I accidentally deleted a boot message in msconfig.

[Doug]

My laptop has malware, a virus or both and then some problems.  I was trying to fix those issues and decided to try and do selective startup to see if I could get rid of some of the problems-one being I cannot start safe mode.  But, while I was there I looked at a tap that had a long line of number and letters and without thinking I deleted it.  I knew immediately after I did this it was a mistake.  But it's done.  Now, when I turn on the computer, I get the menu about F10 for this and F2 for that and then it goes to a certain line and stops.  My question, what can I put on a thumb drive to get back into windows to fix this.  I saw a website called bootnow.com or something but I don't know if I'm on track or not.  Any help appreciated. 

Or, if someone could tell me what to research that would be great. 

[jkolak]

It depends whether your BIOS supports booting from a USB drive. If so, then set it as the first boot priority and boot from that.

Otherwise you can do the same with a boot CD.

[Doug]

Thanks for the reply.

I've seen-I think in BIOS(it has an all blue background)-where you can select the boot order and there is a USB selection.  I asked about the thumb drive because I don't have any disks right now.

When I try safe mode it will go as far as this line:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\Mup.sys.

Am I on the right tracking making a boot recovery disk or file on a thumb drive?

[Allan]

Let's start at the beginning. What is the EXACT message you get at boot and at what point does it stop?

And why would you delete something in msconfig when all you have to do is uncheck it? Deleting the entry doesn't actually delete anything from your system anyway.

[Doug]

Why.  Oh if I could just go back in time.  I knew as soon as I deleted it and restarted the computer I should not have done it. 

When I turn on the computer I get the "windows did not start successfully" with a list of options like three safe mode, last good know configuration and start normally.  After than, without touching anything the screen goes blank and nothing.

I know I have virus problems and I'm trying to work through those but this castrophic event didn't happened until I  did this.  Or jeez, thinking about it, maybe I should just go the the malware section now.

I'm going to try this for now and see what happens.  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305595.

[Allan]

That's probably your best bet. But if you have an AV cd you can run a boot time scan for starters.

[jkolak]

I agree with Allan. A boot USB drive takes some work to configure. If you download something like Avira's free Rescue CD with a different computer, at least you will get into your computer far enough to try the initial cleaning.

Once you can get into your computer, you will have to open a thread in the malware help section to clean up your infection.

[patio]

Boot to an XP CD...
Choose the 1sr R option to load the Recovery Console...
At the prompt type fixboot and hit Enter...
At the 2nd prompt type fixmbr and hit Enter...

Remove the XP CD and re-boot.

[Doug]

...Boot to an XP CD.

I know all the terms are confusing me.  I have XP with SP3.  Does this mean I make a boot CD?  Do I want to make a recovery CD?  ...a setup CD? 

I don't know if this means anything but I changed the boot order in the, I think BIOS menus, so that the CD is first.  Good or bad?

[patio]

No you did it right...put the XP CD in...re=boot and follow the below:

Boot to an XP CD...
Choose the 1sr R option to load the Recovery Console...
At the prompt type fixboot and hit Enter...
At the 2nd prompt type fixmbr and hit Enter...

Remove the XP CD and re-boot.

[Doug]

I do not have the XP CD and I don't know what to burn to a CD to get to recovery console.  I've read about ISO's and I've read about dragging the i386 folder and some other files but I cannot piece it together.

[Doug]

At this point I guess my only option is to buy an XP CD.  I do have the product key from the bottom of my laptop.  Anyone have any advice?  Help? 

[jkolak]

Your product key will be for an OEM edition of XP, so you have to get an OEM CD. They run about $35 on ebay.

You might get it cheaper from your laptop manufacturer, but they might sell you a restore CD instead of a full CD, which would mean you cannot save your data.