Hi
I have a weird problem when I start my computer. After my p.c goes through all the checks at the beginning (all the drives etc..) I get to a black screen and i ask me which Window XP I would like to select and a timer gives me 30 seconds to choose. Thing is I never partitioned my hard drive and it does not matter which one I choose because after it loads they are exactly the same. All settings are identical. I have used computers with a partition and two separate XP installs and usually there are some differences in the way the user has set up their settings, different desktop, different programs installed etc…
What is causing this and how do I fix it. This seems to dramatically slow down my system.
Thanks
Hi,
It looks like someone has edited your boot.ini file.
You must be very careful when editing this file as a mistake could render your machine unbootable.
It is recomended that you make a back up of this file, and check to make sure that the rest of your back up is 100% accurate, up to date and reproducible.
If you right click on My Computer, click on Properties>Advanced>Settings (under Startup and Recovery) you can make adjustments.
Try reducing the time from 30 secs to 3secs and see how you go.
Regards
paws
I agree, this sounds like a boot.ini file issue and as long as everything works fine otherwise it is no big deal. This display is normally there as a result of a BIOS Setup Menu option, normally named Fastboot and yours is set to off. I have mine set to off, in fact, because I like to see what's going on during the boot process and don't mine if it takes a few extra seconds to boot my machine. But I don't like to wait 30 seconds when nothing is happening - even when quinquagenarian cranial flatulences sets in, I can still make a decision and choose my option in less time than that. So what I have done is edit my boot.ini so it looks like this"
I suspect you have two multi(0)disk… lines that are the same. I edited the second entry (in notepad) to add Safe Mode to my boot menu, so I am prompted to boot into normal Windows, or Safe Mode every time I boot. I set the timeout to 7 because if set to 3 as suggested above, on my machine, my monitors do not start displaying the countdown until 3-4 seconds has passed so I miss the display. Set to 7 and I am given about 3 seconds to decide if I want it to timeout and boot normally, or if I want to change andboot into Safe Mode.
This is great for me because it is easy to wait 3 seconds as opposed to 30, BUT, and more importantly, if I want to go into Safe Mode, 3 seconds is plenty of time to select that option with having to bang on the F8 at some obscure but precise moment, while strategically placing my tongue in the hopes I don't miss that small window of opportunity during boot up.
