xp pro startup choice + NIS

I know someone is going to tell me I have done something wrong here but recently I re-installed XP Pro because of a few probs on my NEW pc. Almost everything is now fine and dandy, well everything except two things;

1. When I partitioned the disk before installing XP I did my best to copy the original configuration (partition sizes). The drive was partitioned into 2 parts. (200 gig scsi) I can't remember how big the small partition was but it was certainly not big enough to have the operationg system on it. Now, when I start the pc it comes up with a choice as though I had 2 operating systems installed. It list windows xp pro twice and asks me which one I want to use. Only one of these actually works and the other just comes up with some error (can't remember what). How do I make the pc automatically start on the correct one without me having to choose one? Alternatively would it be better if I reinstalled again and did it properly? The only prob being with this is that I thought I did it right the last time. If I did it again do you think it would be a good idea to partition the drive into more partitions?


2. You Norton haters are going to love this one . I reinstalled everything and for a time everything was brill. Until after about half an hour online I heard click coming from the pc tower (almost sure it was my modem trying to dial out) then my system completely froze for a few seconds, it tries this on one after the other once it starts. As a matter of investigation I unticked everything in the start up menu in system config and one by on re-ticked them(with quite a few restarts along the way), deliberatley leaving the symantec ones until last. My system is now working like a dream but I have just paid 30 quid for NIS so I would like to use it if possible. I have searched high and low for similar problems on google and symantecs site but with no luck.
Has anyone any ideas?


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AMD Athlon 64 3400+
200 gig hdd. (SCSI)
Broadband with freedom to surf (512k)
19" iiyama 4821 TFT Monitor.
DVD RW
CD RW

 

woz - for the first part where you are presented with options and one is not working, that is simply a display from a text file located on c:\ and named boot.ini (hidden so you won't see it unless you unhide).

If you can be sure which option is working and which is not, the editing job on the file is fairly simple. You just remove the line(s) with the bad option. The other choice is to set the good one as the default and set the choice time to zero.

Here is what my boot.ini looks like. I have two choices and a 5 second pause while I can chose one else I get a normal start. I set it up this way so I could get to safe mode without having to figure out when to press F8. Note that the space in the 'default' line is bogus and a display problem with the forum software. The word WINDOWS is all together in the actual file.

 

Sorted that one, cheers Newt.

 

Good. In that case and with only the Norton issue left, I'm moving this from General Discussions to Other Software for better looks and more chance of a fix.