boot.ini corrupt (machine code)

I've checked for other threads reporting this, I'm new to the list - apologies if this boot.ini feature has already been brought up (point me there, please):

I have also been plagued by combinations of corrupted Bootcamp partitions, files that disappeared or were "corrupt" (e.g., hal.sys, ntdetect.com, ntldr, etc.), BSOD, kernel panics, have had to install several times and so on - for me brought about by and upgrade to Leopard and using build 5162 for Parallels that was already installed and running. Suffice to say I've been there and done that and now with 5582 life is better (but not perfect).

Here's what I noticed: The "boot.ini" file turns into a machine language file (not ascii) on the bootcamp partition after build 5162 is done with it. Has anyone else seen this?

Check by stopping your Windows VM normally, quitting Parallels, mounting the bootcamp partition (mine is in FAT32 format but you can probably do this with NTFS-3G) and then viewing the boot.ini file. It should look like this (or close facsimile) and it does when Parallels is running and the VM is running and bootcamp partition mounted by Parallels on the Desktop (sharing the Windows volumes, 5582) OR from Explorer inside the VM:

[boot loader]
timeout=1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Parallels configuration" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut

Mine doesn't - it looks like this with Parallels OFF and bootcamp partition mounted by Finder on the Desktop:

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