invalid boot.ini error in c: windows

There must be a jumper on the motherboard that set the CPU frequency (or motherboard FSB). Make sure to set it to 133MHz.

Also, just so everybody knows, i did go back to bios and load the default settings. Back to where they were before i started messing around.. still no help.

Set the base clock back to 100Mhz.
There are two problems here.
The base clock also determines the memory access speed.
Sounds like there is a stick of PC100 RAM hiding in the system. (Can be a mismark problem.)
The Ratings of an AMD processor are the equivalent speed rating to Intel.
The clock is slower.
AMD processors are more efficient per clock.
Thus, if both processors were compared at the same clock rate, the AMD would way outperform the Intel.
So, AMD gives a rating to show the equivalent clock necessary on an Intel.
Kind of confusing, but there are enough people out there, that only have enough knowledge to read the clock speed, so this seems to be necessary.
This can also be a MB/BIOS problem.
When you get this MB working again with the "1150Mhz" cpu speed, run a testing utility, to see how fast the system really is.
You may get a big suprise on the upside or downside.
Regards, Chris

You may check this MSKB article as well:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=330184

if none of those fixes the problem, try doing an os repair. Boot.ini should reside in c:\ not c:\windows. ntdetect.com might be corrupt somehow giving a bad file location.
Also, if a repair doesnt work, if you can, try copying boot.ini to c:\windows.

Boot from the Windows CD. When you see the "Welcome to Setup" message, press R to start the Recovery Console.
Type the administrator password.
At the command prompt, type bootcfg /list.
The entries in your current Boot.ini file are displayed on the screen.
Type bootcfg /rebuild.
Follow the on-screen instructions.

The following is an example of how to add a Windows XP installation to the Boot.ini file:
You receive a message that is similar to the following:

Total Identified Windows Installs: 1

[1] C:\Windows
Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All)
When you receive the message press Y.

You receive a message that is similar to the following:

Enter Load Identifier

This is the name of the operating system.
type the name of your operating system

You receive a message that is similar to the following:

Enter OS Load options

The instructions that are displayed on your screen may be different depending on the configuration of your computer.
When you receive the message in step e, type /fastdetect, and then press ENTER.
Type exit, to quit Recovery Console.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=330184

This question was closed by the author