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Thread ID: 60622 2005-08-07 10:40:00 Cannot get into Safe Mode.... help ! Strommer (42) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
379233 2005-08-07 23:01:00 Boot from the cd, at the first option screen choose repair,you will be taken to a command prompt.

Type fixmbr and hit enter

MBR stands for Master Boot Record.

You can also try fixboot and hit enter.



www.microsoft.com


www.microsoft.com 		Metla (12)
379234 2005-08-07 23:08:00 << MBR stands for Master Boot Record. >>

Ha ! I thought it was "motherboard", and it was another Metla witicism.

Thanks for the advice. Will try these things later today. 		Strommer (42)
379235 2005-08-07 23:10:00 you can replace the MBR by booting from the XP CD
is this a brand name machine? eg hp, compaq etc?
if the kybd is PS2, try a usb kybd, make sure u enable usb kybd in BIOS 1st

He got it from PB Technologies.

Will try the USB keyboard if the other suggestions don't work.

Thanks. 		Strommer (42)
379236 2005-08-07 23:32:00 I take it Norton did not give the desired result…to quote the man for the bacon advertisement…"funny that"


Note:The above was a piss take at Norton 		Rob99 (151)
379237 2005-08-08 00:55:00 I built an icon I can click to enter Safe Mode from the desktop .

This might not be handy for this poor person, but it is a neat idea for anyone why foresees this as a happenstance for the future .

1 . Right click an empty area of your desktop .
2 . Select New>> Shortcut .
3 . In the command line enter this path: C:\WINDOWS\WIN . COM /D:M then click Next .
4 . Choose a name for your shortcut . Click Next .
5 . Here, you can select an icon for your new shortcut .
6 . Click Finish .
7 . Right click your new shortcut and select Properties .
8 . Place a checkmark in the box labeled "MS-DOS Mode" .
9 . Uncheck the box labeled "Warn before entering MS-DOS Mode" .
10 . Click OK .

Now, whenever you need to enter SafeMode, you can easily do this by double-clicking your desktop shortcut :D 		SurferJoe46 (51)
379238 2005-08-08 01:25:00 errrrr..if the arrow keys dont work but other keys do.........dont forget there are two sets of arrow keys on the board........the ones on the number pad and the 'other' arrow keys.......have you tried both ? drcspy (146)
379239 2005-08-08 01:35:00 errrrr..if the arrow keys dont work but other keys do.........dont forget there are two sets of arrow keys on the board........the ones on the number pad and the 'other' arrow keys.......have you tried both ?

His keyboard is unusual / different than most. It only has one set of arrows. But I will take my (USB) keyboard over - it has two sets. Thanks for the reminder. It is basic stuff like this that is often overlooked. 		Strommer (42)
379240 2005-08-08 06:21:00 We tried my keyboard and the arrow cursors worked.
But whatever we selected [Safe Mode(s), Last known configuration], the PC still rebooted to the screen that gives the choice of Safe Modes & Last known config.

So we put in the 6 floppy disks for WinXP set up, and selected R for repair but this only gave us the option of EXIT so we tried FIXBOOT, which did nothing except to reboot as usual. BTW, if left unattended, the PC keeps rebooting to the "Safe Modes / Last Config" screen. The weird thing was that when we tried "bootcfg" it gave us the option to REBUILD but typing that in gave us an error message and selecting HELP brought up a list that did NOT include REBUILD. We saw FIXMBR but there was a warning that damage to the partion tables may result so we did not try this.

You are probably wondering why we did not boot from the WinXP CD. We did put in the CD but the PC would not boot from it and I cannot remember how to configure the PC to boot from a CD.

We tried pushing F10, F8, and F2, either all the time or repeatedly during boot up. This was tried many times but did not result in anything other than the usual DOS type screen with the Safe Modes & Last Config options.

Was it OK for me to make the 6 floppy disks on my PC or is this a no-no? We both have WinXP SP1 (SP2 not installed) so I assumed that the basic boot files (.ini or whatever they are called) would be the same.

After inserting the 6 floppies (egad they are so slow, so last century!) we had hoped that selecting REPAIR would fix everything, but not for us.

BTW, when rebooting, the WinXP logo flashes for a second or two, then the DOS type screens appear.

OK, so if I did not stuff up the PC by using the 6 floppies, how do we get the PC to boot from the WinXP CD? Remember that pressing the F keys do not seem to do anything.

Any other tricks besides doing a reformat?

Should we try FIXMBR ?

Thanks. 		Strommer (42)
379241 2005-08-08 06:29:00 To boot from the CD enable CD as first boot device in the BIOS and HD0 as second
Yes you have nothing to lose by trying fixmbr
Also Rebuild won't work unless you use it with the appropriate commands
commands to rebuild the bootcfg can be found here

support.microsoft.com

I've never found a very useful tool as you need something to add or rebuild, if the bootcfg is missing there is nothing to rebuild, it mightjust be nme but I've never had any luck with it. having said that I've only played with it a couple of times.
Must do some serious homework on it one day as I'm probably dribbling crap. 		bartsdadhomer (80)
379242 2005-08-08 08:17:00 To boot from the CD enable CD as first boot device in the BIOS and HD0 as second

But just how exactly is this done? 		Strommer (42)
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