Edit boot.ini and bootcfg /rebuild

Hello,

I can't start my computer, I get an invalid boot.ini error.
So I tried to rebuild the boot.ini file in Recovery Console. I succeded to make a new boot.ini file in notepad and copied it to C: inside Recovery Console and I can see it in the list but when I enter bootcfg /rebuild I get; The command is not recognized.

Is the bootini file I copied below into C correct? I have only one operating system, win2k professional and I have 4 partitions. I wonder if the values of partitions are correct? Are the numbers in bold correct?

[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 Professional" /fastdetect


Help much appreciated, getting desperate.

 

Ok, I tried to change the numbers but I still get the 'The command is not recognized.' error message when trying to run bootcfg /rebuild

Is there a way I can confirm if windows is installed on the first partition?

I used Notepad on my wifes comp and copied the boot.ini file to floppy diskett and then copied it to my computer at c:\ in Recovery Console.

Any other suggestions on how I can fix the boot.ini file?

Is bootcfg /rebuild command available in Win2k?

 

try change the first number to 4, leave the second one as 1

 

That command was added in XP, and doesn't exist in Win2K
Description of the Windows 2000 Recovery Console


You could use diskpart to view the partitions.
Check to see if only one is shown as active -- that will be the system partition.
If more than one is shown active and they are different sizes, if you remember the size of the system partition, you should be able to determine the correct partition.
otherwise, it's just a case of trying each.
Try this for a boot.ini:

Code:

[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 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect 
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect 
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect 

Then you can try each one from the OS Choices screen to find the correct one, instead of having to edit, reboot to recovery console, copy, reboot and test for each.

Make sure there are no leading spaces on any of the lines.

If your PC has a Recovery Partition, I'd guess that Windows is on partition 2

HTH

Jerry

 

Thanks, I tried this and it gave me 2 options at startup:

Windows 2000
Windows default

I tried both and with Win 2000 it tried to boot but then auto closed and autorestarted.

With the Windows default it didn't boot and there came a error message saying: root\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
please re-install a copy of the above file

 

Yes, you can just copy the boot.ini file to c:\

Is the red D: above a typo? I would have expected E: -- Shouldn't ever have two of the same drive letters.

Diskpart lists the partitions in order, so C: is the 1st partition.

The OS Choices screen lists the choices in order too, so the top line will be partition 1, #2, the 2nd, etc.

Sounds like

Code:

[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 Professional" /fastdetect

is the correct boot.ini for this system. At least it's getting past the invalid boot.ini error, but if it automatically restarts it means there is still a problem someplace. Have you tried to get into safe mode? Hopefully you can hit F8 before it restarts and get those options up so you can choose. Last Known Good is one to try as well.

Jerry

The missing ntoskrnl.exe message would be normal for a non-system partition.

 

Thanks a lot for your effort, I really appreciate it. I feel a little bit better now knowing I have the right boot.ini file after trying so many different variables for the last 3 days.

Sorry, yes it is a typo.

Yes, I can go into F8 and I tried both safe mode and Last known Good and with both computer autoclose and autorestarts.

What else can I try now? I did the chkdsk /r and it found one or more errors and corrected them.

Seems hard to fix this now since I'm not getting any error message at startup?

 

No error message does make it hard. No easy way to disable the Automatic Reboot if you can't get into Windows. If you have a live CD, or can connect the drive to another PC it's easy though.
This post shows the key and value you'd need to set once you can access the registry on this drive from a live CD or another PC.
From WinXP or the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, you'd just run regedit (If using a Win2K system, you have to run regedt32 instead of regedit), highlight the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder, click Registry, Load hive, then navigate to \WINNT\system32\config on this drive and select the system file. When prompted for a name, use anything, like badsystem or banana. Then edit the key as shown in the above post, unload the hive, then reboot (or put the drive back) and see if it will give a nice helpful error.

Some other things to try:

Try Enable VGA Mode. This will start the PC with the video set to 640x480 resolution -- Safe Mode sometimes starts with 800x600 using the video card driver instead of the basic VGA driver -- a corrupt video driver could cause the auto restart.
Next option is Enable Boot Logging. This will create a file named ntbtlog.txt in the Windows folder (usually C:\Winnt in Win2K). When it restarts, boot into the Recovery Console instead. Then you can read this file with the type command. How far it gets might give us a clue.

Timie for me to take off for a while, but hopefully that will give you something to work on.
I've posted a copy of the boot log from a working Win2K system (Running under MS Virtual PC) to give you something to compare to, but diffferent hardware can make them hard to compare

HTH

Jerry

Code:

Service Pack 4 9 22 2008 07:09:21.500
Loaded driver \WINNT\System32\ntoskrnl.exe
Loaded driver \WINNT\System32\hal.dll
Loaded driver \WINNT\System32\BOOTVID.dll
Loaded driver ACPI.sys
Loaded driver \WINNT\system32\DRIVERS\WMILIB.SYS
Loaded driver pci.sys
Loaded driver isapnp.sys
Loaded driver intelide.sys
Loaded driver \WINNT\system32\DRIVERS\PCIIDEX.SYS
Loaded driver MountMgr.sys
Loaded driver ftdisk.sys
Loaded driver Diskperf.sys
Loaded driver dmload.sys
Loaded driver dmio.sys
Loaded driver PartMgr.sys
Loaded driver atapi.sys
Loaded driver disk.sys
Loaded driver \WINNT\system32\DRIVERS\CLASSPNP.SYS
Loaded driver fltmgr.sys
Loaded driver KSecDD.sys
Loaded driver Ntfs.sys
Loaded driver NDIS.sys
Loaded driver Mup.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\i8042prt.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\kbdclass.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\msvmmouf.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mouclass.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\serial.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\serenum.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\fdc.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\parport.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\gameenum.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctlsb16.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\vpc-s3.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\dc21x4.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\audstub.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rasl2tp.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ndistapi.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ndiswan.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\raspptp.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ptilink.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\raspti.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\parallel.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\swenum.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\update.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\flpydisk.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\EFS.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\lbrtfdc.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Sfloppy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Changer.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Cdaudio.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Fs_Rec.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Null.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Beep.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\sglfb.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\tga.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\vga.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\mnmdd.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Msfs.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Npfs.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rasacd.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\msgpc.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\netbios.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\PCIDump.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\redbook.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rdbss.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mrxsmb.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\vmsrvc.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\wanarp.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\afd.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\ParVdm.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Fips.SYS
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\MRxVPC.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rdbss.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mrxsmb.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\srv.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Cdfs.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\wdmaud.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\sysaudio.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\swmidi.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\DMusic.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Fastfat.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\kmixer.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ipsec.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\kmixer.sys

 

The above looks scary I think I start with the below instead

Tried VGA mode and same thing with the autoclose and autorestart.

I managed to see the log but it is very long and I assumed that I should compare data from my last login attempt. I started to only compare the drivers that didn't load in my data with yours. The only difference was as below;

Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\parport.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Flpydisk.sys

The latter one of yours had different name :
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Sfloppy.SYS

So I guess parport.sys is the only difference among the <Did not...>list.
Not sure what else I can compare from the log, is there something especially I should be looking for?

 

If you don't have parallel printer port (most new systems don't) parport.sys won't load.
If you don't have a floppy drive, Flpydisk.sys won't load.
Sfloppy.SYS is a SCSI Floppy drive driver

What we are looking for is the last item in the file, or the last item that did load. The problem is usually caused by whatever loads after the last successful load statement. So if you can post your log (or at least the last 2-3 lines, as you likely can't copy the file) that might give us a clue.

Jerry

 

These are the last 8 lines in the log that succeded loading the drivers;

Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\rdbss.sys
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\OADriver.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\mrxsmb.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\avgmfx86.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\avgldx86.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\atitvsnd.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\AtiBt829.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\atixbar.sys




Just before my computer stopped working, I deleted my Comodo firewall and installed a new firewall, Online Armor. And while watching a movie with VLC I got a electricity power cut at home. After that my computer didn't reboot and I got a blue screen with a error(I didn't write down the error code) At the time I didn't now about the 'blue screen of death' but after reading here at the forum I can see that I should have mentioned that in my first post.


When I restarted the computer the first time after the blue screen, I went to the Recovery Console and did the Chkdsk /R and I got the boot.ini system error(never got the blue screen again).

What is a live CD? I have my wifes laptop but how would I connect it to my laptop? Do I need some kind of cable?

Thanks.