Tried to boot in safe mode using Msconfig

I did the one thing that was not recommended. I changed the config to load up in safemode. I am running windows XP, and I do not have an XP disc because I bought the computer used. Now nothing happens. The system wont even load into safe mode. I just get a black screen. Any help that would get me to boot back into normal mode would be really appreciated. :-o

 

I had this happen to me and the way I fixed it was editing boot.ini file from recovery console but you don't have the XP CD.

One way would be to download a Linux Live CD (I like Linux Mint). You would burn the .iso file to a CD as an image file. Then start the computer from the CD. It will load a Linux desktop and give you access to your C: drive. Browse to C:\boot.ini then edit the boot.ini file deleting the /safeboot part of the line that looks like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP" /safeboot

to this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP" /fastdetect

The Linux Mint CD is very easy to use. If you know how to burn an iso file you should have no problem.

 

...

Good call, sach2 - that looks like an elegant solution to an unfortunately common problem...Ill have to try it...

And, of course, I hope it helps compnewbie...

...

 

Thanks Sach2 I will give it a try. I have never used LINUX but I will read through the instructions on how to do it. I will repost and give the details on what happens.

 

The Linux mint Cd really is easy to use. I always ignored posts about using Live Linux CDs because it seemed too complicated but the live CDs have gotten much better. Now with broadband downloading a 700mb file is not such a big deal (although it still seems like a hefty download just to start your system). But it will work and the interface looks much like the Windows desktop.

Basically you download the ISO file and use a program like imgburn to burn it to a blank CD. ISOs are considered image files so you select the option to "Burn Image to Disc".

Then start your computer using the CD. You will get a desktop with a computer icon on it. Click Computer>Open C: and you should see boot.ini. If it isn't visible: click on VIew and then "Show Hidden Files". Then right-click boot.ini and copy and paste it in the same folder so you have a backup copy. Then right-click boot.ini and select "Open with Other Application" and select Text Editor. Make your edit deleting /safeboot and adding /fastdetect. Save the file. Choose Quit from the Start menu and then Shutdown from the options you are given. Take out the Cd and try and boot.

*****
By the way was your PC booting before changing to SafeMode?

 

Anybody using WINDOWS should have one or more Linux CDs handy for occasions such as this: They are not just useful as a WINDOWS repair tool, but an interesting, illuminating, educational expansion of one's computing horizons. (The view of a relatively new user of Linux! Thanks to MS WINDOWS!)

@ sach2: I will add MINT to my Linux collection (to see why you might like it so much).

@ sach2
Have you checked out the new Puppy Linux ? ... only 105MB download.
http://www.puppylinux.org/
It seems to work well, especially for this kind of simple task.

Otherwise, if download size is of great concern, the XP Recovery Console can be downloaded ... download size 7MB.
http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/files/rc.iso

 

@ sach2: I now see what you mean/why you like it.
Perhaps it could be called "Linux for WINDOWS users"!
If this is a WINDOWS user's first introduction to Linux, they are going to be happy Linux users!

It is as clean and fresh as the name suggests.
It loads all by itself with no input from the user, and it is ready to go at the Desktop.
It is so much like WINDOWS to use, one could easily forget where they were.
Thank you sach2!

 

Sach2

The computer would boot, but then I would have to go into the run option and load explorer.exe so my icons and menu bar would appear. I was trying to get rid of malware by reading through some other postings.
I downloaded Linux Mint to a CD. I only downloaded the ISO files and wrote the image to the disk as you explained. When I loaded the disk into my computer it still did nothing. I have the black screen of emptiness. Its like no power is getting to the monitor from the computer even though it is on. Are there any other suggestions? Thanks for you help.

 

Is your computer set to boot from CD? Did you hear the Cd running for about 3 minutes after you tried to boot? (Or see the CD tray light flashing?) If not, you have to change the boot order in BIOS. Usually by tapping F2 or DEL several times right after powering on to enter BIOS and then look for BOOT ORDER. Move CD to first place then HD to second.

Is your computer store bought? Do you get a company logo before the screen goes blank?

Trying another monitor would be a simple solution if you have one.

 

Sach2

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Is your computer set to boot from CD? Did you hear the Cd running for about 3 minutes after you tried to boot? (Or see the CD tray light flashing?) If not, you have to change the boot order in BIOS. Usually by tapping F2 or DEL several times right after powering on to enter BIOS and then look for BOOT ORDER. Move CD to first place then HD to second.

I dont think it is set to boot from CD. The CD ran for a few moments then stopped. The light was flashing. I tried tapping F2 sseveral times, that didnt work so I rebooted and tried tapping the DEL button several times as well and that didnt work. Bios never came up.

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Is your computer store bought? Do you get a company logo before the screen goes blank?

The computer was store bought but from a pawnshop (lesson learned not to buy anything without the disks). Nothing comes up when I power on the system. It is a black screen. When it used to power up normally it would bring up the Microsoft logo, when things started to not work so well it would just load my desktop.

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Trying another monitor would be a simple solution if you have one.

I tried a different monitor and still the same thing. Which is nothing. Would it help to borrow an XP disk from my brother in-law? Any other ideas? Sorry it took me so long to respond to this. Thanks for all of your suggestions so far.

 

To get to the BIOS Setup Menu ...

Press the ON button and begin rapidly tapping the DELETE key .... and continue tapping ...... until you see the BIOS Setup Menu.

If the DELETE key does not work, try the same thing with the F2 key.

 

Also try F10 to enter BIOS if it is a Compaq/HP. Even if Windows got messed up you should be able to get to BIOS to check the boot order.

 

It is an HP so I will try that when I get home thanks!

 

No luck when tapping F10 when I turn on the computer.

 

Let us know the model number and we can look for a manual.

Also, try unplugging and take the quarter-coin shaped battery out for about five minutes. Then put it back and plug back in. See if you get a Compaq logo when you restart.

 

Its an HP Pavillion 553W desktop. I'm not sure where the battery is. I unplugged it nd I'm letting it sit. Also when I was tapping the F10 key I could here a clicking noise coming from the computer. It wasnt the keyboard click but something internal. Not sure if that helps with anything. Another thing I noticed when I was first trying the Delete key by pressing it rapidly when starting the computer, and nothing came up, when I would press the power button to shut down the system, it would turn off immediately, unlike after I pressed the F10 key and then powered down, I would have to hold it for a few seconds before the computer powered down. Hopefully this is making sense to what I'm trying to explain. Thanks again for all the responses.

 

For your model HP ... it is the F1 key that you need to be tapping!

F10 is used for accessing the recovery partition (if it exists).

 

F1 doesnt work either. I start tapping it right when I power up the computer. Thanks for the tip though.

 

I just tried something else. For grins, while the computer was running, I hit ctrl alt del, then enter, and the computer went into sleep mode, or log off not sure which is which, but its the mode where if I move my mouse or tap any key it powers back up. It seems to recognize that command. I still have the black screen. I turn the monitor off and then on, and I get the no input signal go to power save message.

 

Look at this document http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...7813&lc=en&cc=es&dlc=es&product=90865&lang=es

Check the "NOTE:" about your serial number because the batteries are in slightly different locations on the respective motherboards. But in both boards your battery is not lying flat but standing up (thus harder to see--use the diagram to orientate yourself as the picture is not very good). It is just a larger watch type disc battery about the size of a quarter. It will just slide out of the slot, you might need tweezers to grab hold of it. Unplugging the PC and removing the battery for a few minutes should disrupt the internal clock and the PC should take you into BIOS to reset the clock. While there you can check the boot order to make sure that your boot order is CD first then HD.

 

Sach2
I could not bring up the link

Code:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/[COLOR="Red"]d...[/COLOR]=90865&lang=es

There are 3 dots after the d and it comes up page not found. Is there something that goes after the d?
Thanks for finding the link

 

Hmm, it works for me from the link in my post.

Try this one http://tinyurl.com/yax6c3g

 

Sach2
I pulled the battery, waited a few minutes, put it back in, started it up, pressed f10 on startup and still nothing. Should I be tapping F1 or F10? I'm not giving up yet. Thanks for all the work you are doing.

 

Did you have the PC unplugged when you removed the battery? (so no power for 5 minutes)

The Hp site is not specific for that model's setup key, here are their instructions:

I hear myself sounding like a broken record in all the threads I answer but what kind of monitor are using? Do you have access to an old CRT?

My thought is that switching to mandatory safe mode using msconfig should not effect your seeing a startup/BIOS screen. It could definitely effect your seeing Windows but not the Compaq flash screen. It is possible that your Compaq/HP flash screen has been overwritten at some point in the past (I had mine disappear on a model from around 2001 but I was using Linux/Grub loaders and such) but more likely that your monitor is unable or not set to display the BIOS screen.

Clearing the CMOS would be my next step if you are already using an older monitor but I believe even without a flash screen one of the F1, F10 or F11 should bring up the Setup configuration. I'm thinking try a different monitor.

 

Sach2
Yes the computer was disconnected of all cables and power when I took out the battery. I have two monitors I tried. A sony SDM-593 and a Gateway FPD1520. I dont have access to an old CRT. Something I did notice when I tapped F11. The computer seemed to recognize the prompt, but I still cant see anything. When I went to power down the system, instead of having to hold the power button for 4 seconds it turned right off. When I powered it on again and tried pressing F10 at start up and nothing happened, I powered down the system, but actually had to hold the button for about 4 seconds. Just by the flickering of the lights on the keyboard and what I'm used to seeing, when powering up it seems to be wanting to do its normal start up or displaying the BIOS screen, I just cant see it. I took out the video card, and plugged the monitors into the monitor outlet, and still nothing came up on either one. Whatever bug I got in my system is sure playing havoc. Again thanks for your help on this. I sincerely appreciate it.

 

Since it shutdown so quickly after hitting F11 I would think it entered BIOS or the Recovery Mode (something small). Other times it is probably loading Windows so in order to exit you have to hold the power button (if you are the only user on the XP and it normally loads to desktop rather than Welcome screen you could hit Windows key then U then U again to see if it shuts down without the power button).

Did your computer come with the graphics card? Did you take out the battery before or after removing the graphics card. I'm thinking that if you took out the battery with the graphics card out BIOS might default to using the onboard graphics. Which could possibly let you see something, but unfortunately I doubt it will make a difference. I'll take a look around to see what I can find on your monitors...

 

Again, thanks I really do appreciate it.

 

Didn't find much on the monitor that points to it being a common problem.
One thought is that Compaqs are usually set to boot to disc first. They have that message "hit any key to boot from CD" just after the flash screen.

You said you burnt that linux disc...try booting from the disc again, this time hitting the spacebar every second or so for a minute after starting the computer. See if the CD drive spins up faster. If the Linux disc will actually boot it will find your display adapters and give you a screen to begin maneuvering.

 

Unfortunately that didnt work either. The disc seemed to load but only for a few moments. To see if the disc works I put it into the laptop we have to see what Linux looks like. When the disc started up, a menu popped up asking how I would like to have linux. It gave three options. demo, install into windows/uninstall like an application, and third, find out more about Linux mint. Problem is, I cant see anything on my screen to navigate to the option that says download it to windows. Did I load the wrong thing onto the disc I made? or did I not burn it correctly? Just wondering since this is the first time I have made a disc like that using ImgBurn. When I made the disk, It did take a while for the program to download to the laptop, I had to unzip it, then burn it to disk which only took a few moments. Just wondering if that sounds correct.
Still trying to work this out.

 

I looked at the LinuxMint CD--the menu only appears when you start it in Windows. You actually want to boot from the CD. It should load to a desktop without hitting any keys. Depending on how much RAM you have it may take several minutes. You might want to try it again in the broken PC and give it a full 10 minutes to load (as long as you see some HD activity looking at the lights on the front of your case). [You can try it in your laptop but again you have to boot form the CD]

*************

I put together a small boot CD that will help you replace your boot.ini with a generic boot.ini. The generic boot.ini assumes that you have one HD and are booting off the first partition C:. I hope they are safe assumptions. It also includes a GOBACK command to undo the change and put the original boot.ini back in place. I don't see any harm in trying it. You can download it here and burn it as an Image using ImgBurn.

I would suggest putting your graphics card back in so that when/if Windows starts normally, its stored drivers will match the video card. Make sure you attach your monitor to the video card.

Boot from CD.
Wait 45 seconds. Type yes <enter>.
Wait 30 seconds. Type change <enter>
Wait 20 seconds. Eject the CD and Restart (Ctrl+Alt+Delete).
Windows will try to boot from the new boot.ini in normal mode.

DO NOT use the CHANGE command more than once. Or you will be unable to GOBACK.

TO use the GOBACK command:

Boot from CD. (You must reboot between using CHANGE and GOBACK).
Wait 45 seconds. Type yes <enter>.
Wait 30 seconds. Type goback <enter>
Wait 20 seconds. Eject the CD and Restart (Ctrl+Alt+Delete).
Your original boot.ini will be back in place.


***************

Any questions ask. If neither option above works or you are uncomfortable with changing your boot.ini without seeing it, consider that it really would make things much easier if you could borrow an old crt from someone. I'm convinced that this not being able to see Safe Mode or boot screens is a monitor compatibility problem.

 

I was just thinking that there is a slight possibility that you might be stuck at a BIOS screen waiting for you to correct the date and time. So if you do want to try that Change.iso make one alteration to double check that you are at a command prompt. Typing on will turn your Caps Lock light on typing off will turn the light off.

So, to CHANGE your Boot.ini:

Boot from CD.
Wait 45 seconds. Type yes <enter>.
Wait 30 seconds. Now type on and verify that the Caps Lock light has turned on and then type off and see that it goes off. If works then proceed.
Type change <enter>
Wait 20 seconds. Eject the CD and Restart (Ctrl+Alt+Delete).
Windows will try to boot from the new boot.ini in normal mode.

If the light doesn't go on and off just eject the CD and we'll have to figure out the key sequence to get you out of BIOS.

 

Perhaps that shows a problem.

Until I had a laptop my PCs never had the ability to shut down by holding the power button for 4 seconds.

If this PC is a laptop then half its weight could be a great big battery.
I strongly suspect that 5 minutes with no power requires not only removal of the mains supply to the battery charger and removal of the small "watch battery" that supports the Cmos, it also requires removal of the great big battery.

Alan

 

The hp 553w is a desktop. There is no extra battery. The longer time to hold the power button to shut down has to do with the PC having loaded Windows in safe mode(a larger Operating System). When you hit F11 it was stopped from trying to load Windows and instead loaded in a much smaller OS for recovery or setup and thus could be shut down more quickly. I think all PCs will shutdown if you hold the power button in for 6 seconds. It might take a couple of tries but I believe they all will shut down.

Try this download the little bootcd Change.iso and burn it using ImgBurn. Connect your video card and reconnect your monitor to it.

Boot from CD.
Wait 45 seconds. Type yes <enter>.
Wait 30 seconds. Now type on and verify that the Caps Lock light has turned on and then type off and see that it goes off. You can do this several times if you want.
When finished just eject the CD and Restart/Turn Off the PC.

This will tell us if your PC is starting from the CD. You are going to have to be able to start from a CD to change your boot.ini so that you can start normally.*

*A second option would be to take your HD out and put it in another working PC as a slave drive and change the boot.ini from there.

 

Sach2
No luck on getting the Caps light to go on and off. Just to verify what should be on the disc I am putting into my PC is: boot.catalog and Floppy.ima is that correct? if so that didnt work either. I had to start my comp to put the cd in, and when I did I put the disc in, I then shut it down, restarted it with the disc in, waited 45 seconds to type yes <enter> then typed on, hoping to see that caps light come on with no luck. I tried it a couple more times thinking I might have done it wrong with no luck either. Might have to go the route of taking out the HD. Again, thanks for all of your effort on this.

 

The CD files look to have been burned correctly. Just to be clear <enter> is not typed but denotes hitting the enter key.

Do you have a second PC to attach the HD to? Are you sure you can't just borrow a CRT monitor?

 

I may go buy a CRT just to make things easy. I gave my old one away a few months ago. The people I know all have flat panels. I may have access as well to another PC which may take a few days. I will let you know.

 

I'm just at a loss at what else to try because we can't really tell what screen you are starting with. You are pretty sure that with no CD in the drive that it sounds like the PC is loading Safe Mode? The activity light on the front should be flashing for about a full minute or so. I'm trying to determine that we are not stuck at a screen asking you to set the Time and Date.

Let me know if the activity light flashes for a full minute or so. Thanks.

******
When starting with that Change.iso in you are waiting 45 seconds then yes <hit enter key> then on <hit enter key>? I know you are doing this but am grasping at straws. It worked fine in two PCs so I think it is a matter of it not booting from the CD in your computer.