The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    why does computer ask for OS on bootup?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by nmaynan, Dec 5, 2007.

  1. nmaynan

    nmaynan Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    When booting up, my computer stops at a screen that asks:

    Please select the Operating System to start:
    Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
    Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

    The only viable choice is the first one. The second one tells you it won't work for some reason. Why doesn't my computer just boot to the desktop? I have partitioned all the space on my HD except 8mb. I do not have two partitions or OSes on the rig, only 8mb are left unpartitioned and the rest is installed with XP Home.

    Can anybody help me with fixing this?
     
  2. John B

    John B Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    1,767
    Messages:
    4,195
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    CP --> System --> Advanced --> Startup
     
  3. JCMS

    JCMS Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    455
    Messages:
    4,674
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    That's because you deleted the other partition after re-installing windows on the other so the 2 installations are in the 2nd one boot sector.
     
  4. pixelot

    pixelot Notebook Acolyte

    Reputations:
    3,732
    Messages:
    6,833
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    The only think I can think of is to check your Startup and 'Recovery Settings'. Right click 'My Computer', select 'Properties', select the 'Advanced' tab, and select 'Startup and Recovery'. You can check the list of operating systems, time to display list, etc. I don't know if that will help, but it's an idea...

    Edit: John B, you beat me to it! Had to go check on my mom's XP.
     
  5. NotebookYoozer

    NotebookYoozer Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    83
    Messages:
    536
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    edit your boot.ini file.

    just delete the offending line.
     
  6. nmaynan

    nmaynan Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    ????

    I deleted all partitions so there was one huge unformatted block. Then partitioned that space and installed OS with NTFS.
     
  7. ScifiMike12

    ScifiMike12 Drinking the good stuff

    Reputations:
    801
    Messages:
    2,529
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    My only guess is that you did a Quick Format as oppsed to a Full. But I'm not to sure about that either.