Safe Mode???

bucky · Joined: Oct 15, 2003 Posts: 158 Location: Scranton, Pa.

Hi Everyone,

I came across this problem today. Confused

I wanted to boot into safe mode to check on a problem.
Well, after rebooting and pressing F8 as I have always done in the past, I got a window asking me what drive I wanted to boot from (floppy, cd, hard drive, zip drive) Shocked

I have never seen this before.
I did notice that when I boot the computer now, when the first black screen comes up (where all the computer info is displayed) there is a line there that
says, "Press F8 for BBS Popup" and that is when the other "boot" window pops up.
Has anyone else come across this and how can I get into safe mode again? Idea

Thanks for the help, Bucky

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

After windows loads, go to the run box and type msconfig
then click on the boot.ini tab
and select safeboot -minimal

bucky · Joined: Oct 15, 2003 Posts: 158 Location: Scranton, Pa.

Thank you zlim Smile

I am now able to get into safe mode.
Still a problem tho. Confused

When the computer starts, it starts in safe mode. Rolling Eyes

Here is what I see after going into msconfig:
System Configuration Utility window (General Tab)
Selective Startup is marked

the following are checked:
Process SYSTEM.INI File
Process WIN.INI File
Load System Services
Use Modified BOOT.INI

BOOT.INI TAB

In the window right under the tabs there are 5 options.
The last option is highlighted:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
In Boot Options, nothing is checked right now.(I unchecked safeboot for now)

Thank you for your help, Very Happy

Bucky

micker377 · Joined: May 27, 2005 Posts: 993

"I wanted to boot into safe mode to check on a problem.
Well, after rebooting and pressing F8 as I have always done in the past, I got a window asking me what drive I wanted to boot from (floppy, cd, hard drive, zip drive)"

Have you changed Computers, or mother boards lately? It may also be a mobo BIOS upgrade. This action is normal for my mother board BIOS. When I get to that "boot" screen, I just scroll down and highlight the hard drive I want to boot from, and press (quickly), "Enter", and F8 again. That puts me at the "Menu" of how I want to boot (Safe Mode, Normal, Last known Good, etc.).

"When the computer starts, it starts in safe mode."

It will, until you change back the "minimal" command.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 1546 Location: Central FL, USA

Sounds like you need to wait till the boot process gets past the bios and then press F8 as windows starts loading.
Most motherboards that have a boot menu, use F11 or some key other than F8.
The bios writers weren't thinking right when they made F8 the boot menu key.
That does make getting into windows safe mode kind of tricky. Rolling Eyes

Good Luck,
Doc Cool

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

Those are NOT 5 options. All those lines are part of your boot.ini

Here's what an XP boot.ini should look like, provided there is only one OS on the computer.

[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

The thing that concerns me is the /noexecute in yours.

I have one of those but I'm multi booting and the OS with the /noexecute switch is not my default.
The default os should have /fastdetect after it

bucky · Joined: Oct 15, 2003 Posts: 158 Location: Scranton, Pa.

OK... am I to assume that I cannot get into safe mode anymore? Confused

Or is there something that must be changed first?

Bucky