[Rickles]

Hi

After getting rid of a virus with the help of Geeks to Go I have a minor problem in that XP will not start normally.

After switching on I get my normal screen with Compaq on it then I get a black screen with Windows XP Home which is highlighted and a countdown asking if I would like to start XP...

Help please.

Regards

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Is this a dual-boot system? How many OS's are you running? Did you happen to have 2 installs of XP at some point in time?

This problem is normally due to the boot.ini file.

Go to Start>run... type in C:\boot.ini
Copy and paste the text in your next post.

You could also just go to Start>right-click MyComputer>select Properties>Advanced tab>Settings (under Startup and recovery) and change the "Time to display list of operating systems, to "0". This will tell the computer to boot straight into XP... or whatever the first boot OS is.

[makai]

Is this a dual-boot system? How many OS's are you running? Did you happen to have 2 installs of XP at some point in time?

This problem is normally due to the boot.ini file.

Go to Start>run... type in C:\boot.ini
Copy and paste the text in your next post.

You could also just go to Start>right-click MyComputer>select Properties>Advanced tab>Settings (under Startup and recovery) and change the "Time to display list of operating systems, to "0". This will tell the computer to boot straight into XP... or whatever the first boot OS is.

[Rickles]

Hi makai,

This computer is a single boot system with only one xp home edition on it. (Legal)

As requested,

Go to Start>run... type in C:\boot.ini


[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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I will try the other fix when I leave the Internet.

Regards

[makai]

Its the Recovery Console entry that's causing the boot delay. You must have worked with the Recovery console in your Malware thread.

WARNING... Incorrectly editing the boot.ini may render your computer unbootable.

While you could get rid of Recovery Console reference in the boot.ini to make it look like this...

[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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

... I recommend you just change the "time to display" option I mentioned. At work, I have the same type entry (although for XP Pro), so I do the same thing to bypass it. You won't even notice any delay if you set it to "0", and if you ever need to get to the recovery console at a later time, it would be available to you... although you will have to be quick to enter the console since you will have "0" seconds!

If you decide to edit the boot.ini, be sure to back it up somewhere in case something goes wrong and you can't boot up. I have to say this, just so you're aware.

[Rickles]

Hi makai,

I think I did work with the Recovery console but mainly I just followed instructions from the advisor.

I tried the 'Time" fix as per instructions:

Start>right-click MyComputer>
select Properties>Advanced tab>Settings
(under Startup and recovery) and change the
"Time to display list of operating systems, to "0".

and the computer now starts up VERY quickly! If I ever need to get to the recovery console at a later time I will let the Geeks to Go advisor figure that one out.

All is well now unless you have a fix to make my usb flash drive autorun (re my other thread). The dvd disc autostarts/runs but not the flash drive.

Thanks for the help.

Regards

[makai]

Yah, sometimes things are left well enough alone. If/when you need the recovery console, at least it'll be there.

As for your USB flashdrive not auto-launching. Will it not launch even if the drive is empty with no files on it?

Edited by makai, 16 March 2009 - 05:37 AM.

[Rickles]

Hi makai,

No, the flash drive and my external drives will not autorun/play full or empty. I was advised to use a program fix to get the DVDs to autorun/play.

Regards

[makai]

The reason I asked is that sometimes a virus that attacks a computer will attach a file to the USB drive. Since your computer had viri, I thought there might be something left behind on the drive. Also, depending on your XP version, (SP1, SP2, SP3), Windows will not launch the drive contents if words such as "setup", or "install", is in the name of the file. What version are you running?

If the drive is empty, you might try reformatting it to see if it will help. If you already did that, then it's probably something deeper in Windows. There are many instances on google about USB drives and autoplay not working and there are many varied solutions. Which one will help your particualy situation, we have to find. However, its not good to have 2 threads running at the same time on the same subject, so why don't we call this one closed and continue in your original USB thread, after you final reply here?

Edited by makai, 16 March 2009 - 01:10 PM.

[Rickles]

That's is fine with me. I'll continue on the other thread.
Regards