[r6mile]

To summarise:

I had a working Windows XP Pro SP3 - Mac OS X 10.6.2 dual boot, under NBI 0.8.3. I hear that NBI 0.8.4pre comes out, so I decide to run it, and of course stupidly reinstall Chameleon. Now it runs straight into Mac OS X, without letting me boot into XP. If I boot into my SL USB key it detects my Dell XP, but it just does't boot it into it.

It seems like I'm not the only one that's done this, as it is described here: upgraded SL like an idiot and now Win7 wont boot

However, that's relevant to Windows 7. I imagine the same doesn't apply to Windows XP as it doesn't have the same tools. Does anybody know how to repair it?

Cheers,

[minimalpc]

Sounds like you had the "quiet boot" option checked when you ran NBI. Run it again and make sure it is unchecked.

Were you using Chameleon previously to choose between booting XP and OS X?

[bmcclure937]

Yes, please check your Chameleon settings or make sure you are running NBI so that the bootloader will allow you to choose the OS to boot into.

The thread you linked to is irrelevant and is a totally different issue. The latest version .8.4pre actually would solve the problem in the other thread and has nothing to do with this.

[r6mile]

You guys are brilliant! That solved the problem perfectly.

NBI 0.8.4's bootloader is a bit uglier than 0.8.3 though: it actually says 'press key to select startup options' rather than just have the bar, and the apple looks kind of squashed. Not that it's any kind of issue of course! I'm just so glad it works now!
I've also noticed they've got rid of the spinning / (which I thought was kind of cool), but on the bright side it doesn't show that stupid line of text telling me something about 'Force Wake' which annoyed the hell out of me.

What is 'Quiet Boot' meant to do anyway?