Windows Boot Manager Woes...

I just recently installed Windows 7 in what I thought was a clean install and overwrite of a hard drive that previously had XP on it. Come to find out, XP is still on there, and I have the option every time I boot up to select whether I want to boot to XP, or to Windows 7. As this wasn't something I wanted to fool around with every time I booted up the computer, I went into the boot options, and selected 'Windows 7', with a timeout of 0. Nominally, that should have allowed me to boot straight into Windows 7, and not XP, right?

Wrong.

Now when I boot up the computer, it goes straight to a blue screen with 'Windows Setup' in the upper-lefthand corner. It starts to load files down at the bottom, then gives me the error 'The file atapi.sys is corrupted. Press any key to continue.'

Pressing any key tells me that the setup could not be completed, and to press any key to restart my computer.

If I restart the computer, it just goes through the same issue again. Pressing F8 to try and enter safe mode doesn't work, either. Nothing happens at all, and I'm making damn sure to press F8 plenty of times. My BIOS doesn't have any options for which OS to boot to, either. This is frustrating me greatly.

Is there any other way to access the boot manager from startup? I basically want to be booting up into Windows 7, and at some point remove XP completely. What did I do wrong? AM I doing something wrong? Any and all help will be very much appreciated...

Thanks in advance.

*edit* I've also tried booting directly from the disc by changing my boot priorities in my BIOS. All that does is bring me to the pretty Windows 7 screen with the flowers and whatnot. There's a mouse cursor I can move around, but nothing else. I can't right-click, or do anything with the keyboard.

I would boot into the WIndows 7 installer Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 times as there are often multiple issues to fix.

When you get into 7, please post a screenshot of your Disk Management map so we can see how it set up your boot.

If you have XP in first partition (or drive), and Win7 in second, and you want rid of XP then we can help you accomplish this easiest by seeing the map first. This is a process which we accomplish here several times a day.

gregrocker said:

I would boot into the WIndows 7 installer Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 times as there are often multiple issues to fix.

When you get into 7, please post a screenshot of your Disk Management map so we can see how it set up your boot.

If you have XP in first partition (or drive), and Win7 in second, and you want rid of XP then we can help you accomplish this easiest by seeing the map first. This is a process which we accomplish here several times a day.

I think maybe a little more backstory is in order, to help clarify some things...

I got a nasty little bug on my computer the other evening, some Antispyware malware program that really did a number on my system. Rather than trying to extricate it manually (I tried...it was a resiliant bugger), I whipped out my XP disc and tried to do a clean install and start fresh. That's when I got this blue screen with the atapi.sys error. I even tried the disc in my laptop today, and I got the same issue, so I think it was the disc. Whatever it was, it seems to have transferred to the HD in my desktop.

I managed to get into XP safe mode this evening, and begin the installation process of Windows 7. W7 installed properly, and I was installing drivers and programs, and it needed to reboot. That's when I noticed that it would go into the windows boot manager every time it booted up.

So this blue screen is apparently for XP, not W7. Any suggestions?

PS - How WOULD I boot into the Windows 7 installer repair console? I can't get into Windows 7 at ALL at this point...it just goes straight to the blue Windows Setup screen without giving me any option to choose which OS to boot into, and hitting F8 for safe mode isn't working.

From your description of the infection, I would personally use Dariks Boot N Nuke to zero out the HDD and reinstall Win7. If you cannot afford to lose files, then recover your Win7 as follows:

If you had set boot manager timeout in Win7 then you have a working Win7 installation.

Therefore, you need to start it up. In Windows 7 this is highly automated using Startup Repair.

Boot into your Win7 DVD, select Repair my Computer on second screen, then Startup Repair on recovery tools. It may need to be run up to 3 times as it tries multiple repairs..

If you want to be sure not to spread any infections on the HD, you might want to first use the Command Line option in the booted Win7 Repair console to delete the XP partition using Diskpart commands we can provide. Win7 is going to recover the MBR anyway when you use Startup Repair.

Immediately upon rebooting into Windows 7 I would download Avast AV and run the offered boot scan, then boot into safe mode with networking and download Spybot S&D to run its boot scan.

When you get the humming bird screen, have you tried CTRL-ALT + Delete to start the task manager? If you can, maybe start explorer.exe. Then msconfig.exe and change the timeout back to 30. Don't worry about the extra boot menu right now

If you can't do that, and even though you seem to say you can't, you should be able to boot to the Install DVD. If you can, go to repair and do a startup repair.

If you can't do that, do you have the ability to disconnect the hard drive to test?

Maybe a bootable flash drive is in your future.

I was finally able to get the bootup to the disc to work properly. It just takes a very long time on my computer to do anything. I attempted to do the startup repair several times, but it keeps telling me it can't find any issues.

Being that it allows me to get to a command prompt, is there a way to access and change the boot options through there, rather than trying to boot into the OS itself to change it?

Sorry through all the convolutions I missed that you cannot boot into your DVD.

You originally installed Win7 from XP in Safe Mode during an attack by a nasty virus which had shut you out of XP? To the same HD?

It appears to be booting into XP setup which is trying to complete your XP reinstall.

You need to be able to boot into either the XP install CD or the Win7 install DVD. Check the boot order settings in BIOS again and try both, report back.

Am working on that ATAPI error for you. Look for ATAPI settings in BIOS and note them.

Do you have a flash stick and another computer there?

gregrocker said:

Sorry through all the convolutions I missed that you cannot boot into your DVD.

You originally installed Win7 from XP in Safe Mode during an attack by a nasty virus which had shut you out of XP? To the same HD?

That is correct, although I'll change the fact that I can boot to the DVD, as I've discovered I can if I wait the required amount of time for it to load. When I did the install of Windows 7, I did it to the hard drive with XP. I booted into XP safe mode, put in the disc, and chose to do a fresh install, thinking that would wipe the HD and start fresh. I guess I was wrong.

I wasn't exactly 'shut out of XP'. I could load XP fine, but would immediately get warning spam that programs were viruses that I know for a fact weren't viruses (like my task manager, for instance...). It locked me out of being able to use my anti-virus programs, accessing the command prompt, deleted the drivers for my CD drive so I couldn't put in a disc, etc...it was a real piece of work.

Only by booting into safe mode was I able to get Windows 7 to install, and it installed fine. It was just when I attempted to get rid of the boot manager and go straight into Windows 7 on startup that I ran into these issues.

*edit* No, I don't have a flash drive, and the only other computer I have here is my laptop.

I believe you are ungoing a massive virus infection which may have gotten into your XP install.

Since you can boot into the DVD now, your best course of action is to wipe the drive and reinstall Win7 clean.

Can you afford to lose files on there that might not be backed up? If so, then the risk and time it takes to determine this infection is not really worth it when weighed against a formatted clean install of Win7.

Before using the DVD to format, I would download Darik's BootnNuke and zero out your HD as this is the only way to delete any trace of infection.

Another update: booting into the XP disc does not work, it simply goes to the blue screen again. Booting to the Windows 7 disc works, and I can get into the repair utility, but it doesn't seem to be able to fix anything with the repair option. I tried rolling the computer back to a saved point with the system restore, but that didn't fix the issue either.

Also, I don't mind losing my files, as that's what I had planned on doing anyway with the fresh install. Where do I find the option to wipe the drive through the Windows 7 disc?