Boot.ini Timeout

[Guest]

The other day my computer went crazy. Whenever I clicked on any exe, hundreds
of versions of the exe started up. I shut down and restarted and the same
problem continued. I tried a different mouse in various USB port and the
problem persisted.

I rebooted in Safe mode and had the same problem initially but was able to
scan with AVG, but found nothing. Eventually I disabled many programs that
were starting at startup and forced a chkdsk from inside windows, which
flagged a file in FireFox. I uninstalled FireFox and have now stabilized the
system.

However, there is still something strange at boot:
1) the boot sequence does not observe the boot.ini TimeOut. The boot loader
screen appears, but it flashes so fast I cannot read it. This never used to
happen.
2) The chkdsk screen starts but never scans (even after the many forced
shutdowns). Again, it flashes so fast I cannot read it.

I have confirmed the boot.ini in c: still has 30 sec. So I suspect my MBR
has been corrupted by a virus and boot is being re-directed to another
boot.ini. I have scanned the boot sector several times with AVG and found
nothing. Can this be the cause and how can I fix it? Do you have any other
ideas?

Thanks

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I suspect my MBR has been corrupted by a virus and boot
is being re-directed to another boot.ini. I have scanned the
boot sector several times with AVG and found nothing. Can
this be the cause and how can I fix it? Do you have any other
ideas?

In the Windows XP Recovery Console fixmbr will fix the
MBR, and fixboot will fix the boot sector. Good luck. BTW,
you don't say how many hard drives and partitions and OSes
you have in your system.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Tim

I only have 1 hd, with 1 partition. I also only have win XP sp2 as my OS
(but the default boot.ini also lists windows).

I am concerned by your comment "good luck"? Does that mean there is little
hope? If so, I'll just buy a new hard drive.

Mark

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I only have 1 hd, with 1 partition. I also only have win XP sp2
as my OS (but the default boot.ini also lists windows).

That simplifies things as you're not accessing a boot.ini
in another partition or another partition on another hard drive.
The problem may actually lie in the MBR for the hard drive
or the boot sector for the only active Primary partition.
As I wrote, fixmbr or fixboot run from the Recovery Console
may fix these.

I am concerned by your comment "good luck"? Does that
mean there is little hope? If so, I'll just buy a new hard drive.

It doesn't mean there is little hope. It just means that I'm
beyond the edge of my "expertise" and that I can be
of no more help. As for fixmbr and fixboot, there are arguments
to supply to those utilities, and you ought to check out
Microsoft's website for details before running them.

fixmbr:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixmbr.mspx?mfr=true

fixboot:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...proddocs/en-us/bootcons_fixboot.mspx?mfr=true

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I only have 1 hd, with 1 partition. I also only have win XP sp2
as my OS (but the default boot.ini also lists windows).

I am concerned by your comment "good luck"? Does that
mean there is little hope? If so, I'll just buy a new hard drive.

Here is more on fixing the MBR and the boot sector:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...00/server/reskit/en-us/core/fncb_dis_eudu.asp

*TimDaniels*