Re: Boot.ini file help


"Patrick Keenan" <test@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23m6p9nNvHHA.4736@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"lonerlette" <lonerlette@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:06AE743D-BA6B-40E5-8AB7-C2056F08D089@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Boot.ini file was deleted from my laptop, I have no xp disk so don't
bother
with that suggestion.

Why not? You can borrow any bootable XP CD to run bootcfg /rebuild from
the Recovery Console.


Though generally true, it is not universally true. Some manufacturers
customise the windows to such an extent that generic windows disks won't
work. HP is an example that immediately springs to mind. Many HP models
won't even boot from a generic windows CD and have to have a dedicated
recovery disk.

Many of those affected machines will be rendered non bootable if you just
try to do an error check on the system disk. This is because windows
immediately re-writes the Master Boot Record to make the machine boot into a
DOS based disk check - the generic MBR used not being valid for the PC. If
you succeed in replacing the MBR from the HP recovery disk, Scandisk runs
and then craps the PC again as Windows then replaces the MBR with the
generic windows MBR which is, again, invalid.

What really pisses you off is when you try to run the HP recovery disk to be
greeted with a message telling you that the recovery disk is the wrong one
for the machine that you have and won't run.


.

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