Windows XP - boot failure after C drive format

[sabuj]

I have a computer with a hard disk that contains two partitions. One partitition was FAT32( C drive) on which windows 98 was installed and the other partition was NTFS on which windows xp was installed. Things were working fine until windows 98 was affected with a virus. After removing the virus I observed that the system was very slow. So I saved all the files in the root directory of C drive and formatted the C drive(FAT32 partition). Now the problem is that I cannot boot the windows xp. I am not getting the boot menu from where I can select which operating system to boot. Is there any way by which I can boot the windows xp installation, without a re-installation ?

[just_a_nobody]

Hi Sabuj, welcome to the forum. Since you reformatted the C: drive, then you may have to edit the boot.ini file (C:/boot.ini) in XP.

Save a Backup Copy of Boot.ini
1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
-or-
Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
3. Under System Startup, click Edit. This opens the file in Notepad ready for editing.
4. In Notepad, click File on the Menu bar, and then click Save As.
5. Right click in an empty area of the Save As dialog box, point to New in the Context menu, and then click Folder.
6. Type a name for the new folder, for example temp, and then press the ENTER key to create the folder named temp.
7. Double-click the new folder named temp, and then click the Save button to save a backup copy of the Boot.ini file.

Edit the Boot.ini File
To view and edit the Boot.ini file: 1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
-or-
Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
3. Under System Startup, click Edit.

Below is what your boot.ini file should look like:

[Boot Loader]
timeout=10
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows 98"

If your boot,ini file does not look like the above, then edit yours to look like the above

[kccomputerdr]

if you're not in need of win 98, use the ranish partition manager which can be downloaded free online and delete the fat partition then change the boot on line one to standard & hit f2 & reboot.

[kezang]

recently my hard disk got crash and i bought a new hdd. but the problam is when i boot from cd rom using xp cd, for sometime it boots and then stop booting when it reached upto 45% or 50% and the message reads as IF YOU ARE INSTALLING FROM CD ROM MAKE SURE THAT THE CD IS INSIDE CD ROM DRIVE. DLL. CANNOT BE COPIED. i have tried using different cd, cd rom and even check the cable. still prompted with the same thing. even i have checked the setting in BIOS.