Why don't you try disconnecting XP, boot to the Vista DVD and see if you can
do a startup repair.

"John" <John@nospam.infovis.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ODAlUmjbHHA.4656@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Well vista was installed on F drive which is the primary and only
> partition on second (secondary) SATA disk. I presume that only "boot" part
> is on C which is the primary (and xp) partition on primary SATA disk. Like
> this
>
> Primary SATA: C: E: partitions, C: has xp installed before vista.
> Secondary SATA: F: had vista installed on it while primary disk (above)
> was still enabled.
>
> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:u6sdogjbHHA.2088@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> When you boot into Vista the way it is now, is Vista being seen as
>> residing on drive C:?
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban MVP
>> Microsoft Windows Shell/User
>>
>>
>> "John" <John@nospam.infovis.co.uk> wrote in message
>> news:uYv8bZjbHHA.4832@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> Please see inline
>>>
>>> "Richard Urban" <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:%23VDi%23QjbHHA.4772@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>>> Not an easy question to answer as there are many variables that may
>>>> come into play.
>>>>
>>>> Questions:
>>>>
>>>> 1. Is each operating system installed on a primary partition on it's
>>>> respective drive?
>>>
>>> Yes, xp on primary, vista on secondary.
>>>
>>>> 2. Was the drive that had Windows XP installed upon disconnected
>>>> when you installed Vista on the 2nd drive? Did you, at least, hide the
>>>> Windows XP drive with a utility program such as Acronis Disk Director
>>>> before you installed Vista?
>>>
>>> No.
>>>
>>> Can I now disconnect primary (xp) disk and then reinstall vista on
>>> secondary (currently vista) disk over the existing vista install to make
>>> things any better i.e. disk 1 independent?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>