Re: Clean reinstall getting dirtier each attempt?

Nepatsfan, answers to your questions addressed in the copied body of your
post.

"Nepatsfan" wrote:


Jeff,

I sure hope you have your important files backed up. Do that
before you try anything else.

I don't know where to start so let's get some things explained
so we've got a frame of reference to work with.

First off, forget about the small partitions. The 39MB
partition probably contained diagnostic programs that the
manufacturer put there so they'd be available when you first
booted your computer. If your computer is a Dell, then you can
change probably in the previous sentence to definitely. These
same diagnostic programs are available on one of the CD's that
Dell ships with their systems. Look for a Resources CD if
you've got a Dell. They'll be on there. For now, don't worry
about this.

Yes, it is a Dell (Dimension 8250). Yes I have a resources CD, for now I
won't worry about this.


The 8MB of unallocated space is put there by Windows in case
someone wanted to convert their Basic disk to a Dynamic disk.
You'll be just fine with your Basic disk.

Ignoring this too, for now.


Let's move on to your Boot.ini file. Originally your hard drive
had a small first partition, 39MB, and a large second
partition, your C drive. That would account for the second
entry under operating systems pointing to partition 2 since
your C drive was the second partition. That's the old
installation. Your original Boot.ini file looked like this.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect=OptIn

I'd be willing to bet that you have a file named boot.bak that
when opened with notepad will look very similar to the above.

Now here's where things got out of whack. When you deleted the
39 MB partition, leaving it as unallocated space, your C drive
became the first partition on your hard drive. When you
reinstalled XP without formatting the partition you ended up
installing it right back into the Windows folder on your C
drive, which was now partition 1. That's where you got this
line added to your boot.ini file.

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

And since it was the latest installation it became the default
operating system. You really don't have two installations of XP
since both entries point to a Windows folder. Look on your C
drive. Are there any large folders with names similar to
Windows or just the one Windows folder? I'm betting there's
just the one Windows folder.

Check! Just the one Windows folder.

The boot.ini issue can be resolved by editing out the reference
to partition 2. Here's what your boot.ini file should look
like.

[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

You can edit the boot.ini file by following the procedure
outlined in this article.

How to edit the Boot.ini file in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q289022/

Understand this and believe i can edit the Boot.ini as directed. Just didn't
think that was fixing the problem as much as directing startup to ignore it.

You say that the new installation is working OK. Can you run
all the installed programs on your computer? How about your
user account? Can you access all your old files?

New installation seems to work ok, I've had a few problems downloading and
reinstalling XP Service Pack 2 (as I've needed to remove it whenever i've
gone back to using the XP reainstallation disk) also had some problems with
Norton Phishing Filter not DLing. Not sure what the question is about my User
Account, if I logoff this is still the only account available to log back in
to and it is the Admin acct. I CAN access my old files, including files for
programs i thought would have been deleted/overwritten by the clean install.
Examples include Teamspeak and WinRAR...Although I haven't reloaded nor
reinstalled either program I can still access both through my Program Files.

Finally, look in the Documents and Settings folder on your C
drive. What folders does it contain? Are there duplicates? FYI,
to see all the folders, make sure you go to Control Panel ->
Folder Options and click on the View tab. On the View page,
select "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide
protected operating system files". Click OK.

In the Documents and Settings folder I have many duplicate an/or additional
folders. 3 Administrator variants, 2 All Users variants, 2 Hidden Default
User variants, 3 Jeffrey variants, 2 Hidden LocalSevice variants, and 2
Hidden NetworkService variants.


Post back with answers to the above questions. Hopefully,
editing your boot.ini file will resolve this issue.

Good luck

Nepatsfan


Thanks for the help so far. I'll see about editing the boot.ini while
waiting for reply to this.
.

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