Windows XP Refuses to Boot

Hi everyone,

I came home from work today to find that my machine won't boot. I fortunately have a dual boot with Windows 2k so I can use it like I am now. Let me explain.

I have (had) Windows XP Pro installed on my 300gig hard drive and it is a master on a controller card. I also have an 80gig and 20gig hard drive as slaves (Windows 2k is on the 80 and a screen at startup prompts which to use).

When I select Windows XP, num lock goes on and the computer just sits there on a blank screen. I can't turn num lock off or any other key light. No activity, it just sits. Booting in safe mode reveals that the machine just sits at this:

multi(0)disk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CONFIG\SYSTEM.LOG

I let it sit for a good 15 minutes but it just sits.

Is there any way I can somehow bypass the use of this log or fix it and not lose my data on my 300gig? My dual boot of Win2k could never read the 300gig so I can't tell if it's intact or not, but during booting I can see my two IDE slaves and when my controller card loads I see the 300gig there.

Please help me and I appreciate any help I get.

 

Can you please post a copy of your boot.ini.

 

Well I can't access my master drive with XP. The one for 2k, my slave, is:

[boot loader]
timeout=3
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"

which isn't the one I'm using.

I've been doing some research and a Repair Install might be my best bet. But would that remove my current boot settings, as now I have it ask me what OS to boot from?

 

It's a boot.ini issue.

1. Use the Windows XP CD-ROM to restart the computer.

2. At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to repair the Windows XP installation.

3. Press C to repair the Windows XP installation by using the Recovery Console.

4. Type the number that corresponds to the Windows installation that you want to repair, and then press ENTER. For example, type 1, and then press ENTER.

5. Type the Administrator password, and then press ENTER.

6. Type the following command, and then press ENTER:

type c:\Boot.ini

A list similar to the following list appears:
[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
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional"

If you receive the following message, the Boot.ini file may be missing or damaged:

The system cannot find the file or directory specified.

7. If the Boot.ini file is missing or damaged, create a new one. To do so, follow these steps:

a. Use a text editor, such as Notepad or Edit.com, to create a boot loader file similar to the following boot loader 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
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

b. Save the file to a floppy disk as Boot.ini.

c. Type the following command at the Recovery Console command prompt to copy the Boot.ini file from the floppy disk to the computer:

NOTE: If you used Notepad to create the file, make sure that the .txt extension is not appended to the Boot.ini file name.

copy a:\Boot.ini c:\

8. Type exit, and then press ENTER. The computer restarts.

 

I'm not sure if it's the boot.ini, but I might be wrong.

At startup it still asks me for either XP or 2k like it always did. But if I choose XP, it hangs. If I choose 2k, it works. The boot.ini I posted above isn't the one it's using.

My master 300gig with XP is on a controller card (since my mobo can't support the big drive). This leads to some complications. My current boot sequence is floppy then SCSI (for controller card). If I want to use the XP CD I change it to CD then SCSI and it doesn't see the controller card HD, only my two regular IDE ones. I tried the repair console and it didn't find my 300gig (yet during boot under the controller card I see it). Perhaps at the CD boot, load those third party controller things will let me use the 300gig in the repair console...

 

The boot.ini that it is using is the one on the XP partition, and since that is a NTFS5 drive WIN 2000 won't read it.

This looks like an incorrect entry in the Win XP boot.ini

 

Any typo in that is my fault, I jotted it down by hand and now I see that I forgot something:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CONFIG\SYSTEM.LOG

I apologize.

 

OK, still looks like an incorrect entry in the Win XP boot.ini the reason I say that is because the only place I ever see an entry with this multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1) is in the boot.ini