Dual boot after format.

Hello

Sometimes after I have formatted a pc and try to install
windows it says there are two operating systems installed
when trying to boot and asks to select one. If you select
the second one it displays some sort of errror and does
not load and just reboots again. To remove this I just
remove the line from the boot.ini, but why does this
happen?

It seems to only happen when I do a quick format using
NTFS, so could mean it missing some part of the format?

Thanks

Junior

Correct, it is because you chose to quick format and the boot sector wasn't
overwritten.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Junior" wrote:
| Hello
|
| Sometimes after I have formatted a pc and try to install
| windows it says there are two operating systems installed
| when trying to boot and asks to select one. If you select
| the second one it displays some sort of errror and does
| not load and just reboots again. To remove this I just
| remove the line from the boot.ini, but why does this
| happen?
|
| It seems to only happen when I do a quick format using
| NTFS, so could mean it missing some part of the format?
|
| Thanks
|
| Junior

This is valuable new news for me. The only distinction I've ever seen
between normal and quick format is that normal checks for bad sectors
and quick doesn't; both are said to remove all files. I guess the
implication is that what's on the boot sector isn't "files," and I had
never thought of that.

Dave Patrick wrote:

> Correct, it is because you chose to quick format and the boot sector wasn't
> overwritten.
>

AAHHH,

That will explain it then. Would you advise doing a quick
format and then just remove the line yourself or is it
best practce to do a full.

When I twenty PC to wipe and full/quick can make alot of
time difference.

Thanks

Junior.
>-----Original Message-----
>This is valuable new news for me. The only distinction
I've ever seen
>between normal and quick format is that normal checks for
bad sectors
>and quick doesn't; both are said to remove all files. I
guess the
>implication is that what's on the boot sector
isn't "files," and I had
>never thought of that.
>
>Dave Patrick wrote:
>
>> Correct, it is because you chose to quick format and
the boot sector wasn't
>> overwritten.
>>
>
>.
>

Dan,
I don't really know the details of this phenomena. Just that past experience
indicates .........."that's the way it works"

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Dan Seur" wrote:
| This is valuable new news for me. The only distinction I've ever seen
| between normal and quick format is that normal checks for bad sectors
| and quick doesn't; both are said to remove all files. I guess the
| implication is that what's on the boot sector isn't "files," and I had
| never thought of that.

Exactly what I always told my kids! :-)

Speculation is fun, tho. A disk/vol is "empty but usable" (in other
words freshly formatted) if OS sees that info needed by OS to establish
dirs & files is present on the medium. Boot sector points to NTFS MFT
among other things, and quick format may just empty MFT and not even
overwrite files. Funny how details aren't easy to find (by me anyway,
spent 10 mins looking.)

Dave Patrick wrote:

> Dan,
> I don't really know the details of this phenomena. Just that past experience
> indicates .........."that's the way it works"
>

Yes, I spent about 30 minutes looking and nothing definitive. That's what I
suspect, that boot.ini was placed entirely in MFT. Not just the pointer.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"Dan Seur" wrote:
| Exactly what I always told my kids! :-)
|
| Speculation is fun, tho. A disk/vol is "empty but usable" (in other
| words freshly formatted) if OS sees that info needed by OS to establish
| dirs & files is present on the medium. Boot sector points to NTFS MFT
| among other things, and quick format may just empty MFT and not even
| overwrite files. Funny how details aren't easy to find (by me anyway,
| spent 10 mins looking.)

I have a related problem: I started to reinstall Win 2000
Pro but had a problem before completing. The setup files
were copied to my hard disk and now when I start up, it
asks if I want to use the original OS or the Setup OS that
got copied. How do I get rid of the extra Setup OS files?
Thanks
/Ken




>-----Original Message-----
>Hello
>
>Sometimes after I have formatted a pc and try to install
>windows it says there are two operating systems installed
>when trying to boot and asks to select one. If you select
>the second one it displays some sort of errror and does
>not load and just reboots again. To remove this I just
>remove the line from the boot.ini, but why does this
>happen?
>
>It seems to only happen when I do a quick format using
>NTFS, so could mean it missing some part of the format?
>
>Thanks
>
>Junior
>.
>

Edit boot.ini located in the root of the system partition (usually C:\)

boot.ini will be something like;

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=30
Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000" /fastdetect
C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Windows 2000 Setup"

Change it to;
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows 2000" /fastdetect


(note the 'default=' line must also change. rdisk and partition values may
be different for your system.)


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"kds" wrote:
|I have a related problem: I started to reinstall Win 2000
| Pro but had a problem before completing. The setup files
| were copied to my hard disk and now when I start up, it
| asks if I want to use the original OS or the Setup OS that
| got copied. How do I get rid of the extra Setup OS files?
| Thanks
| /Ken
|
|
|
|
| >-----Original Message-----
| >Hello
| >
| >Sometimes after I have formatted a pc and try to install
| >windows it says there are two operating systems installed
| >when trying to boot and asks to select one. If you select
| >the second one it displays some sort of errror and does
| >not load and just reboots again. To remove this I just
| >remove the line from the boot.ini, but why does this
| >happen?
| >
| >It seems to only happen when I do a quick format using
| >NTFS, so could mean it missing some part of the format?
| >
| >Thanks
| >
| >Junior
| >.
| >