missing boot.ini file

daveqb

Senior member
Mar 9, 2002
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www.dward.us
i have been playing with different boot screens, and some how i have managed to not have a boot.ini file on my computer at all

dunno how,

when i boot up i get

"invalid boot.ini
booting from C:\WINDOW\"

and we boot up, but about 40% of the time it restarts itself just as we hit desktop

i did a search for boot.ini, couldnt find it in system32

there isnt such a file on my computer


but it does go , i am writing this on it right now...

any ideas guys ??

 

neuralfx

Golden Member
Feb 19, 2001
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you're probably using XP .. are you using NTFS ? You need to boot with a floppy, you might have to use something other than DOS, if its easier for you maybe take the harddrive to another machine .. whatever, make a text file that looks like this exactly




[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 XP" /fastdetect

If you have more than one harddrive and it is not on the primary master channel or on SCSI .. well you will need to change this, if its a "normal" setup .. copy and paste this into notepad or whatever .. rename it boot.ini .. now you need to get this into the "c:\" directory .. or whatever is the drive letter you use .. of the harddrive .. this may fix your problem very easily if you are unfamiliar with the recovery console and what not ..
-neural
 

daveqb

Senior member
Mar 9, 2002
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yeah sorry bout not stating my OS there, it is XP

no the system boots up, semi ok, just not consisdtently

but during the boot up it says

"invalid boot.ini
booting from C:\WINDOW\"
and then proceeds to boot

so i ran a search for boot.ini in my C drive,
NOT THERE!

thought it shoukd boot without the boot.ini file ??

during my searcgh i found a boot.ini file in Partition magic folder
i openned it and it looked pretty much whats in the file
so whacked it into C:\windows\system32

still same message booting up
(it had windows in the two place your post has WINNT
thats the only diff i can see

so another side effect is i get BSOD death now
they happen if:
1) i attempt to shut down
2) i wake after leaving it for awhile , either it starts to wake, then freezes, or it does, but only lasts bout 5 seconds

to give the history it all started two days ago when i spent a night overclocking trying to get my best PCMark and 3DMark scores

but also that day i started changing the boot screens around

so not sure what triggered this
one boot screen i put on f%^ked it all
wouldnt boot, not even from the XP CD, figure that one out,
had to put it in my other PC and change the ntoskrl.exe file

i think if i solve this missing boot.ini file then i might be better off

i will make the changes you have put there and reboot it

hopefully i will be back here in a second .....
 

daveqb

Senior member
Mar 9, 2002
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the two BSOD's error messages i get are :

BAD_POOL_CALLER

and

MULTIPLE_IRP_COMPLETE_REQUESTS

that is IRP and not IRQ

in case somene knows

 

AKA

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
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The boot.ini file belongs in the root of the primary partition. C:\ in otherwords.

Its supposed to be there in order for you too boot into NT.. although XP or some other 3rd party maybe able to recover from this.. which could be the case in your issue.

By the way the boot.ini file is hidden. You need to go into explorer, tools, folder options, view tab and show all hidden files and unselect hide protected operating system files.

Then look.

Also go to start, run and type in msconfig and click on the boot.ini tab.. see anything there?
 

daveqb

Senior member
Mar 9, 2002
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nope not there
MSCONFIG!! i couldnt htink what that was called, i was after that to se if it was there and to modify it if need be

but its not there.
i did have protected files hidden, opps!
but didnt make a diff, its just not there

is that weird or what??

would not being there coz BSOD during shut down and boot up ?? and wake up ???
 

Dreadogg

Golden Member
Mar 1, 2001
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go to start---> control panel------> system---------> advance------> startup recovery-------> and select edit! Then if your XP is on your first partition which I am guessing is C:, then just add this-----> [boot loader]
timeout=0
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
 

daveqb

Senior member
Mar 9, 2002
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thanx, thats a heap easy way to get to that to edit

plus clicking properties on "My Computer" makes it even fast


well..................
i changed the boot.ini to read what neuralfx said with the WINNT in it instead of WINDOWS and it wouldnt boot!!?!

didnt realise it was that coz it said
"\system32\hal.dll
is invalid"


and wouldnt boot,
so with NTFS it isnt easily booted with a boot disk...
but anyway i replace the hal.dll from one off the other rig here,
still wouldnt boot

so copied the boot.ini file from the other rig and replaced it on this one, and away we go !!!

but still gettin BSOD's with a different error messages this time :(

i have been having to re-install my OS bout every 2 months now!!
does anyone else ??

i guess i fiddle with it too much :)

OH what the hell is "Windows Whislter Professional" ???
it asks for that disk when i do a SFC on it ?!?!?

i'll make a post for that