phantom XP partition

one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware program
known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a clean
install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic. deleted
all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the disk
and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's a
ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid of
Marley's ghost?

"RiderDude" <RiderDude@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1B3E8E82-CE04-4E86-A49A-5453ABD8EBAF@microsoft.com...
> one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware
program
> known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
> scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a
clean
> install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic.
deleted
> all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
> therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the
disk
> and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
> this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's
a
> ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid
of
> Marley's ghost?

What makes you think it's the BIOS that sees two
partitions? Wouldn't be the WinXP boot loader instead,
having two menu lines (not two partitions)? Try this:

- Click Start / Run
- Type notepad c:\boot.ini
- Get rid of the offending line

RiderDude <RiderDude@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

|>one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware program
|>known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
|>scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a clean
|>install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic. deleted
|>all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
|>therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the disk
|>and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
|>this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's a
|>ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid of
|>Marley's ghost?

You didn't do a clean install, the boot.ini has both systems listed
now.
Start | Run | MSCONFIG <enter>
goto boot.ini and click on - check boot paths.

Or edit the extra OS out of C:\boot.ini

--
http://blueballfixed.ytmnd.com/

Only one hard drive with one partition and setup as primary master
and booting from HD(0)??

A Clean install would not give a dual boot option!!

Scroll down to #20
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html

"RiderDude" wrote:

> one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware program
> known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
> scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a clean
> install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic. deleted
> all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
> therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the disk
> and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
> this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's a
> ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid of
> Marley's ghost?

RiderDude wrote:

> one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware program
> known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
> scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a clean
> install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic. deleted
> all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
> therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the disk
> and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
> this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's a
> ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid of
> Marley's ghost?

Sounds like you did a parallel install and there still might be nasties
left around. Recommend you look at doing a clean install. See this link:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

--
Rock
MS MVP Windows - Shell/User

Boot.ini should be "read only"!

And possibly get rid of an offending windows directory!!
Scroll down to #20
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html

Am I offbase this time?

"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:

>
> "RiderDude" <RiderDude@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1B3E8E82-CE04-4E86-A49A-5453ABD8EBAF@microsoft.com...
> > one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware
> program
> > known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
> > scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a
> clean
> > install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic.
> deleted
> > all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
> > therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the
> disk
> > and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
> > this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's
> a
> > ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid
> of
> > Marley's ghost?
>
> What makes you think it's the BIOS that sees two
> partitions? Wouldn't be the WinXP boot loader instead,
> having two menu lines (not two partitions)? Try this:
>
> - Click Start / Run
> - Type notepad c:\boot.ini
> - Get rid of the offending line
>
>
>

Msconfig will identify any "invalid" entry but it will not delete it
(permanently)!
Also, boot.ini is "read only". You didn't mention that.

Scroll down to #20
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html

"Trax" wrote:

> RiderDude <RiderDude@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> |>one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware program
> |>known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
> |>scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a clean
> |>install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic. deleted
> |>all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
> |>therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the disk
> |>and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
> |>this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's a
> |>ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid of
> |>Marley's ghost?
>
> You didn't do a clean install, the boot.ini has both systems listed
> now.
> Start | Run | MSCONFIG <enter>
> goto boot.ini and click on - check boot paths.
>
> Or edit the extra OS out of C:\boot.ini
>
> --
> http://blueballfixed.ytmnd.com/
>

It is, but notepad does not appear to care.


"Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news626747B-2AE5-4019-B3C8-E9D349072DD9@microsoft.com...
> Boot.ini should be "read only"!
>
> And possibly get rid of an offending windows directory!!
> Scroll down to #20
> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html
>
> Am I offbase this time?
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:
>
> >
> > "RiderDude" <RiderDude@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:1B3E8E82-CE04-4E86-A49A-5453ABD8EBAF@microsoft.com...
> > > one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware
> > program
> > > known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
> > > scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing
a
> > clean
> > > install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic.
> > deleted
> > > all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP
snugly
> > > therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on
the
> > disk
> > > and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm
assuming
> > > this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming
it's
> > a
> > > ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get
rid
> > of
> > > Marley's ghost?
> >
> > What makes you think it's the BIOS that sees two
> > partitions? Wouldn't be the WinXP boot loader instead,
> > having two menu lines (not two partitions)? Try this:
> >
> > - Click Start / Run
> > - Type notepad c:\boot.ini
> > - Get rid of the offending line
> >
> >
> >

thanks to you all for your helpful posts. i ended up editing boot.ini in
notepad from the properties dialog. it was:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect


and i changed it to:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home
Edition"

working fine now.

thanks again

"Rock" wrote:

> RiderDude wrote:
>
> > one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware program
> > known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
> > scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a clean
> > install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic. deleted
> > all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
> > therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the disk
> > and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
> > this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's a
> > ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid of
> > Marley's ghost?
>
> Sounds like you did a parallel install and there still might be nasties
> left around. Recommend you look at doing a clean install. See this link:
>
> http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
>
> --
> Rock
> MS MVP Windows - Shell/User
>
>

"Dixonian69" <Dixonian69@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

|>Only one hard drive with one partition and setup as primary master
|>and booting from HD(0)??
|>
|>A Clean install would not give a dual boot option!!
|>
|>Scroll down to #20
|>http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html

What if he doesn't have a working browser and can only use his
Newsreader?

|>"RiderDude" wrote:
|>
|>> one of my dumb kids infested my dell dimension 2400 with everyspyware program
|>> known to man (and a few unknown ones). i tried washing them out, and
|>> scrubbing them out, but the stains were still there. i ended up doing a clean
|>> install of XP from the disks which i miracuously found in the attic. deleted
|>> all partitions and built a single new NTFS partition and nestled XP snugly
|>> therein. problem is, now when i boot, BIOS thinks there are 2 OSs on the disk
|>> and asks me to choose the one i want to boot from. one works (i'm assuming
|>> this is the newly installed version), the other doesnt (i'm assuming it's a
|>> ghost of the old OS rattling around like Jacob Marley). how can i get rid of
|>> Marley's ghost?


--
http://blueballfixed.ytmnd.com/