This is solution to "Long Sad Story" thread in this forum. It dealt with an attempt to remove an obsolete boot script. My attempt went from bad to worse. Eventually requiring a format and reinstall.

Source "Maximum PC", "Ask the Doctor" letter.

"I recently purchased a Dell that did not work correctly.....ended up reinstalling Windows XP Pro from scratch. Before doing so, the support staff had me do a full format of the drive. Now, when booting the computer, I get a "Dual-boot" text screen asking me to select which operating system to boot, either 'Windows XP Professional' or 'Windows XP Professional'. This delays bootup and is annoying as well. Is there a way to get rid of the dual-boot message?"

"...First, try booting from the first and second menu choices. Once you know which one (or both) work, boot into Windows XP and open System Properties by pressing Windows and Pause/Break. Go into the Advanced tab, then press the Setting button in the Startup and Recovery section. Click the Edit button on the screen that pops up. In the Notepad window that opens, you'll see several lines of text under the [operating system] section. Delete the line for the OS you want to get rid of, and your extra boot option will disappear quicker than Steven the Dell Dude."