dualboot w xp32 issue ntoskrnl not being found

I have successfully (?) installed Vista 64 on a partition #3. I have completed the installation process, seen the "semi transparent windows" etc but when I try to reboot into Vista 64 I receive an error that <windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl is not found. It's there. In fact ntoskrnl.exe is in a number of different places in that partition.
The other boot partitions I have are a small DOS boot partition (don't laugh, I have good reason for it), XP 32 for every day use, and an XP 32 for "just in case my normal has problems. The other partitions boot just fine - just not the V64 one.
My boot.ini is: [boot loader] timeout=10 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="XP NORMAL" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Vista" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINDOWS="XP LIGHT" /fastdetect c:\="MS-DOS"
Any guesses how to avoid/correct this error.?