Problem at startup after major crash

G

Guest

Hi
I have a couple of problems both related to XP.

1) I have standalone workstation (does not go on the internet at all for any
reason) for running audio recording software. I had a major crash on it
caused I think by carrying a virus on a disk from my internet pc to the
standalone. I had a complete fatal error and had to reload all my software.
I now have XP Home Edition re-installed (SP1) and registered the whole thing
by telephone! I have no intention of upgrading the stand alone to SP2
because it interfers with Cakewalk products.

Problem: Now at startup I get a message asking me to select my operating
system, the choices are Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP set-up.
Windows XP set-up is always selected and there is a count down so if I don't
cursor up to Windows XP it automatically goes to set up. I really don't want
to go through all that again so how can I get the computer to start up
Windows XP Home automatically?

2) The crash also happened on my internet PC at about the same time which is
why I think it must have been a worm or virus or something downloaded with an
update!! I have a different XP disk for this provided when I purchased the
computer about 4 or 5 maybe 6 years ago. It is not the first time I have had
a system crash on the internet pc and after the last one I swapped bits
around, and I moved the hard drive into a nice new case. I now have no trace
of the 'product key' for registering XP Home Edition SP1, silly me for
ditching an antiquated case, I guess. I have used this XP OK for a number of
years now since it was first registered and re-registered, now I have about
20 days to register it again but when I rang Microsoft they said they
couldn't help me without my 'product key' which should be somewhere on my
machine. I tried to explain but the woman on the other end was robotic in
her response and totally unhelpful. My XP has been re-loaded on to a newly
formatted drive so I have effectively lost everything. Soon I won't be able
to use it and will lose everything again. Do Microsoft have no other way of
preventing piracy other than the 'product key' surely 'names, addresses,
emails, pin codes' anything is better than having to keep re-purchasing the
product. If I have to re-purchase I may not bother with XP at all, might try
Firefox or something. Any ideas, please!
 
B

Brian A.

anon said:
Hi
I have a couple of problems both related to XP.

1) I have standalone workstation (does not go on the internet at all for
any
reason) for running audio recording software. I had a major crash on it
caused I think by carrying a virus on a disk from my internet pc to the
standalone. I had a complete fatal error and had to reload all my
software.
I now have XP Home Edition re-installed (SP1) and registered the whole
thing
by telephone! I have no intention of upgrading the stand alone to SP2
because it interfers with Cakewalk products.

Fair enough, but have you tried running CW in compatibility mode?
Problem: Now at startup I get a message asking me to select my operating
system, the choices are Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP set-up.
Windows XP set-up is always selected and there is a count down so if I
don't
cursor up to Windows XP it automatically goes to set up. I really don't
want
to go through all that again so how can I get the computer to start up
Windows XP Home automatically?

You could remove the setup entry or simply switch it in the boot.ini and
make the other the default boot.
Change this:
boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows XP set-up" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional"
/fastdetect

to this:
boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Windows XP set-up" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional"
/fastdetect

boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Professional"
/fastdetect
2) The crash also happened on my internet PC at about the same time which
is
why I think it must have been a worm or virus or something downloaded
with an
update!! I have a different XP disk for this provided when I purchased
the
computer about 4 or 5 maybe 6 years ago. It is not the first time I have
had
a system crash on the internet pc and after the last one I swapped bits
around, and I moved the hard drive into a nice new case. I now have no
trace
of the 'product key' for registering XP Home Edition SP1, silly me for
ditching an antiquated case, I guess. I have used this XP OK for a
number of
years now since it was first registered and re-registered, now I have
about
20 days to register it again but when I rang Microsoft they said they
couldn't help me without my 'product key' which should be somewhere on my
machine. I tried to explain but the woman on the other end was robotic
in
her response and totally unhelpful. My XP has been re-loaded on to a
newly
formatted drive so I have effectively lost everything. Soon I won't be
able
to use it and will lose everything again. Do Microsoft have no other way
of
preventing piracy other than the 'product key' surely 'names, addresses,
emails, pin codes' anything is better than having to keep re-purchasing
the
product. If I have to re-purchase I may not bother with XP at all, might
try
Firefox or something. Any ideas, please!

Can't help there and MS definitely won't either for an OEM OS transferred
to another machine. You either have to find your PK or bite the bullet and
purchase another disk. If it's to the route you want to go, then I wish
you all the luck in the world using the Firefox browser as an OS.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
G

Guest

Thanks for the reply Brian.

Firstly, we tried everything on the standalone to get Cakewalk to run
smoothly with SP2 but had all sorts of problems particularly with the CPU
running too high. I originally came on this site to ask how to remove it
thoroughly.

Secondly, how do you remove the 'setup' entry is that any simpler than
changing the boot?

Finally, I like XP (when its working OK properly but not with automatic
updates anymore because I think thats what caused the problem in the first
place) and don't particularly want to go to another operating system but how
about when you get a complete hard drive failure like we did and had to move
the OES to another system - I only replaced the outers layers - the computer
inners are still the same, I only did this because my system looked so untidy
and antiquated, I reformatted my drive completely (necessity nothing else) so
it is the same drive, virtually the same everything except the case, I was
considering another motherboard, etc . and would have needed to re-install
everything anyway if I had gone that way which is still a possibility, added
a strip of memory because XP required it and was about to look for another
Processor because I currenly only have an Athelon 900. Very costly business.

I have already purchased TWO copies of XP Home Edition - one for each
machine both officially registered/licensed at the start, the first one was
with the machine when I bought it but I have the recovery disc which is
useless because it has no prodcut key on it. I have lost the product key for
the first one I bought because I smashed the outer casing and tipped it.
Surely Microsoft should have some information proving it is me that bought it
so that they can issue a product key - other companies (smaller than
microsoft) do and are able to give that kind of customer support - why not
microsoft? In this day and age of pin numbers and security protection you'd
think they'd come up with something. I suppose Microsoft Office is going to
be the same - I have Office 2000 and the information for this must have gone
the same way as the case so I'm in for an expensive time if I ever want to
use that again. Do Microsoft want to help their dedicated customers or not?

Thanks for your help!
Vikki
 
K

Kerry Brown

anon said:
Hi
I have a couple of problems both related to XP.

1) I have standalone workstation (does not go on the internet at all
for any reason) for running audio recording software. I had a major
crash on it caused I think by carrying a virus on a disk from my
internet pc to the standalone. I had a complete fatal error and had
to reload all my software. I now have XP Home Edition re-installed
(SP1) and registered the whole thing by telephone! I have no
intention of upgrading the stand alone to SP2 because it interfers
with Cakewalk products.

Even though this computer does not go on the Internet is it networked in any
way to the other computer? Many viruses can spread over a network.

Kerry
 
B

Brian A.

If the machine boots to XP alright:
Right click MyComputer.
Click Properties > Settings (under Startup and Recovery).
Click Edit and make your change.
Click File > Save > Exit

Before closing out, if you chose to keep the setup entry change "The time
to show OS" to a low number.

As for the Setup CD, if it's a retail disk I'd contact MS again. They
should be able to issue another PK with verification of the disk. If it's
OEM, well, you have to take that up with the one that distributed it.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top