EVE Trinity premium client patch woes: How-to-fix botched XP boot.ini file

CCP is on the verge of earning the title of having the worst expansion launch in the history of the genre. An echelon of EVE players who downloaded and patched EVE Trinity's premium client from the classic client are reporting serious debilitating computer issues as a result from the patch after rebooting. The premium patch deleted an important file needed to boot! While I would love to rip CCP a new one over this, the more pressing matter is to post a fix and help spread the word. The premium patch client was already taken down, but there are players who already patched, still in the game that are in for a rude-awakening when they reboot their computers. EVE players who already downloaded the premium patch client, upgrading from the classic client and are using Windows XP will need to take the necessary measures to repair their boot.ini file. The boot.ini overwrite does not affect Vista users.

• If you are using the classic client, or installed the premium client via the full client download you are not affected.

• If you upgraded from the classic client to the premium client, using the content upgrade via the patcher, or the stand alone patch may need to take the necessary precautions to ensure your computer's stability.

Note: If you haven't restarted yet and wish to avoid all the following steps use System Restore under System Tool to revert back to an earlier saved state. You'll lose some files: Probably better to use this though if you are on a multiple boot system.

Can't see hidden files? Open and folder and under Tools > Folder Options > View and select "show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "hide protected operating system files."

Check to see if you still have a boot.ini file by going to Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings (third button down). Windows will alert you if the boot.ini file is missing.

If you haven't restarted your computer yet and you have installed the premium patch client you can fix your boot.ini file by following these steps.

• Make sure your boot.ini is intact by opening up Internet Explorer and typing in the address bar: C:\boot.ini

• If a similar boot.ini loads you should be fine

(sample boot.ini)
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

• Double check the file by going to start > run > msconfig and select the Boot.ini tab and clicking on check all booth paths will tell you whether or not your boot.ini file is intact.

• If you need to rebuild your boot.ini file go to c:\windows\pss\boot.ini.backup

• Copy this file to c:\boot.ini

• If it says access denied edit the boot.ini and copy the content of boot.ini.backup to it.

• Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 to make sure it is a valid boot.ini

If you rebooted after installing the premium patch and your affected computer doesn't boot:

Boot from your OS CD, and follow the directions to start Recovery Console. Choose the corresponding number asked of you for your OS is on (normally it's #1) Type:

Attrib -H -R -S C:\Boot.ini
DEL C:\Boot.ini
BootCfg /Rebuild
Fixboot

or

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

(Thanks to various EVE forum posters working diligently to get the word out and posting how-to-fix the problem)