(e-mail address removed),
Greatoutdoors said:
Thank you for your offer of help – gratefully accepted!
My boot.ini file says the following
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft XP
Professional" /fast detect
/NoExecute=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
XP Professional" /fast detect
I ran “Check All Boot Paths.†One turned out to be
faultyas you suspected and the system offered to delete it.
I accepted that choice and restarted the PC, which resulted
in the message below.
"You have used the System Configuration Utility to make
changes to the way Windows starts.
"The System Configuration Utility is currently in Diagnostic
or Selective Startup mode, causing this message to
bedisplayed and the utility to run every time Windows starts.
"Choose the Normal Startup mode on the General tab to start
Windows normally and undo the changes youmade using the
System Configuration Utility.
"(Check Box) Don't show this message or launch the System
Configuration Utility when Windows start: (Okay box)"
I clicked OK and now am back to square one. I don’t recall
earlier Windows OS’s being this frustrating! If I checked
the box saying "Don't show this message..." would that be
the answer to making the change stick?
I figure if I take this one step at a time, and with your
help, I may just get through it and learn something in the
process!
ALso, thank you for you answer to the mysterious 8 MB of
space and the no activitation issue -- it seems so simple
once you know what it is. (And makes me feel a bit stupid --
sorry about that!) I will take your advice and make a copy
of the Reinstallation Disk.
As to the FAT32 partition -- that would be an "Oops"! It
never occurred to me. I have played around in the past
installing and reinstalling W2000 Pro on a Pentium 2 and
purposely created both FAT32 and NTSF files. I think I had a
brain freeze or flashback and just thought, "I created that
one, though I dont know when, so I will just delete it now."
Senility is not all its cracked up to be!
I have been to Control Panel and thought I had everything
set, but I will try that again this evening and see what
happens. I certainly could have missed something.
Do you think the easiest solution might be just to reinstall
once more? I wonder if all this might be a Norton conflct of
some kind and perhaps if I downloaded Microsoft updates
first, then installed and updated Norton, it might give
better results. What do you think?
Thanks again so much for walking me through this -- I know
it is kid stuff to folks who know what they are doing!
You were on the right track. If you had checked the box next to
"Don't show this message...", Windows would have kept the new
boot.ini file which did not include the bogus installation. You
would have been running under Selective Startup but that only
means you're not using the original Boot.ini file.
An alternative approach, and the one I'd use, would be to edit
boot.ini and remove the entry that msconfig flagged as invalid.
The way to do that is to go to Control Panel -> System and
click on the Advanced page. Next, hit the Settings button in
the "Startup and Recovery" section. In "Startup and Recovery",
click on the Edit button. Boot.ini will open in Notepad. First
you want to make a copy just in case. Go to File -> Save as and
save a copy as boot.old in your My Documents folder. Now go
back and remove the invalid entry and click on File -> Save.
Reboot and see if the issue has been resolved. If everything is
now running properly you can delete the boot.old file.
Here's an article that outlines the procedure:
How to edit the Boot.ini file in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;289022
No need to apologize for not being aware of the Dell activation
and diagnostic partition issues. Even when Dell does include a
manual with their systems they either don't mention or simply
gloss over a lot of things that later have you scratching your
head. Senility? No way!! Let's chalk it up to poor
documentation.
Of the issues you outlined in your first post, the only one
that's a real problem is the last one, the inability to
download ActiveX components. Until you get this resolved, your
system is seriously crippled. Since you were able to install
Norton AV and run Live Update, you must have had the ability to
install ActiveX at one point in time. This could be verified by
opening the C:\Windows\Downloaded Programs Files folder. Odds
are there are some entries there related to Norton AV. If so,
that means that NAV is the source of your problem. I would be
very careful about disabling NAV in order to download Windows
updates. Make sure you have the Windows Firewall up and running
before trying this.
If you find yourself spending a significant amount of time
trying to resolve this ActiveX issue then reinstalling Windows
may be the way to go. Since this is a new installation you
don't have a lot to lose other than the time spent
reinstalling. Hopefully, a second installation attempt will not
result in the same problems.
Good luck
Nepatsfan
rive and