I have screwed something up the last time I set up WinXP Pro. For some reason, it thinks there is a dual boot. I need to know which file (system?) to edit/delete to get rid of that so that it boots straight to the only o/s on the computer. Second, and it may or may not be related, I cannot get keyboard/mouse control until Wndoze is booted, therefor I cannot get it to boot to 'safe mode'....any ideas/suggestions (besides getting away from MS platform) would be very much appreciated.

What appears on the screen to indicate it is trying to dual boot? Something like GRUB, LILO, or the Windows "select an OS" screen? The removal or changing of it depends on what boot manager it is.

Keyboard/mouse not working before windows, are they USB? The BIOS has to have USB keyboard support on for a USB keyboard to work outside of a USB aware situation (like bootup).

I have standard PS2 mouse and keyboard, but I am running them into a small, cable based 2 port KVM type of thing. The KVM is not the issue, as I removed it and went with straight mouse and keyboard and the same issue.
I can't remember the exact message, it is very quick but something like it cant find the default and is going with the other???Not sure. I'll reboot and try to catch it...but it is quick.

The exact error that comes up for only a split second (in dos before win boots... is
"Invalid BOOT.INI file
Booting from C:\windows'

I did a search (with View system files turned on) and cannot seem to locate a BOOT.INI file...????

Thanks

Try this:
Control Panel -> System -> Advanced (tab) -> (Under Startup and Recovery) Setings

Do you have more than one option in the drop down?

If yes, try changing the default.

I had NO options, as there was NO boot.ini file. I created one, and it seems to work, error has gone away, and the option shows up now.
However...
I still cannot get keyboard/mouse controll to boot into safe mode....

Can you get into your system bios? Does the pause key work when your first turn the machine on? Do the caps lock, num lock or scroll lock keys change the lights on the keyboard before windows is loaded?

Here is my boot.ini
Code:

---

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

---

It looks like the missing BOOT.INI file was the 'bad guy' causing the error, however I still cannot get keyboard control in order to select 'Safe Mode' or any of the other options before windows. After windows starts, I have keyboad and mouse. ???
Thanks