System is not booting
You have seen the message “Boot disk failure” while starting your PC. The problem behind this is that the hard drive is detected but the operating system doesn’t load. You will need to reinstall the operating system or you will need to rebuild your master boot record to fix the boot problem. Below are few troubleshooting options to get rid of:
If you are using the dual boot system then it may possible that the boot loader getting corrupted. For example, you have a system running Windows XP and Linux using Lilo as boot loader. If Lilo gets corrupted, you can not boot in either operating system. In such situation, you have to boot into the system using some other media such as floppy or Windows CD. After booting go to the command prompt, type fdisk /mbr and hit enter key. If you are using Windows 2000 or Windows XP then boot into the recovery console and shoot out the command fixmbr to clear the MBR (Master Boot Record). After restarting your system, it will boot to Windows directly without any booting option. Now, you can reinstall the Lilo from your Linux CD or you can install the boot loaders such as XOSL from Windows.
If you are not using the dual boot system then boot into the system through floppy or Windows CD. If you have Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you should boot into the recovery console. Go to the command prompt and give the command fdisk /mbr and then give the command sys C:. It will clear the MBR (Master Boot Record) and makes the bootable partition C:. Windows 2000 and Windows XP users should give the command fixmbr and fixboot C: to do the same. Then restart your system.
If you are still receiving the error then you might have a virus on your PC’s boot sector. In such case, connect your hard drive to another system and scan with an anti virus software.
Kailash Aghera
Requirement of Boot.ini file on Windows
Sometimes, you may receive an error “Invalid boot.ini file. Booting from c:\winnt and then after your PC boots normally. You are receiving this error because boot.ini is either missing or corrupted. To resolve this problem on Windows 2000 operation system, create a boot.ini file in C: drive with following contents:
[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 Windows2000 Professional” /fastdetect
This is not applicable if you have Windows XP or more than one Windows operating system. In that case, boot using the Windows CD and when you see the “Welcome to Setup” message, press [R] to start the Recovery Console. If you have more than one Windows operation system then select the one for which you want to created boot.ini file. At the command prompt type the below command:
bootcfg /rebuild
The above command scans the hard disk for Windows installations. Follow the on-screen instructions to add entries into boot.ini for all Windows installations. If you have dual boot (installed two windows operating systems) then you will need to mention in [operating systems]. This will allow you to select the operating system during the boot.
Boot.ini works as a boot loader if you have installed multiple Windows operating system. But if you have installed other operating systems viz. Red Hat Linux etc. then it will install its own boot loader. For example, Red Hat Linux will install the boot loader called LILO. In case if LILO gets corrupted then you will not be able to boot in your Windows operating systems. You will need to reinstall LILO to fix the system boot problem.
Kailash Aghera
Missing msconfig in Windows 2000
Unfortunately, msconfig is not included in Windows 2000 operating system but there is another way to check which programs are loaded with Windows and you can also remove it from the start up. First, go to startup folder from the start menu and delete the shortcuts you do not need. Now, go to the registry (Go to Run from start menu and type “regedit”). In registry, go to the below location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Run
Each key in this folder starts an application when we start our system. Remove the key that you do not want to start during the system start. However, it is advisable that do not remove any program that is located in the C:/winnt or C:/windows directory because they can be operating services.
Another option is to try to copy msconfig.exe file from Windows 98 or Windows XP installation and use it on the Windows 2000 system.
Kailash Aghera
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