When my Son fires up his Laptop he gets a screen that gives him two options, Choose an Operating System, Only one works. Question is this must be accessed by the Bios (I guess). So can a Boffin tell me where to go in the Bios to get rid of the second option. Unless there is another way. It does not affect the running of the Computer so I guess it could stop as it is, if I cannot get a fix.

Which OS?

In Vista/7 you can access the list of OS's from: start - right click Computer - Advanced System Properties - Advanced tab - Startup and Recovery - Settings.

From there you get a list of OS's. I'd make sure that you're 100% sure which one is the default/correct one. (Does it boot into the right one at default already? If so, job done - if not, change it and check it boots without you/your son needing to change it.) Once you've established this, detick the option to display lists of OS's.

XP will be roughly the same, but the wording may differ.

As Trigger says...which operating systems are present? The Bios don't really access your op's, just the drive in your laptop. In your case it's probably a boot loader giving you the choice of operating systems at start up. Can't say more without more info from you about the operating systems involved. Don't do anything until you post back with some more info as you may lose the ability to boot into any operating system if you just try to delete the non working op.

Sorry forgot to mention the main bit, it is Windows Vista

Hi D15, is it Vista for both operating systems being shown at start up? Also do you have a recovery disc for Vista (a dell recovery disc or a genuine MS Vista disc)? or are your OS back up files on the hard drive in a separate recovery partition? The reason for asking all these questions is that Dell issued many laptops and desktops not long ago with Windows XP or Vista installed alongside Linux Ubuntu. It's crucial to know what both the operating systems are on your hard drive before you do anything as you can screw up big time if you do the wrong thing. Please come back with some more info if you can.

Windows Vista only, I have the Dell Disc that has the Operating System on. I have re-installed Windows onto C drive, then removed the Old version, The Partition for Recovery is now empty. As I say when it starts it offers me the choice of 2 Start Ups, Operating System, only 1 works as the other is dead. Thanks Diane

Windows Vista only, I have the Dell Disc that has the Operating System on. I have re-installed Windows onto C drive, then removed the Old version, The Partition for Recovery is now empty. As I say when it starts it offers me the choice of 2 Start Ups, Operating System, only 1 works as the other is dead. Thanks Diane

Right, what I would initially recommend is using the System Recovery Environment mode to repair the boot files. In the recovery environment you will need to load the Bootrec.exe file. This should allow you to remove the dual boot menu and allow the machine to boot normally. I'm not sure if the Dell recovery disc will have the RE (recovery environment) files on it but it's worth a go as it is a very simple way of fixing the problem. If it doesn't you can download a file from MS that allows you make a recovery environment console disc, or you can borrow a genuine MS disc from a friend maybe. Afterwards you may need to grow your Vista partition to get back the full use of all of your hard disc which is separate issue for the moment.

Instructions for doing this are found here: Vista boot problems

I suggest using: /FixBoot command as this will overwrite your existing boot file and should allow normal booting. However, do back up everything that is important before you do anything as if it goes wrong you may be computer less untill you reload your OS and this will wipe your hd of all data if you reload of course. There are other ways you can approach this but this is probably the easiest to start with based on the information you have given, and if I've understood everything correctly.

A Big thank you Estate Man, I will try this once my Son has finished doing what he is doing with it. I will then let you know how I get on. Diane.