Fix Boot.

ini (XP/2003)

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If the Boot.ini file points off to the wrong partition or drive, this error can occur. If you have Fix-It Utilities Professional or SystemSuite Professional, we suggest using it's BOOT.INI repair tool as it is much faster and deals with some special situations. Simply boot from the Rescue CD or diskette and at the menu, select BootFixer. Remove the CD and select Exit. To fix Boot.ini using the Windows boot CD: 1. Boot from your bootable XP/2003 installation CD and go into the XP Recovery Console. Follow our guide and you'll end up at a command prompt. 2. At the prompt, type: bootcfg /rebuild 3. This will locate any XP installations and display them. At the prompt Add installation to boot list? enter Y and press Enter. 4. Next it asks for you to enter the text to use for the OS Enter Load Identifier. For example type Windows XP Professional and press Enter. 5. One last prompt asks you to Enter OS Load Options. Type /Fastdetect and press Enter. (View Boot.ini options at Microsoft). 6. Remove the boot CD and type Exit and press Enter. If the BOOT.INI was the cause of the problem, Windows will boot normally.

"NTLDR is missing" "A disk read error occurred" "Invalid partition table" "Error loading operating system" "Could not read from selected boot disk" "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt"

Or you might get a blue screen (called a STOP screen) with some obscure message on it. Or if you're lucky you might make it all the way through the Windows splash screen to the logon box and then suddenly get a dialog box saying "One or more services failed to start". Or your mouse pointer might freeze and your system hang either before or immediately after logon. How can you match these symptoms to the underlying condition that might be causing them? First let's look at some possible "black screen" messages that can occur after the BIOS POST routine finishes but before the Windows splash screen appears: Symptom "Invalid Partition Table" "Missing Operating System"

Probable Cause Master boot record is corrupt due to hard disk errors or virus infection

"Invalid Partition Table" "NTLDR is missing" "A disk read error occurred"

Boot sector is corrupt due to hard disk errors or virus infection

System hangs after BIOS POST finishes "Windows could not start because of Boot.ini file is corrupt, missing, or needs a computer disk hardware updating. configuration problem" "Could not read from selected boot disk" "Check boot path and disk hardware" "Windows could not start because theBoot volume is corrupt or the referenced following file is missing or corrupt" system file is missing.

In addition to these error messages, a variety of other startup problems can occur including:

Blue screens. These are typically caused by hardware failure or driver problems but can also be due to virus infection. Hung system. These are typically caused by buggy drivers or by registry corruption but can also be due to virus infection.

Dialog box saying "One or more services failed to start". This is typically caused by misconfiguration or registry corruption but can also be caused by application incompatibility of some form.

So what should you do to resolve such problems?

How to resolve startup problems

Like a doctor's mysterious black medical bag full of medical instruments (at least in old movies on TV) the system administrator also has a set of tools provided by Microsoft for resolving startup problems like the ones in the table above. In a nutshell, here's a quick inventory of the main tools:

Last known good. Restores the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet portion of the registry its version during the last successful logon to the system. Safe mode. Starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and creates a record of which drivers load in %windir%\Ntbtlog.txt. System Restore. Windows XP only feature to restore system to previously saved configuration. Recovery Console. Boots to a command line that allows you to run various commands, see this article by Johannes Helmig for more info. Automated System Recovery (ASR). Restores the boot volume from backup, see this article by Johannes Helmig for more info. Repair. Run Windows Setup from your product CD and select the option to try and repair your installation.

Which tool should you use to address each of the symptoms we described earlier? Assuming there is no obvious hardware problem (no funny smell) and you've already asked yourself the Golden Question ("What was the last thing I did to this system?") then here's a quick outline that maps the type of knife (may be several in order of severity) to the kind of surgery (underlying problem or visible symptom) you need to perform on your system: Problem/Symptom Corrupt master boot record Corrupt boot sector Corrupt or missing boot.ini Corrupt system file Tool(s) to Use Recovery Console (fixmbr) Recovery Console (fixboot) Recovery Console (bootcfg /rebuild) Recovery Console (chkdsk) Restore from ASR backup Perform a Repair install Recovery Console (chkdsk) System Restore (XP only) Restore system state from backup Perform a Repair install

Corrupt registry

Blue screen

See this resource first Last known good System Restore (XP only) Safe mode (roll back suspect driver using Device Manager) Hung system Last known good System Restore (XP only) Safe mode (roll back suspect driver using Device Manager) "One or more services failed to Don't logon! Reboot and select last known good, log on, start" undo the last configuration steps you performed. Safe mode (undo last configuration steps you performed)