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Thread: boot.ini problem (I think!)

  1. #1
    Grizzled old-timer! Deadlight's Avatar
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    boot.ini problem (I think!)

    Hiya all

    Right, this is doing me 'ead in! Basically I managed to breack my boot partition on my RAID 0 array, so I deleted/recreated it and restored a working image. That bit's good.

    However, I think I've knackered some clusters on the surface of the disk - if I avoid a certain area when I create a partition, it's OK. That bit's good, too.

    However, on trying to boot from my newly created C: drive, I get 2 choices, both labelled as 'Windows(default)'. The first choice boots fine; the 2nd gives me 'multi(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)/BOOTSECT.DOS not found'. The boot.ini file on the root of drive C:; reads as follows;

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=C:\
    [operating systems]

    I've tried editing it with one option only, I've tried partition 2 or 3 but no joy. Where the blimmin' hell is it getting it's choices from?
    This hot girl came over to myspace last night, she twittered my yahoo till I
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  2. #2
    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Looks as if the MBR has two entries on it - one valid and points to the correct area for the remainder of the boot process, the other doesn't. Perhaps some other experts at the boot process can offer some advice...
    (\__/)
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    Agent of the System ikonia's Avatar
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    I didn't think the boot.ini file could have references like "C:\"

    I thought you had to have a device path and winroot locations such as

    [boot loader]
    timeout=10
    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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


    (note the lines are wrapped)
    It is Inevitable.....


  4. #4
    Grizzled old-timer! Deadlight's Avatar
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    Well it does! That there's a cut 'n paste job.
    This hot girl came over to myspace last night, she twittered my yahoo till I
    googled all over her facebook. Ask Jeeves...

    System 1: Intel i5-2500k OC STABLE @5.05ghz with a ThermaTake Frio (air power!), 8Gb 1600 (9-9-9-24) R3 Patriot G2 RAM, nVidia GTX980TI ;
    System 2: HP N40L Microserver;
    System 3: MSI 'Ghost Pro' laptop - 16Gb DDR4 RAM, nVidia 970M, i7-6700, 256GB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD
    System 4: Samsung TAB S 10.1

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    Ex-MSFT Paul Adams's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Deadlight
    ...on trying to boot from my newly created C: drive, I get 2 choices, both labelled as 'Windows(default)'. The first choice boots fine; the 2nd gives me 'multi(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)/BOOTSECT.DOS not found'. The boot.ini file on the root of drive C:; reads as follows;

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=C:\
    [operating systems]

    I've tried editing it with one option only, I've tried partition 2 or 3 but no joy. Where the blimmin' hell is it getting it's choices from?
    What OS's do (or did) you have installed on this system?
    Describe your partition setup, and what broke the RAID array?
    Did you try to install Vista at all?
    Are there any other BOOT.INI files at the root of any partition?

    BOOTSECT.DOS would imply that this system thinks it has an MS-DOS boot partiion...
    ~ I have CDO. It's like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be. ~
    PC: Win10 x64 | Asus Maximus VIII | Core i7-6700K | 16GB DDR3 | 2x250GB SSD | 500GB SSD | 2TB SATA-300 | GeForce GTX1080
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    Grizzled old-timer! Deadlight's Avatar
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    OK, well I had Windows XP Pro installed and now else. I have 2 200Gb SATA drives in RAID 0 (5 partitions, one of them being the active primary, the other 4 logical), and I managed to knock the PC over while Windows was shutting down - trying to boot after this just rebooted the PC after a BSOD briefly flashed on screen. So I deleted C: and recreated it, then reinstalled Windows.
    This hot girl came over to myspace last night, she twittered my yahoo till I
    googled all over her facebook. Ask Jeeves...

    System 1: Intel i5-2500k OC STABLE @5.05ghz with a ThermaTake Frio (air power!), 8Gb 1600 (9-9-9-24) R3 Patriot G2 RAM, nVidia GTX980TI ;
    System 2: HP N40L Microserver;
    System 3: MSI 'Ghost Pro' laptop - 16Gb DDR4 RAM, nVidia 970M, i7-6700, 256GB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD
    System 4: Samsung TAB S 10.1

  7. #7
    Ex-MSFT Paul Adams's Avatar
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      • CPU:
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      • Memory:
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      • 2x250GB SSD / 500GB SSD / 2TB HDD
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    When you are booted into Windows, go into the properties of My Computer, click the Advanced tab and then click on the Settings button in the "Startup and Recovery" section.

    On the dialogue box that pops up there is an "Edit" button which loads up the BOOT.INI used by Windows in Notepad and you can edit it directly (so be careful).

    This only works if you log in with an administrator account.

    Want to check in there and copy/paste its contents?
    ~ I have CDO. It's like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be. ~
    PC: Win10 x64 | Asus Maximus VIII | Core i7-6700K | 16GB DDR3 | 2x250GB SSD | 500GB SSD | 2TB SATA-300 | GeForce GTX1080
    Camera: Canon 60D | Sigma 10-20/4.0-5.6 | Canon 100/2.8 | Tamron 18-270/3.5-6.3

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    Grizzled old-timer! Deadlight's Avatar
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    Err...Paul, that's *exactly* what I did to produce the resuts above!
    This hot girl came over to myspace last night, she twittered my yahoo till I
    googled all over her facebook. Ask Jeeves...

    System 1: Intel i5-2500k OC STABLE @5.05ghz with a ThermaTake Frio (air power!), 8Gb 1600 (9-9-9-24) R3 Patriot G2 RAM, nVidia GTX980TI ;
    System 2: HP N40L Microserver;
    System 3: MSI 'Ghost Pro' laptop - 16Gb DDR4 RAM, nVidia 970M, i7-6700, 256GB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD
    System 4: Samsung TAB S 10.1

  9. #9
    Grizzled old-timer! Deadlight's Avatar
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    Knackered MBR? Guys?

    Please don't tell me I need to backup, break up the disk array, recreate it, reformat and re-partition....

    <sigh>
    This hot girl came over to myspace last night, she twittered my yahoo till I
    googled all over her facebook. Ask Jeeves...

    System 1: Intel i5-2500k OC STABLE @5.05ghz with a ThermaTake Frio (air power!), 8Gb 1600 (9-9-9-24) R3 Patriot G2 RAM, nVidia GTX980TI ;
    System 2: HP N40L Microserver;
    System 3: MSI 'Ghost Pro' laptop - 16Gb DDR4 RAM, nVidia 970M, i7-6700, 256GB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD
    System 4: Samsung TAB S 10.1

  10. #10
    Senior Member skuzgib's Avatar
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    tried fixmbr in the recovery console?

  11. #11
    Ex-MSFT Paul Adams's Avatar
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    • Paul Adams's system
      • Motherboard:
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      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i7-6700K
      • Memory:
      • 16GB
      • Storage:
      • 2x250GB SSD / 500GB SSD / 2TB HDD
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      • nVidia GeForce GTX1080
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 x64 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Philips 40" 4K
      • Internet:
      • 500Mbps fiber
    Quote Originally Posted by Deadlight
    Err...Paul, that's *exactly* what I did to produce the resuts above!
    Sorry for the delay, just landed back in Sweden after a looong flight from San Francisco and a 9 hour jump forward of the clock

    Do you by any chance have a CONFIG.SYS in the root of your system drive and it is greater than 0 bytes?

    At a command prompt enter the 2 commands:
    Code:
    dir c:\ /as
    dir c:\ /ah
    and mark/paste the contents here (or PM me if you prefer) - I'd be interested to see what files are in your root.
    ~ I have CDO. It's like OCD except the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be. ~
    PC: Win10 x64 | Asus Maximus VIII | Core i7-6700K | 16GB DDR3 | 2x250GB SSD | 500GB SSD | 2TB SATA-300 | GeForce GTX1080
    Camera: Canon 60D | Sigma 10-20/4.0-5.6 | Canon 100/2.8 | Tamron 18-270/3.5-6.3

  12. #12
    Grizzled old-timer! Deadlight's Avatar
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    There are both COFIG.SYS & AUTOEXEC.BAT - both are 0 bytes.

    fimbr...hmm, not tried it yet...
    This hot girl came over to myspace last night, she twittered my yahoo till I
    googled all over her facebook. Ask Jeeves...

    System 1: Intel i5-2500k OC STABLE @5.05ghz with a ThermaTake Frio (air power!), 8Gb 1600 (9-9-9-24) R3 Patriot G2 RAM, nVidia GTX980TI ;
    System 2: HP N40L Microserver;
    System 3: MSI 'Ghost Pro' laptop - 16Gb DDR4 RAM, nVidia 970M, i7-6700, 256GB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD
    System 4: Samsung TAB S 10.1

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