Boot up problem

[ray]

I have an old Packard Bell computer and had to format the HD and re-install
XP.
I did not create any partitions on the 20Gb drive.
When it boots up I get a screen with:
Please select the operating system to start:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows XP Professional

I have to selct the first one. Then it boots up ok.
I do not know how to get into the CMOS screens to check the settings.
Can someone please help.
Thanks

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have an old
Packard Bell computer and had to format the HD and
re-install XP.

Since you ended up with two two XPs, clearly you did it wrong , and did
*not* format the drive, regardless of what you thought you did.

My guess is that you ran the XP installation form within Windows, rather
than bboting from the XP CD, as you should have.

I did not create any partitions on the 20Gb drive.

If you managed to boot Windows at all, clearly you did create at least one
partition. To partition a drive is to crteate at least one or more
partitions on it. Without at least one partition, there's no place for
Windows to be installed and your computer would be unusable.

When it boots up I get a screen with:
Please select the operating system to start:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows XP Professional

I have to selct the first one. Then it boots up ok.

Please see if the following article by Michael Stevens helps:

"I have two installations of XP on the same partition, how do I remove the
one I don't need?"
http://michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#two

I do not know how to get into the CMOS screens to check the settings.

That's further evidence that you didn't do the reinstall properly by booting
from the CD.

 

[John John]

ray wrote:





Since you ended up with two two XPs, clearly you did it wrong , and did
*not* format the drive, regardless of what you thought you did.

As strange as it may seem, Ken, it's a known fact that the boot.ini file
can survive a format. It's not something that happens often but under
some obscure conditions it can happen.

John

 

[Richard Urban]

Sorry, that can not happen.

There is no way that the boot.ini file can survive a format if it is on the
partition that has been formatted. It is not placed in some magical safe
area.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[John John]

Yes it can. It's a known fact and it is documented by Microsoft. It
has also been confirmed by several MVP's and non MVP's alike who have
replicated the phenomenon. At times posters to these groups report that
the file has survived formating, and like the original poster they are
left with the seemingly impossible and have multiple entries in their
boot.ini file on their formated disk or partition.

http://tinyurl.com/2s4hbz
http://tinyurl.com/2l8fv3
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=141188

John

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Yes it can. It's a known fact and it is documented by Microsoft. It
has also been confirmed by several MVP's and non MVP's alike who have
replicated the phenomenon. At times posters to these groups report
that the file has survived formating, and like the original poster
they are left with the seemingly impossible and have multiple entries
in their boot.ini file on their formated disk or partition.

http://tinyurl.com/2s4hbz
http://tinyurl.com/2l8fv3
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=141188

I was about to reply as Richard did, saying it's not possible, but then I
saw your message above and went to the Microsoft KB article. I have two
comments:

1. Even with the KB article, it's very hard for me to understand how this
could be. I'd be very interested in any further information that could shed
some light on how this happens.

2. If you read the list of operating systems this applies to, you'll see
that Windows XP is not among them.

So even if it's not applicable in this case--to Windows XP-- I thank you for
pointing this out, and look forward to you, or anyone else, explaining
what's going on here--how boot.ini, or *any* file--can survive a format.

 

[gls858]

I was about to reply as Richard did, saying it's not possible, but then I
saw your message above and went to the Microsoft KB article. I have two
comments:

1. Even with the KB article, it's very hard for me to understand how this
could be. I'd be very interested in any further information that could shed
some light on how this happens.

2. If you read the list of operating systems this applies to, you'll see
that Windows XP is not among them.

So even if it's not applicable in this case--to Windows XP-- I thank you for
pointing this out, and look forward to you, or anyone else, explaining
what's going on here--how boot.ini, or *any* file--can survive a format.

I took a look at the article also. It refers to repartitioning,
not formatting a drive. They are different right?

gls858

 

[John John]

John John wrote:






I was about to reply as Richard did, saying it's not possible, but then I
saw your message above and went to the Microsoft KB article. I have two
comments:

1. Even with the KB article, it's very hard for me to understand how this
could be. I'd be very interested in any further information that could shed
some light on how this happens.

2. If you read the list of operating systems this applies to, you'll see
that Windows XP is not among them.

So even if it's not applicable in this case--to Windows XP-- I thank you for
pointing this out, and look forward to you, or anyone else, explaining
what's going on here--how boot.ini, or *any* file--can survive a format.

A lot of these MSKB articles don't specifically include newer operating
systems in the "Applies To" list but very often the newer versions have
the same quirks, bugs or "features". Many articles only mention NT4 in
the list even when it applies to all its descendants. XP users who
appear to be reasonably competent have reported this peculiarity with
the boot.ini file after formating their drives, as witnessed by the user
in the second link that I posted, he gives the impression of having a
good grasp of the format and install procedures and yet after doing a
full format he reports having seen this mystery on a pc he was trying to
fix.

How and why this happens I don't know. In his discussion with Dave,
Pegasus theorizes that the contents of the file might be held in the RAM
and then later restored to the new boot.ini file, a plausible
explanation... or a case for Agent Mulder and the X-Files.

John

 

[John John]

I took a look at the article also. It refers to repartitioning,
not formatting a drive. They are different right?

Yes they are different. But if you look at the other links you will see
that the same thing can happen with simple format without repartitioning.

John

 

[gls858]

Yes they are different. But if you look at the other links you will see
that the same thing can happen with simple format without repartitioning.

John

My bad. I only checked the MSKB link.

gls858

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I took a look at the article also. It refers to repartitioning,
not formatting a drive. They are different right?

Yes, they are different, but point 4 of the Symptoms reads "You chose the
custom Setup options and deleted any existing partitions on the boot drive,
then created at least one new partition on the same drive."

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

A lot of these MSKB articles don't specifically include newer
operating systems in the "Applies To" list but very often the newer
versions have the same quirks, bugs or "features". Many articles
only mention NT4 in the list even when it applies to all its
descendants.

Although that's true, I would have expected (hoped?) such an old bug to be
fixed by now.

XP users who appear to be reasonably competent have
reported this peculiarity with the boot.ini file after formating
their drives, as witnessed by the user in the second link that I
posted, he gives the impression of having a good grasp of the format
and install procedures and yet after doing a full format he reports
having seen this mystery on a pc he was trying to fix.

I didn't look at your tinyurl links. Sorry, but it's something I don't do.

How and why this happens I don't know. In his discussion with Dave,
Pegasus theorizes that the contents of the file might be held in the
RAM and then later restored to the new boot.ini file, a plausible
explanation...

It doesn't sound plausible to me because that would seem to have to be done
puposefully, and this whole thing smacks of being a bug. But I have no other
plausible suggestion to make.

 

[John John]

I didn't look at your tinyurl links. Sorry, but it's something I don't do.

They're just links to Google archives of earlier discussions on
Microsoft.public newsgroups on the subject. The original links would
have been 400 or more characters in length so I shortened them with Tinyurl.

John

 

[Richard Urban]

I still say it can't happen. If somehow the boot.ini is held in RAM and
reapplied, the boot.ini didn't survive the format. It was recreated after
the format.

Now, if Windows XP is installed to partition F: - the boot.ini file will
still reside on drive C:

If you format partition F: to reinstall the operating system, boot.ini is -
of course - going to survive.

I believe this is what is occurring.

The RAM is flushed during a reboot into the Windows XP CD where most people
will choose to re-format from. So, the boot.ini is not going to survive the
reboot. Now, if they have physical hardware issues with their M/B, such as
the infamous "leaky capacitor" problem, then maybe the RAM isn't flushing
properly.

But I don't believe it is a Windows XP problem. It is either a technique or
a hardware issue.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[John John]

I don't know how it happens but it happens. It's been happening since
NT3.x and it happens on single partition disks also, so it can't be
simply dismissed or written off as human error or formating the wrong
partition or that the file is copied from another disk location. The
problem can be replicated and has been confirmed and replicated by one
of the senior MVP's. I say it can happen because I too have seen it
happen on a single partition disk and I can assure you that the hardware
wasn't at fault!

John

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

They're just links to Google archives of earlier discussions on
Microsoft.public newsgroups on the subject. The original links would
have been 400 or more characters in length so I shortened them with
Tinyurl.

I understand, but there's always a risk with tinyurls that they aren't what
they purport to be. Not to accuse you of anything, but my policy is to avoid
clicking on them.

I even post tinyurls myself, but I always also post the full link to give
people a choice.

 

[ray]

I fixed it!
I went into the boot.ini setup and delted one of the boot paths.
That has cured the rpoblem.
Thanks for all the interest.