obsolete boot option won't go away

[spark-e]

Last month I got a new motherboard.

My WinXP Pro HD would not boot with the new motherboard.

So I installed win98SE in another folder, booted to that, saved all my files to CD, deleted partitions, partitioned it, reformatted it and then installed a fresh Winxp OS on it.


Everything is ok (sort of) except for one thing.

The computer gives me the option of booting to WinXP or Windows 98. If I don't choose anything it automatically goes to WinXP after the countdown.

THERE IS NO WINDOWS 98 TO boot to!!! Not anymore. This was normal when I was using the win98SE install to access and save my files but since the reformatting it should not think there is another installation to boot to. Should it?

So why does it ask me this? Is this a motherboard issue (SOYO KT600) or is this a WINXP fluke?

The only options my BIOS is set to boot to are floppy, HD and CD.

How do I get it to just boot to the one and only OS installation there is: WinXP without asking me if I want to boot to an imaginary OS?

Thanx

[Sylvander]

"My WinXP Pro HD would not boot with the new motherboard"
That's to be expected.
An OS is matched to the hardware with which it works.
This is done of necessity, by design, during the installation process.
If you change the hardware Windows should detect the fact [unless the change is so dramatically different that Windows will no longer work] and ask for new drivers to match the new hardware.
But it's best to run a "repair" re-installation of Windows before it ever gets the chance to boot.
Windows would now be set up for use with both combinations of hardware [which unfortunately makes your registry rather larger].
Windows [if it's XP] would probably need to be re-activated, or it will disable after 30 days.
Much better is to save all your data, reformat the drive, and reinstall WinXP afresh.

The problem you've created with the two OS installations will mean you need a Boot Manager [probably] which is something I know nothing about, so hopefully someone will come along who does.

Since you repartitioned, I don't understand why there are traces of Win98.
Perhaps repartitioning doesn't remove such info.
You have all your data files on CD, so why not zero fill the drive, repartition, reformat, and re-install Win XP.
The zero-fill will make the difference methinks.

[Rick]

To rid yourself of the win98 option .
Just edit Boot.ini

Remove the line for win98

it should look something like this when finished

[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="Microsoft Windows XP" /fastdetect

[jlreich]

Rick is right on, just remove the line for win98 in the Boot.ini file, save, and your good to go. ;) XP will bypass any boot option screen if there is only one OS to chose from. Just don't do anything to the XP line.

[spark-e]

Actually when I go into System Configuration Utility's boot.ini tab it looks almost like you said.

[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="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

except that the last line reads:"C:\ = Microsoft Windows"

Is this last line the one I shoud delete?

[Paul Komski]

Is this last line the one I shoud delete?

Yes. Windows 9X uses a drive letter. Windows XP uses a longer numerical partition reference.

The full C:\ reference would be to C:\bootsect.dos but that filename can be left out since it is the default file; a file that is a copy of the original Win9X's boot sector.