I am am referring to a Dell Dimension(or should I say one day was) that is a nightmare

First I am not even sure the components and what not are Dell. It was bought at a show and although that is what I was told I have since learned this may not be true. Mind you this isn't a new PC.

I have had maleware issues in the past on this machine that I have always been able to obtain help in fixing here and I now pray that maybe you guys can save me once more. My problems started when I tried to "reformat" back to factory issue condition. The first time in my five years of owning said machine. The classic mode of getting into "restore" didn't exist. I thought I was going crazy. But owning 2 Dells realized this was not the case when the other was easily obtained hitting the ctrl alt f11. So I resorted to disc. to find out I was missing one of those.

I did contact Dell to try to obtain assistance which is where I found out my machine was "refurbished" and due to the "original" owners names still being associated with the tag they could not assit. So I went back to the place of purchase. They mailed me what was to solve my issue....

well upon finally getting it to go at all....it installed a second copy of XP on a diff drive....and comes up with which operating system would I like to use...one doesn't work and one does...yet I can't seem to rid the machine of the other no matter what I have done. They tried to have me take it to raw partitions which just made more of a mess for me to deal with. As it would never let if go far enough saying there was an operating system in use. And when I install my virus protection on the machine it won't update either. Making me think there is more there then one sees. Another tell tale sign is that while I did get the classic warnings I will be deleting all data do I want to continue...when I do install new and come back in everything is all still there, messengers and what not that have been downloaded and should be gone.

I have the discs needed to reinstall XP on the PC.

My question....How do I approach it....
how do I get rid of all the mumble jumble there now and start fresh.
Can I just somehow get rid of everything that is currently on the PC ??

I am currently on a diff PC but can post a hijack this log if ya think it may help ya.
Any help is GREATLY appreciated !!

You say one login does not work and the other does correct?
When you use the Windows that works is everything working correctly?
If so what you have is a boot.ini issue and that can be fixed to rid your system of the second bootup option you are getting.
If you can get into windows let me know and i will assist you in fixing the Boot.ini issue

As rshaffer said, its a boot.ini issue. Simply removing the line pointing to the bad XP install will fix it.

Also, you may be better off just formatting the whole drive and starting fresh, backing up data beforehand of course.

Yes I can get into a working windows system
I was reformatting due to age and performance of pc
there is no vital info left on it as I already feared the worse.
Only I have to wonder if any of it took at all when programs (ie: psp and all the old camera programs) are still in tact although some aren't working properly.

I am open for any help to get it back to a normal working system...
Right now all I see is a very expensive planter and you two make it sound so darn easy
Thanks again for all your help !! I am not sure what this blonde would do without you guys

Please do the following in the exact steps. Failure to do so could make the boot.ini damaged and cause unstable or unusable results with your system.:

Save a Backup Copy of Boot.ini

1. Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl and then click OK.
2. Click on the Advanced tab, and then click Settings
3. In the Startup and Recovery area at the bottom click Settings.
4. Under System Startup click Edit. This opens the Boot.ini file in Notepad ready for editing.
5. In Notepad, click File on the Menu bar, and then click Save As.
6. First in here change the location in the top white drop down box to Desktop. Then in the file name change to Boot.old and save as Text Document(*.txt) and save it to your Desktop and then click Save

Now you can repeat the steps to get back to step Number 4

Below you will see a sample of a Windows Professional boot.ini file. Yours will look the same except it may say Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Please copy and paste all the lines in your next reply.


Sample 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 Professional" /fastdetect





This post has been edited by rshaffer61: May 7 2009, 10:52 AM

just a fyi that pc has no internet as of now due to issues is capable...but made the virus protection crazy

so this is the log copied to memory stick then here....

[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(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

[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(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

If you have done the backup of the Boot.ini file now go back and repeat the steps till you get to Step 4
Delete the line above that I have highlighted
Save the file and then reboot
You should be able to bootup normally now. Please let me know how this works for you. Don't worry if it is wrong because you saved the boot.ini file hopefully and we can restore back if needed.

This post has been edited by rshaffer61: May 7 2009, 11:30 AM

It did reboot and start....
but the screen popped up asking which system
this time...
the xp home or windows default

I ASSumed you would again want a copy of the same so skipped all that and did it

here is a copy of what that reads now

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

See the part that I have highlighted above?
I need you to change that to this
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Then save and reboot

This post has been edited by rshaffer61: May 7 2009, 12:06 PM

TY TY TY soooooooo very much!!!
it is now back to a normal start.
As I had said I can see that reformat didn't clear what it should have but at least I have a place to start and know where to go when I get lost or stuck. If I can get all the old crap laying about hiding and stuff to go this will still be a tolerable machine to allow the child on. You guys are great thanks a million

We will try to help with the original issue if you would like. Now that the bootup problem is resolved please detail the problem you are having and we will try to help.
BTW CONGRATULATIONS for resolving the bootup problem.

AGAIN TY....for being the guiding light I am greatful to be on familiar ground If I could pop out of your screen I'd kiss ya

the machine is my daughters and she is a social butterfly...lol
briefly she has plagued it over the years and it was the "left overs" that seemed to be slowing it down
between adding and deleteing all the goodies over the years I just wanted to go back to the factory default. But in this machine it is non existant the screen never appears. I do have discs but not the time to rerun them right now. I will try to start the whole process over and see if I can "reformat" for real this time. Basically I just want the basics back and a NEW START

She bought herself a laptop but I would like to keep this one for when she is here.....lol
I like mine healthy....lol

Would you rather format and start over rather then fix what you have?
I can assist either way you desire but if the system is running now I would say fix what you have already working. The process isn't much and it will get you back to near fresh install status. Please let me know and I will be happy to assist you.

Well now that sounds great if we can fix what is already there that would be ideal.
I did get teh virus protection up and running...it wouldn"t take updates and is now...
If you can help me fix what works I would be a happy lil camper
I have to run out for a bit and may not get back to you till later or tomm with my next post
THANKS.....you are so kind

No problem and lets do this in steps so that it is not confusing trying to do several steps at one time.

What I would suggest is uninstalling all programs you don't need or don't want anymore through Add/Remove Programs

Do this by going to
Start and then to Control Panel
Click Add/Remove Programs
Carefully choose the program(s) you don't need
Click on each Program then click Change/Remove and Follow the Uninstall Instructions

You may be prompted to restart your computer, if you have the option, restart later if you have more programs to uninstall.
Restart once you have all the programs you don't need uninstalled.
Be careful not to remove anything needed by your computer, some of which you may be unfamiliar with the name,