XP Booting Message

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim
  • Start date Start date
T

Tim

Hi,

After upgrading the hardware in my old pc (new mobo,h-
drive, g-card etc) - I have used the xp home edition disk
that was supplied with the pc when i bought it.

The disk allows me to perform a fresh & full install of
xp on to my new h-drive and I've activated the
code.....but every time I boot up prior to the welcome
screen I get a page message saying the " sorry for the
inconvenience, but windows did not start properly - this
may be due to some hardware or software changes.....etc
etc.... or may be due to a power loss or reset during
setup...blah ...blah...THEN it says please start in
either safe mode, newtork, last known config - or normal
mode (this is the default mode after a 28 sec countdown)

I press the restart in normal mode & after a few secs I
get the normal welcome screen & log in as normal without
any problems. Once loaded & logged-in - the pc works just
fine.

What I want to know is - HOW do I get rid of the above
message saying that there has been a hardware/software
change etc???? - it is slowing my boot up process & is
rather annoying.

Does any one have any ideas of how to sort this problem
please.

Very greatfull for some help or advice

Tim
 
Hi, Tim.

HOW are you SHUTTING DOWN each session of WinXP?

Are you clicking Start | Turn Off Computer | Turn Off ? And then waiting
while WinXP closes open files, closes open applications, puts away its toys,
does its housekeeping, tells you it is saving your settings - and finally
turns itself off?

Surely you are not just hitting the hardware power switch! :>(

Check MVP Jim Eshelman's page for plenty of tips for troubleshooting
shutdown:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php

And, by the way, after installing WinXP, did you visit Windows Update to be
sure you have SP1 and all other relevant fixes? And have you run
msconfig.exe (from the Run prompt) to see if you have something unexpected
running each time you start WinXP? You know, of course, that you can go to
System Properties | Advanced | Startup and Recover Settings and reduce that
30 seconds default delay time; in fact, if you have only one operating
system (just WinXP) installed, the startup process will ignore the delay
time altogether and boot directly into the only option.

RC
 
Thanks for the reply:

Yes I am shutting down using the normal process of -
start - turn off pc - turn off - then let it close down
until it powers off me pc .....the normal procedure for
closing the pc i beleive?

Yep - I've downloaded & installed all service
packs/patches to my xp home edition - all up to date!!

Looked at msconfig.exe - boot.ini files - nothing seems
to be a miss there excpet i get a msg when i press -
check all boot paths......of

" it appears that the following line in the BOOT.INI file
does not refer to a valid operating system;

"signature(f27bed7d)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition"/fastdetect"

Would you like to remove it from the Boot.INI file? yes
or no?

I have tried both options - yes then rebooted the pc - no
changes....also tried no & rebooted....seems again no
changes.

I think this may all have something to do with the XP
disk I've installed with is an oem system recovery disk
supplied by the company I originally bought the pc from.

That said - the disk has a full XP home edition version
on it, otherwise I would not have been able to do this
full install on this new hardrive.

You got any more suggestions at all please???

Thx
 
Hi, Tim.

BINGO! I think. ;^}

All your answers are good until we get to boot.ini.
"signature(f27bed7d)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition"/fastdetect"
Click to expand...
the XP
disk I've installed with is an oem system recovery disk
supplied by the company I originally bought the pc from.
Click to expand...
the disk has a full XP home edition version
Click to expand...

I suspect that "signature" part of the boot.ini line is the one causing the
problem. I'm partly guessing because I've never had the signature
designation in any of my boot.ini versions, even though I've booted from
SCSI and from an ATA RAID controller. I suspect it had something to do with
the original hardware configuration of your computer. It probably is no
longer necessary. That is probably what your error message means when it
refers to "some hardware or software changes". We never know just what an
OEM has done to WinXP after they got it from Microsoft.

What happens if you leave that line in boot.ini, but change
"signature(f27bed7d)" to "multi(0)"? That's what is in most boot.ini files
and just might work in your present configuration.

Rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS refers to the first partition of the first HD,
normally Drive C:. That is where you have WinXP installed, isn't it? In
C:\Windows?

Another approach would be to boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and tell it to
Repair WinXP, or use its Recovery Console to run Fixboot and Bootcfg to
clean up the boot sector and system files - provided the OEM left "the right
stuff" on your CD.

RC
 
Back
Top