This was published in a recent edition of "Langalist". It mainly refers to Windows 98, so when it talks about Fdisk/MBR you might want to look at the Recovery Console command of "Fixboot" in XP. You can use the recovery console from the install CD to fix the boot sector (fixboot command) - if that's problem. You can also create a 'boot floppy' - copy ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini to a formatted floppy to boot your XP installation.
314079 - How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start
305595 - HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP
Quote........
"Microsoft lightly covers this issue in
It explains that the "Desktop Management Interface (DMI) is a method for managing computers in an organization. The main component, Management Information Format Database (MIFD), is a database that contains all the information about the local computer and its components."
But all Microsoft says about DMI trouble is that "it's a hardware problem."
A more thorough article at
lists six specific reasons for a DMI problem:
1. Corrupt boot files on the computer.
2. Settings for hard disk drive are not correct.
3. Boot devices not set properly.
4. BIOS corrupt or misc. setting not set properly.
5. Connections loose or disconnected.
6. Bad Hard disk drive or other bad hardware.
The above article also goes on to suggest fixes for DMI Pool problems; it's a good read."
End quote.....
Lots more info here, too:
Error Message: No Valid FAT On Boot Drive(Q351212)