Problems with re-installing windows

[Alex Willcox]

I've recently tried re-installing windows as a last resort to get things
running smoothly again. However, once the PC restarts, I get "Boot from CD"
during the start-up process, then the following screen:

Please select the operating system to start:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Setup

The latter option is highlighted, but if I let it select this, all I'm then
faced with is a blank screen, with a flashing cursor in the top left corner.
Nothing else happens, no matter how long I leave it.

Since trying the re-install, I get the same screen every time I try to start
my PC. Selecting "Home Edition" starts everything up as normal, but it's
something of a pain, and I still can't complete the re-install.

I've tried starting the computer in safe mode, and just get a screen full of
things like:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS|system32|DRIVERSZagp440.sys
Which makes absolutely no sense to this particular novice. In any case, this
just stays on the screen, and the computer will do nothing else.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete and even hitting the power button does nothing at all. I have
to turn off at the mains and restart the PC.

I've though about reformatting the hard drive, and starting from scratch,
but my main concern there is that I'm using an external DVD drive, connected
by USB. Will the PC still recognise it after a re-format?

Any and all help with my problems will be much appreciated.

Alex

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Fri Apr 10 2009 11:14:01 GMT-0700 (Pacific
Daylight Time), and on a whim, Alex Willcox pounded out on the keyboard:

I've recently tried re-installing windows as a last resort to get things
running smoothly again. However, once the PC restarts, I get "Boot from CD"
during the start-up process, then the following screen:

Please select the operating system to start:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Setup

The latter option is highlighted, but if I let it select this, all I'm then
faced with is a blank screen, with a flashing cursor in the top left corner.
Nothing else happens, no matter how long I leave it.

Since trying the re-install, I get the same screen every time I try to start
my PC. Selecting "Home Edition" starts everything up as normal, but it's
something of a pain, and I still can't complete the re-install.

I've tried starting the computer in safe mode, and just get a screen full of
things like:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS|system32|DRIVERSZagp440.sys
Which makes absolutely no sense to this particular novice. In any case, this
just stays on the screen, and the computer will do nothing else.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete and even hitting the power button does nothing at all. I have
to turn off at the mains and restart the PC.

I've though about reformatting the hard drive, and starting from scratch,
but my main concern there is that I'm using an external DVD drive, connected
by USB. Will the PC still recognise it after a re-format?

Any and all help with my problems will be much appreciated.

Alex

Hi Alex,

1. You get the "Boot from CD" notice because you have a bootable CD in
the drive.

2. It appears you started to install another copy of Windows on the
drive, which failed, giving you the 2nd option. You can edit the
boot.ini file (which contains the menu you're seeing) by, right clicking
on My Computer and selecting Properties, Advanced tab, under "Startup
and Recovery" click the Settings button. Click the Edit button. Remove
the line with Microsoft Windows XP Setup. Make sure the default= line
is the same as the info on the remaining line (up to the = sign). You
will probably have to change the partition number. Press Ctrl-S to save.
That will remove the menu at boot up.

3. When starting in Safe Mode, do you wait a while to see if Windows
starts? After displaying all the loading info, it could pause a while.

You may need to look at your drive in Explorer and see if you created a
second Windows folder for the other install, and since it isn't being
used, you could/should remove it. I would rename it first to be sure
nothing is associating itself with the folder for a few days, then
remove it.

Terry R.

 

[Alex Willcox]

Hi Alex,

1. You get the "Boot from CD" notice because you have a bootable CD in
the drive.

2. It appears you started to install another copy of Windows on the
drive, which failed, giving you the 2nd option. You can edit the
boot.ini file (which contains the menu you're seeing) by, right clicking
on My Computer and selecting Properties, Advanced tab, under "Startup
and Recovery" click the Settings button. Click the Edit button. Remove
the line with Microsoft Windows XP Setup. Make sure the default= line
is the same as the info on the remaining line (up to the = sign). You
will probably have to change the partition number. Press Ctrl-S to save.
That will remove the menu at boot up.

3. When starting in Safe Mode, do you wait a while to see if Windows
starts? After displaying all the loading info, it could pause a while.
, and since it isn't being
used, you could/should remove it. I would rename it first to be sure
nothing is associating itself with the folder for a few days, then
remove it.

Terry R.

Okay...
1. I get the boot from CD notice whether there's a disc in the drive or not.

2. I've gone as far as clicking the edit button, and I get this:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Setup"

Just to make sure I don't mess anything up further, what precisely should I
be changing?

3. I'll try starting in safe mode again, and let you know.

4. Apologies for being a complete novice here, but : "You may need to look
at your drive in Explorer and see if you created a second Windows folder for
the other install". That's clicking My Computer then local Disk(c), so I get
the list of folders; Documents and Settings, Program Files, Windows, etc.,
right? If so, that's fine. There's only one windows folder present.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, April 10, 2009 10:38:01 PM, and on a whim,
Alex Willcox pounded out on the keyboard:

Hi Alex,

1. You get the "Boot from CD" notice because you have a bootable CD in
the drive.

2. It appears you started to install another copy of Windows on the
drive, which failed, giving you the 2nd option. You can edit the
boot.ini file (which contains the menu you're seeing) by, right clicking
on My Computer and selecting Properties, Advanced tab, under "Startup
and Recovery" click the Settings button. Click the Edit button. Remove
the line with Microsoft Windows XP Setup. Make sure the default= line
is the same as the info on the remaining line (up to the = sign). You
will probably have to change the partition number. Press Ctrl-S to save.
That will remove the menu at boot up.

3. When starting in Safe Mode, do you wait a while to see if Windows
starts? After displaying all the loading info, it could pause a while.
, and since it isn't being
used, you could/should remove it. I would rename it first to be sure
nothing is associating itself with the folder for a few days, then
remove it.

Terry R.

Okay...
1. I get the boot from CD notice whether there's a disc in the drive or not.

2. I've gone as far as clicking the edit button, and I get this:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Setup"

Just to make sure I don't mess anything up further, what precisely should I
be changing?

3. I'll try starting in safe mode again, and let you know.

4. Apologies for being a complete novice here, but : "You may need to look
at your drive in Explorer and see if you created a second Windows folder for
the other install". That's clicking My Computer then local Disk(c), so I get
the list of folders; Documents and Settings, Program Files, Windows, etc.,
right? If so, that's fine. There's only one windows folder present.

This is how your boot.ini should look:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Modify it and save it using Ctrl-S, and reboot. Let's see if the CD
boot doesn't go away, along with the menu.



Terry R.

 

[Alex Willcox]

This is how your boot.ini should look:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Modify it and save it using Ctrl-S, and reboot. Let's see if the CD
boot doesn't go away, along with the menu.



Terry R.

Well, it's a definite improvement. I still get "boot from CD" flashing up,
the I'm given two options:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect
which still doesn't look right.
However, the first option is highlighted, so at least I don't need to wait
for this screen, then change the option.

Should I try reinstalling windows again now?...

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Saturday, April 11, 2009 8:19:01 AM, and on a
whim, Alex Willcox pounded out on the keyboard:

This is how your boot.ini should look:

[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Modify it and save it using Ctrl-S, and reboot. Let's see if the CD
boot doesn't go away, along with the menu.



Terry R.

Well, it's a definite improvement. I still get "boot from CD" flashing up,
the I'm given two options:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
/noexecute=optin /fastdetect
which still doesn't look right.
However, the first option is highlighted, so at least I don't need to wait
for this screen, then change the option.

Should I try reinstalling windows again now?...

It sounds like line 5 isn't a single line. It should be. Make sure you
didn't insert a carriage return after Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

Why are you wanting to "reinstall" Windows?

Terry R.

 

[Alex Willcox]

It sounds like line 5 isn't a single line. It should be. Make sure you
didn't insert a carriage return after Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

Right. Got that changed.

Why are you wanting to "reinstall" Windows?

Terry R.

I've got something nasty somewhere on my PC. Aside from things runnning much
more slowly than they used to, if I click on a Google search result, instead
of following the link, I get a new tab opening up, and either get taken to
some advertising site, or to similar results from another search engine.
Also, pop-ups have managed to start sneaking through the blocker.
It looks like some adware to me. My first thought was to use spybot, but if
I try to go to http://www.safer-networking.org/ , !Address not found.

Reinstalling windows and starting from scratch seems to be the only way of
sorting things out.

 

[Elmo]

Right. Got that changed.


I've got something nasty somewhere on my PC. Aside from things running much
more slowly than they used to, if I click on a Google search result, instead
of following the link, I get a new tab opening up, and either get taken to
some advertising site, or to similar results from another search engine.
Also, pop-ups have managed to start sneaking through the blocker.
It looks like some adware to me. My first thought was to use Spybot, but if
I try to go to http://www.safer-networking.org/ , !Address not found.

Reinstalling windows and starting from scratch seems to be the only way of
sorting things out.

Try this download to a working machine. You burn the image to a blank
CD then boot the infected machine to it; it clears out the malware.
This is software from Avira.

http://forums.techarena.in/tips-tweaks/1157825.htm

Just download the .exe rather than the ISO.

 

[Alex Willcox]

Try this download to a working machine. You burn the image to a blank
CD then boot the infected machine to it; it clears out the malware.
This is software from Avira.

http://forums.techarena.in/tips-tweaks/1157825.htm

Just download the .exe rather than the ISO.

Looked good for a little while. It managed to find over 500 bits of
dodgy-ness, which it renamed as it couldn't delete them. Exit the program,
restart the PC, and Windows runs a disk check, putting everything back where
it was.
I really think I need to re-install windows.

 

[Elmo]

Looked good for a little while. It managed to find over 500 bits of
dodgy-ness, which it renamed as it couldn't delete them. Exit the program,
restart the PC, and Windows runs a disk check, putting everything back where
it was.
I really think I need to re-install windows.

OK, I hoped that would work. It tried to remove a restore partition I
was working on too.. Maybe they'll get that working sometime.