can not boot to safe mode or normal mode help!!

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by mattinsocal8911, Sep 9, 2006.

  1. mattinsocal8911

    mattinsocal8911 Private E-2

    Hello everyone,
    I was following your advice "on READ AND RUN ME FIRST before asking for support and I got stuck. Well my computer will not go in to normal or safe mode. I had all the programs installed and ready to go. I even followed the instructions to use msconfig and enable safeboot and click ok then restart and then no startup??
    I get the message that "we are sorry for the inconvenience but windows did not start sucessfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this. If your computer stopped responding........choose last known configuration to revert.......that worked." (tried it and did not work)
    I can get in to the windows recovery console but I do not know what to do there.:confused:

    My first computer specs. Compaq Presario S4210NX with an Intel P-4 operating at 2.8GHz.
    512 MB of Pc2700 ram installed (not original stick of 256MB)
    old school IDE hard drive
    onboard video
    PCI sound card from creative
    WinXP Home SP1
    additional information available upon request.
    Thank you in advance.:) PS I am using my gaming computer to write this.
     
  2. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    From the Recovery Console you may be able to do the below.

    Access the C drive bby typing C:\
    Then enter the following commands:
    attrib -r -s -h boot.ini
    edit boot.ini

    Then edit the boot.ini file to remove the /safeboot option. Then save the boot.ini file. Then reboot the PC. If this works then run the below command from a command prompt window to reset the file attributes for boot.ini

    attrib +s +h boot.ini



    Do not use safe mode anymore if you are working on running the READ ME. Just do everything in normal boot mode.

    Note: If you get an error about not "unknown command edit" when trying to use the edit boot.ini command, use c:\windows\system32\edit boot.ini
     
  3. mattinsocal8911

    mattinsocal8911 Private E-2

    Hi Chaslang,
    OK when I get to recovery console I am looking at the question "Which windows installation would you like to log onto?
    1: D:\Min iNT
    2: C:\WINDOWS OK now I choose 2 and enter then I see the
    C:\WINDOWS and prompt then I enter the following
    C:\WINDOWS>attrib -r-s-h boot.ini then hit enter and I
    see the following message "the system cannot find the
    file or directory specified" and if I space the
    -r -s -h out I get the message " the parameter is not valid Try/? for help? " what about the chkdsk /f I am used to using that all the time??
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2006
  4. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You need to be in the root older of drive C not in C:\windows

    Use CD c:\

    That should get you to the root folder. There are spaces between the arguments to the attrib command. Below is the command and I use the word space to show where there are spaces.

    attrib space -rspace -h space -s space boot.ini

    chkdsk will not change an option inside of boot.ini. It is only use to repair disk problems.
     
  5. mattinsocal8911

    mattinsocal8911 Private E-2

    Ok I used the CD c:\ to get to the root folder and found that I can only change one attribute at a time like this
    c:\>attrib -r boot.ini c:\>attrib -h boot.ini c:\>attrib -s boot.ini
    and I get no error messages this way Now I go to the edit boot.ini command and the message is "the command is not recognized type help for a list of commands" the only ones that look promising are fixboot and fixmbr. In DIR there is an "a" in the line with the boot.ini and all other letters are gone, is this good?
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2006
  6. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    As I said in my other message you may need to use: c:\windows\system32\edit boot.ini

    Did you try that?
     
  7. mattinsocal8911

    mattinsocal8911 Private E-2

    Hi continuing from the prompt like this C:\>
    I enter the following(C:\>)c:\windows\system32\edit boot.ini (enter)

    this message is displayed "The commarnd is not recognized. Type help for a list of supported commands."

    Also seeing that the c:\ are already there with the > I try to enter this....
    (C:\>)windows\system32\edit boot.ini (enter) and ....
    I get the message "The command is not recognized. Type help for a list of supported commands" did I do it correct?
     
  8. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Okay this means that edit.com is not available from the Recovery Console.

    I recommend you follow the steps in the below link to first list and then rebuild your boot.ini file. You should also first make a backup copy using the below commands.

    cd c:\
    copy boot.ini boot.ini-save


    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330184
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2006
  9. mattinsocal8911

    mattinsocal8911 Private E-2

    Hey Chaslang , I am providing an update for the benefit of others in this situation.
    1. made a backup copy of the boot.ini and referred to the Microsoft (kb) article # 330184 revision 1.0
    2. entered the recovery console at startup (got to be quick with down arrow and enter) and selected the C:\windows entry then enter(e) then entered the admin password which was blank by default (e)
    3. following the kb article I entered the following; bootcfg /list (e)
    bootcfg /rebuild (e)
    4. add installation to the boot list? y (e)
    5. load identifier=microsoft windows xp home edition (e)
    6. OS load option= /fastdetect (e)
    7. type exit (e) to quit recovery console and restart
    8. select the install you created and windows should start ( mine did and showed the ms configuration utility) I needed to get out of the msconfig so I select the start windows normally option and restart. hope this helps at least someone bye:)
     
  10. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Thanks!

    So is everything OK now! What about malware issues that brought you here in the first place.
     
  11. mattinsocal8911

    mattinsocal8911 Private E-2

    Hi Chaslang, Thank you for all your help man.
    The reason I started the cleaning was I was hit by 180 solutions is the past and it was still listed in the ZoneAlarm allowed/blocked programs list, and my nephew put my computer through a wide range of potentialy dangerous activity, on his last visit.
    I recall going through the removal procedures for the 180 solutions malware, but the machine is running very slow, so just wanted to check it out. All scans run so far have come up clean, except a few rootkit scanners that I have yet to download like F-secure's Blacklight (find.pcworld.com/53736), or Sysinternals rootkitRevealer. Keep in mind this computer does not have the protection of SP2 as well. Yes I know that is my next move to protect the computer.
    I won't get in to what my nephew did on my computer.
    Again, thank you very much. PS this computer only has a cpu fan and no system fan but thats about 10-15 dollar solution right?
     
  12. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You're welcome! Wrong forum to ask this kind of question! Try the Hardware Forum.
     

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