I got windows 7 running fine for a while now and ever since my XP did not boot anymore ... But now i really REALY need [XP] ...
At first it did not do anything and using easyBCD did not help either. I cpoied ntldr and detect to the root of C: wich contains my XP and now it shows the bootscreen but hangs on a black screen.The thing is right before the bootscreen shows i see the text" invalid boot.ini" flashing by very quick ...
Anyone have any idea how to fix this withouth destroying the XP install?
... I already removed the win7 boot using Easybcd but it had the same effect with the only difference being that i could no longer select win7 at startup.
I know this is an old thread, and the OP's problem seems to me to have been more than just something related to EasyBCD, yet I do believe I have some answers for anyone who might have an EasyBCD-related "Invalid boot.ini" problem in the future ...
... and I learned all of this the hard way while sorting it all out and getting my own system straight again:
When EasyBCD adds an entry to make XP available via Win7's BCD, it alters ntldr in the XP (boot) partition and then adds an "easyldr" file of its own in a new folder named "NST" (and as the target of the new ntldr), and then boot.ini is actually no longer used at all (but will still be there after a bit of editing done by EasyBCD). My own case is a bit odd since Win7 is in the second partition of my third hard drive, but here is what I had to do to remove all traces of EasyBCD and get everything working properly again:
1) Use the Win7 "startup repair" to gets its BCD straight again ... and for me, that first included using Puppy Linux to access my Win7 partition (and its boot partition) to find the files needed to completely replace its BCD with a default one;
2) Find an original copy of ntldr (2008, in my own case) to replace the one modified by EasyBCD (and had been re-dated accordingly);
3) Use the XP repair disk to run Fixboot to fix the boot sector for XP, and use Bootcfg /Rebuild to make a new boot.ini if you need one;
4) Unless you were able to do the XP startup repair prior to doing the Win7 startup repair, run the Win7 startup repair again.
One more thing that might be helpful to someone:
Win7 can install itself on any partition in any drive and then boot just fine, but it can only repair its own startup if it is on the first drive in any system. Since it is on the third drive in my system and I cannot force my BIOS to see that drive first -- a PATA/SATA issue -- I simply disconnected drives one and two so I could do the Win7 startup repair on the third drive (with it being seen first since the others were completely absent).
I hope some of the above might help somebody somewhere sometime!
PS: If I understand correctly, the above-mentioned "Invalid boot.ini" error happens when the EasyBCD-altered ntldr cannot find its easyldr target and Windows then ends up just looking for a Windows folder anywhere so it can boot whatever it might find.