Re: Some anomalies after reinstallation

Here are the contents of the boot.ini file:
[boot loader]

timeout=30

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" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect



How do I need to edit this file to prevent my problem? I was just going to
put a semicolon at the beginning of the very last line (at least that used
to be how we could add a comment line 20 ys. ago!), but should I just delete
the entire line instead? Also I notice the timeout=30 line. Do I need to
do anything with that?

Thanks again!

Jim




"M.I.5¾" <no.one@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:48983c11$1_1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Jim Ludwig" <jimlud@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:vpRlk.19187$Ri.1292@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi all,
I recently wiped my sisters computer clean (fdisk and slow format) and
reinstalled WinXP Home fresh. She has a 3 yr old Dell Dimension. She
was not able to find her Win XP or driver discs. I used my copy of win
xp, but used her product key from the label on her computer and it
activated fine. I am having two problems that are more annoyance than
anything:

First, when you reboot the computer, when still in the bios a screen
comes up that says,
"Please select operating system"
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
and there is a count down waiting for me to pick one or the other. If I
choose the first one, Windows boots normally. If I let the countdown
finish, it automatically chooses the first one and finishes booting. If
I choose the 2nd one, I get a message saying that it couldn't start
because of a disk hardware configuration problem. Couldn't read from
selected boot disk. Check boot path and hardware. Plus some stuff about
checking the documentation.
Any thoughts about this? I am wondering if she had a backup/restore
partition on the hard drive from the factory and maybe that's why she
couldn't find her discs. Even if that is the case, should my formatting
and fdisk have wiped that clean?

Second problem...Since she didn't have her discs, I had to get a number
of her drivers from Dell's support site using her service tag.
Everything seems to be working. However, in device manager, a number of
devices are listed twice or more. Her graphics adapter (integrated) and
plug n' play monitor are both listed twice. Under the IDE controllers
heading, primary IDE controller, secondary IDE controller, and standard
dual channel PCI IDE controller are all listed twice. Under usb heading,
standard universal pci to usb host controller is listed 4 times and usb
root hub is listed 5 times. She has 8 usb ports (6 back, 2 front).
Anyway, like I said, everything works, but why are some things listed
more than once?
Thanks for any light anyone can shed.


The listings for the usb host controller and usb root ports are all
consitent with the 8 USB2 ports that you clearly have as you have 4
standard USB1 host controllers and 5 root hubs (4 for USB1 and 1 for
USB2). You will also have a single enhanced USB2 controller. The
graphics adapter may well be listed twice if it is a dual head graphic
card and the monitors have reflected this. The IDE controllers do puzzle
me though they may be correct. The two PCI IDE controllers may be
reasonable. If the machine works satisfactorily then I wouldn't worry
about it. If it ain't broke then don't fix it.

The menu asking you to select the operating system is because you didn't
perform a clean install but installed the new operating system along side
the old one (or at least you did something that the install routine
thought that you had).

If you post the contents of your BOOT.INI file, I or someone will explain
what changes you need to make to make the system boot into Windows without
asking the question above.

If you are reasonably familiar with these things you need to remove the
reference to a second operating system. But if you are not, then the
wrong change can leave you with a non functioning system.





.

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