Windows XP Boot Problem; Help

I dont know if anyone can help me out with this or not. I was helping my friend that previously had windows ME on his laptop and i had did a new install of windows XP expecting that it would format his HD and do a clean install. However, without asking me, it gave me only his secondary HD (d:), which im assuming is a partition of his C: Drive. So anyway, it installed XP pro on his D: drive and left Windows ME on his C: drive. I realized the error and did it again on the C: drive. Only it didn't completely format it, just upgrade, and then there was two Windows XP Opperating systems. So when i booted, it gave me the option of picking which one i wanted to boot, which unfortunatelly was two XP's. So i booted the one on C: and then formatted the D: Drive. Now it still gives me the option of picking one of the two at Boot. Only it gives errors when you try to do the one on the D: drive b/c it is obviously missing files. I need to know how to get it so it doesnt give you the option of picking b/c there is only one OS. But im assuming the C: drive doesnt know that, it was built with the second in place. So is there anything i can do? It is also not recognizing his wireless internet card. He installed the driver but it still wont find it. I havent looked at that yet so i dont know if i can fic it yet or not but any ideas are helpfull. And the last thing which i think is pretty weird is that there are two files that he downloaded a long time ago that wont delete for anything, not even in safe mode. Why is that? I have never had that problem before. Any help wouldbe greatly appreciated. Thanks alot.
-Ryan

The boot problem is easy to fix.

First restart and then see which one is the wrong boot, probably the second one on the list. Then boot normally and open MS-DOS (command promt), go to Start-> run-> cmd, when the window appears, type in bootcfg /query and you'll see the OS's. Then type in bootcfg /delete /id 2 << there is a space between id and 2 . Or type in id 1 if its the first boot thats wrong. Then you'll get a message like "OS entry succesfullly deleted.. Thats it.

If you need something else expl;ain witht he bootcfg command this will be usefull

Quote:

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D:\Documents and Settings\Morphix>bootcfg /?

BOOTCFG /parameter [arguments]

Description:
This command line tool can be used to configure, query, change or
delete the boot entry settings in the BOOT.INI file.

Parameter List:
/Copy Makes a copy of an existing boot entry [operating
systems] section for which you can add OS options to.

/Delete Deletes an existing boot entry in the [operating
systems] section of the BOOT.INI file. You must specify
the entry# to delete.

/Query Displays the current boot entries and their settings.

/Raw Allows the user to specify any switch options to be
added for a specified boot entry.

/Timeout Allows the user to change the Timeout value.

/Default Allows the user to change the Default boot entry.

/EMS Allows the user to configure the /redirect switch
for headless support for a boot entry.

/Debug Allows the user to specify the port and baudrate for
remote debugging for a specified boot entry.

/Addsw Allows the user to add predefined switches for
a specific boot entry.

/Rmsw Allows the user to remove predefined switches for a
specific boot entry.

/Dbg1394 Allows the user to configure 1394 port debugging
for a specified boot entry.

/? Displays this help/usage.

Examples:
BOOTCFG /Copy /?
BOOTCFG /Delete /?
BOOTCFG /Query /?
BOOTCFG /Raw /?
BOOTCFG /Timeout /?
BOOTCFG /EMS /?
BOOTCFG /Debug /?
BOOTCFG /Addsw /?
BOOTCFG /Rmsw /?
BOOTCFG /Dbg1394 /?
BOOTCFG /Default /?
BOOTCFG /?

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:)

Hi PhiDelt101

Quote:

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So i booted the one on C: and then formatted the D: Drive. Now it still gives me the option of picking one of the two at Boot.

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To get rid of the second XP Option you would have to edit the "Boot.ini" file to be safe take a backup of this file in any removable media or copy this file to some other folder so that is you screw up sometiong you can get it back. Now Open notepad.exe

File-->Open in the open diaglog box in the "file name" text Box type C:\boot.ini then Hit "Enter"

it will open the boot.ini file in the notepad

below is sample. As you can see its a dual boot of windows2000 and win98

Quote:

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[Boot Loader]
timeout=2
Default=C:\

[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98"

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instead of Windows 2000 yours will have two entries of Windows XP . Remove the Second Option. then File -->Save exit the notepad and restart

Quote:

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It is also not recognizing his wireless internet card. He installed the driver but it still wont find it.

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Check the make and modal of the Card and Get a Updated driver of it for WindowsXP if you don't have already. See if the current driver is for XP or not.

[Quoet] two files that he downloaded a long time ago that wont delete for anything[/quote]

What are those Files? :)

There are some files in Xp that are protected by Windows File Protection these are system files and needed by XP. Windows File Protection works by detecting the replacement/overwriting/delition of these system files. WFP then scans the file in question against catalog files it has & should the file not be the correct version it will replace it with the cached version stored in the %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\dllcache folder.

--Good Luck--

I think my way is easier then editing it manually, he may delete something that he should not, and ms-dos knows exactly what it should delete.

ok i wll tell a more easier way MemorY ;)

• Right Click on "My Computer "
  
• Select "Properities"
  
• Click on "Advanced tab"
  
• Click on "Startup and recovery" Button there"
  
• Uncheck the "Display list of operationg systems for" Check Box

Before Clicking ok Dont forget to select the right OS on the Combo Box Above

This is called Hiding the Problem :D

Quote:

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he may delete something that he should not,

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Yep thats why had him back it up on a removable drive as well as hard drive.

okay okay yours way was probabely more easier

**Your Post wasen't there when is Started writing mine. i am a slow typer //Me walk back slowly

When installling XP there is an option to "allow me to choose the partition and folder windows is installed to" that you should have taken....guess the next time you'll know better. ;)

Or if you feel like getting rid of the extra partition and reinstalling the OS, just boot up with a startup disk and use fdisk to delete the d: partition.

awesome. Thanks alot everyone for all of your input. I have not looked at the wireless card yet but he just got it like 2 months ago and he said it has an XP driver on it. So i will take a look at it and post if it still doesnt work. But if im not mistaken, shouldnt that new of a card just be plug and play on XP? mabye not. But as for those files that wont delete, they are probably in a pornographic nature, but dont tell his girlfriend... :-)
thank alot.

lol

As far as the drivers, Usually, XP will install everything automatically, but with newer devices you have to install the drivers to get it to work properly.

I suggest going to www.driverguide.com and looking for the drivers.

username is driver
password is all

Quote:

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Originally posted here by PhiDelt101
. But as for those files that wont delete, they are probably in a pornographic nature, but dont tell his girlfriend... :-)
thank alot.

---

hi
ok i wouldn't i promise lol :D

so you have tried the Safe Mode ok there are few more things you can try


[list=1][*] Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open. [*] Close all open programs. [*] Click Start > Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE [*] Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe. [*] Leave Task Manager open. [*] Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the undeletable file is located in. [*] At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete. [*] Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell. [*] Close Task Manager.[/list=1]
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You Cannot Delete a File or a Folder -- from Microsoft Knowledge Base

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Windows XP AVI BUG
The XP bug that sometimes locks files (mostly AVI's) can be overcome quite easily. When XP refuses to delete/modify a file; simply jump into the command prompt (Start>Run>"cmd") and modify the file from there. Windows-DOS seems to work around this bug. No need to wade through complex procedures for this one.
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Delete - AVI, MPG... files (access denied error)
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Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions

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This is a very handy utility Which permeets you to list all the process locking your selected file.
WhoLockMe Explorer Extension v1.04 beta (NT-Win2K-XP)

you can close those processes using the files from the Task Manager and delete the files.


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You can Also try out These programs that allows replacing, moving, renaming or deleting one or many files which are currently in use.

• CopyLock : is a small program that allows replacing, moving, renaming or deleting one or many files which are currently in use (e.g. system files like comctl32.dll, or virus/trojan files.)
  
• MoveOnBoot : MoveOnBoot allows you to copy, move or delete files on the next system boot. This comes in very handy, if you need to replace or delete files which are locked by other applications, loaded into memory or cannot be changed until next system boot. You could manually enter a line to the wininit files, but using MoveOnBoot is much simpler, since the program can be integrated into shell - it creates the "Copy/Move/Delete on boot" context menu item.
  
• DelLater : DiamondCS DelLater is a simple program that uses the only method that Microsoft recommend to delete files that are in use. This method is based on documentation from Microsoft that describes a function called MoveFileEx
  

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right-click on the file & select Properties to determine if the file has a System attribute box checked .

If that's the case, and you're sure the file is no longer needed by Windows or some other program, you may find it easier to delete it in DOS .

Open the DOS Command prompt by going to Start|Run and type "command" ( without quotes ) in the Open field and click OK .

At the prompt , type (without quotes)
"attrib -r -h -s c:\somefile" substituting the actual file name for "somefile" .

This removes the hidden, read-only, and system attibutes from the file .
Then , to delete , type "del c:\somefile", again without quotes & with the correct file name replacing "somefile" & press Enter .

If that doesn't delete the file , type "deltree c:\somefile" or "remdir c:\somefile" , without quotes and using the correct file name & press Enter .

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Try Running ScanDisk/ChkDsk
see if your Hardisk haven't got bad sectors.


--Good Luck---