how to do it . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whudats May 31, 2006 Author Share whudats Member May 31, 2006 I just wiped and installed XP Pro. Forget that x64 nonsense. I haven't tried BF2 yet, so we'll see if it was worth it...I'll let you know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whudats May 31, 2006 Author Share whudats Member May 31, 2006 I think that it might have been an issue with the sound card an xp64, because I can now turn on "ultra high" sound settings in bf2. When I would try to do that before it would CTD. It didn't crash on me once last night, which was a first. So, success... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX May 31, 2006 Share NOFX Member May 31, 2006 all ya gotta do, is use partition magic to partition off another part of your C drive, then install xp pro to that partition. Or you OS of choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ash- May 31, 2006 Share Guest ash- Guests May 31, 2006 I think that it might have been an issue with the sound card an xp64, because I can now turn on "ultra high" sound settings in bf2. When I would try to do that before it would CTD. It didn't crash on me once last night, which was a first. So, success... Do you have an X-fi card? I recall reading about X-fi's having problems under XP64 on the creative forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whudats June 1, 2006 Author Share whudats Member June 1, 2006 Do you have an X-fi card? I recall reading about X-fi's having problems under XP64 on the creative forums. Yeah, the X-Fi Platinum. I saw something about it too, but when I didn't have any issues with any other games, music, etc., I wasn't sure if that was it. Looking back it seems to have been an issue with the X-Fi card, xp64, and BF2, because everything else ran fine. Doesn't matter now - I'm already back up and running on XP Pro (NOT x64), with everything installed and A-OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appalachian_fox June 1, 2006 Share appalachian_fox Member June 1, 2006 Yay! Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nut June 1, 2006 Share nut Member June 1, 2006 nice glad it worked out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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