Boot.ini boots from c:/ not c:/windows. Your gonna have to go into recovery mode by inserting your windows xp cd before you boot up. Boot your Windows XP cd and go to Recovery Console. Then type Help and it will list all the commmands. Choice the option to reset or renew boot record, that should take care of the problem. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

i only read it like it says. it says that there is an invalid boot.ini file and then it states that it is booting from c:/windows. when you say win xp disc i'm assuming you mean the OS Reinstallation CD for win xp. first, i put the cd in without booting up to see what options there were. it did not state any recovery mode from what i saw. i then inserted the disc, left it inside my disc drive, and then rebooted my computer. nothing happened. i then rebooted the machine without the cd in the drive and tried to open and insert the cd in before Win xp loaded. was unable to do so. not exactly sure what's wrong. further assistance is definitely required.

Ok, did your screen not display something like "Booting from CD-Rom...." during the boot up sequence with you WinXP CD in the CD Drive? You should press a key or enter to make it boot from the cd.


Now, if nothing like that came up, two things could be wrong. Either your bios is not set to allow booting from the CD Drive (which you should then change to allow this) or the WinXP "Reinstallation CD" you have is not a true Windows XP CD, but an OEM version or something like a "Recovery CD". Saying that, it should still work, but not always.

Now lets also confirm where the boot.ini file truley is.

In windows (from your first message I assume you can get into windows regardless of the error message):

Go start menu-> Programs -> Accessories-> Command Prompt (assuming you can see these on your start menu)

Type: cd c:\
( hit enter)
Type: attrib *.*
(hit enter)

Numerous files will be displayed, and hopefully boot.ini is listed. Should see SH Boot.ini listed. SH - means System and Hidden

If not, then lets see if windows is right, type: attrib c:\windows\boot.ini
(hit enter)

if it does come up, then simply type move boot.ini c:\
and (hit enter.)

Reboot, and see what happens. And give us some more details on the startmenu issue.

Oh, one thing, there is a chance you have boot.ini is both c:\ and c:\windows (which I think you do, or else you would not be able to get into windows). If that is the case, then do not do the move command. just rename the boot.ini file in c:\windows. But to do that, from the command prompt you will have to remove the attribs, and then rename it.

i.e. attrib -h -s c:\windows\boot.ini
(hit enter)
then
ren c:\windows\boot.ini c:\windows\boot_1.ini
(hit enter)

Good luck!

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\3177>cd c:\

C:\>
C:\>attrib *.*
A C:\boot.ini
A SH C:\hiberfil.sys
A SHR C:\IO.SYS
A SHR C:\MSDOS.SYS
A SHR C:\NTDETECT.COM
A SHR C:\ntldr
A SH C:\pagefile.sys

C:\>attrib c:\windows\boot.ini
File not found - C:\windows\boot.ini

C:\>attrib -h -s c:\windows\boot.ini
File not found - C:\windows\boot.ini

this is what i got after trying the commands you offered. suggestions?
also, if i were to implement the win xp recovery console would that put my entire c drive at risk for deletion?

3177 - Ok, that is what I had hoped would happen. From your original message, I think I see there is a some issue within the Boot.ini file. Ok, from what you have said and shown, at some point someone has played with the boot.ini. Program or person. Not sure exactly. Using Notepad, open the Boot.ini file, and display it's contents here. That is something wrong with the structure of this file. What exactly I am not sure of.

As far as recovery CD.....yeah, you are at some risk of deletion or reformating occuring. That is why we are going to try to debug the problem before we go that route.

i did so and there is nothing there. it's basically a blank notepad file named boot. i don't know if this has anything to do with the shifting of my start menu but what other problems might occur from such a corrupt file? is it connected to my start button?

[operating systems]
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

just installed win xp recovery and now i have this in my boot file. the default os is now set to "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console"/cmdcons.
i am no longer receiving the invalid boot.ini message but am unclear if everything is ok. plus my all programs menu is still shifted to the right and i am unable to set it to its correct position.

Ok, to my knowledge, there is no way that an existing program (aside from a virus) could both modify a file and remove its' attributes, like boot.ini without direct tampering.

Saying that, your recovery CD simply recreated a boot.ini file from what it had to work with.

This is a standard boot.ini file contents to show you what I mean;


As far as your start menu being shifted. That has nothing to do with your boot.ini file. Again it leaves me to think someone or some program has damaged the registry and hence this is why you have the start menu issues. Do you have something like stylesxp, deskmod, or windblinds running? Or had any of those running at some point?

If you can, I would really like to see a screen shot of the start menu to get an idea of how things look... I am not sure if you know how to grab a screen shot, so simply press the print screen button on your keep board when the start menu (and programs menu) are up and expanded.

Dani, would probably appreciate it if you crop the picture, to make is smaller and focus on the start menu only.

Good luck!

now, after shutting down my computer and restarting it, i am receiving a message asking which OS i wish to load - Windows(default) or Microsoft Recovery Console. now i have deal with this problem. how do i stop this menu from coming up? no longer receiving invalid boot message but am unsure if i'm ok. i don't believe i have a virus if that was what you were suggesting before. as for the start menu, i don't think i have anything like stylesxp, deskmod, or windblinds. i don't really know which program to use to crop the image and for some reason i cannot even paste the image here even if i wanted to. whenever i rightclick in the message area, the paste option won't work for pictures. could you reply more clearly about the matter?