Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 60622 2005-08-07 10:40:00 Cannot get into Safe Mode.... help ! Strommer (42) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
379243 2005-08-08 08:23:00 If it's a standard machine with no manufacturers preboot logo rubbish then when you turn the machine on it will display the post screen and display video card, hard drives, Memory etc and you will also notice a bit of info that says "Press DEL (delete key) to enter setup.
This will take you to the BIOS
If it's a standard BIOS the screen will turn blue and on the second line will be "Advanced" use the up/down arrow to highlight it and press enter
From there you will be able to set the boot order
bartsdadhomer (80)
379244 2005-08-09 06:30:00 UPDATE (still need help):

First of all, we discovered that my friend's keyboard automatically locks the numeral pad which disables the cursor arrows. At least now I don't have to drag my kb over to his place.

We managed to get into the BIOS > Advanced and set the boot order for a WinXP CD boot up, and from there we got into the Recovery Console and tried:
bootcfg /fixmbr .... also tried "rebuild" and "fixboot". It only took an instant for these items to be run (is this normal, to be so quick?).

Anyway, as you can guess, nothing helped and we keep getting thrown back to the DOS-type screen that lists the Safe Mode(s) and Last Config .... but choosing these does nothing.

Are we looking at reformatting and starting over, or are there other options?

Thanks. - Steve and Wayne
Strommer (42)
379245 2005-08-09 07:21:00 Do a Repair install from the XP CD
See here for details
www.michaelstevenstech.com
or here
www.windowsreinstall.com
bartsdadhomer (80)
379246 2005-08-09 23:49:00 Thanks much Bart. Will do later today.

Great screenshots and directions from those links. Even I should be able to do it!
Strommer (42)
379247 2005-08-11 10:30:00 Do a Repair install from the XP CD
See here for details
. michaelstevenstech . com/XPrepairinstall . htm" target="_blank">www . michaelstevenstech . com
or here
. windowsreinstall . com/winxphome/installxpcdrepair/" target="_blank">www . windowsreinstall . com

Hello Bart,

We finally bit the bullet and did a reformat . This evening my friend is frantically looking for the modem drivers CD and the data backup CD I made for him recently, much to the amusement of his wife who flaps about the untidy PC area . :lol:

Those two websites you gave us are quite good . I followed the directions carefully but WinXP did not give us the option for Repair (not within the Repair Console but the other whatever it is called) . However, this scenario was covered in the website and the final last gasp option prior to reformatting was to go back to bootcfg and try the two 'command' lines, but this did nothing .

I kept my friend in a positive frame of mind, telling him that he would have a squeeky clean new OS, fast and free of rubbish . He was happy, but that was before he could not find all of the installation CDs .

Thanks again for the assistance - everyone who contributed .
Slowly, I creep forward towards my Geek Certificate . :p :cool:
Strommer (42)
1 2 3