Stupid annoyance after reinstalling WinXP (Fixed)

[ts3433]

After doing a complete format and reinstallation of XP, when starting up, the BIOS (rev. "A03", hasn't been flashed since first obtained in 3/2002; the latest is "A09," 10/2002) prompts me to choose one of two startup choices that both say XP Home. The top one boots, the bottom one yields a message saying something about it not being able to boot that option and restarts, giving the same prompt. I would have flashed the BIOS already if we had floppies around here and it wasn't nearly midnight. Would anyone have ideas on how to eliminate this?

Thanks in advance, and my apologies if this is a stupid question.

 

[mechBgon]

It isn't the BIOS doing that. If you happen to have to do this task over, then do this:

1) Start Windows Setup from the CD-ROM, get to where it shows the partitions on the hard drive, delete them all, and then press the F3 key twice to exit Windows Setup after deleting the partitions.

2) Now start Windows Setup from CD-ROM a second time and carry on. When you're done, you won't have that menu in your face.

To solve the problem at this point, right-click My Computer, choose Properties, and then go to the Advanced tab on the panel that opens. There ought to be a Startup and Recovery tab where you can choose which of the two menu'ed WindowsXP Home Editions the system will start from. If the one that works is the top one at bootup, use the top one on this panel.

What's happening is this changes the BOOT.INI file in the C:\ drive, which is not ordinarily displayed since it's a special operating-system file. You could edit it by hand if you wanted.

Hope that helps

 

[ts3433]

Worked perfectly; thanks, Mech.