I can't get out of Safe Mode

Hi,

I have Windows XP Pro X64, SATA.

Since I have a hard time getting into Safe Mode, I went into msconfig and checked the box to start in Safe Mode. I got into Safe Mode and ran a few anti-virus/trojan/worm programs. I was going to go to Run -> cmd -> msconfig and change to normal boot-up again but there isn't a Run box for me to do this. When I tried each setting when I did get into the type of start-up I wanted, none of them would give me a Run box, not even Last known best configuration. I tried with a DOS prompt but the commands wouldn't work. When I tried Safe Mode with Networking, there's no networking. When I tried to Log Off, there were no other user accounts for me to log onto. None of the options to start Windows helped me to get out of Safe Mode.

Does anyone know of a way that I can get into msconfig so that I can start in normal mode again?

Denise

 

I'm no expert, but I used SUPERANTISPYWARE to get into safe mode with networking, but I couldn't get out by clicking "start windows normally"
So I selected safe mode again and then regular startup and it worked
hope this helps :/
Darkpain

 

Hmmmmm ..... I've always been able to get into msconfig in safe mode. You can always run regedit and go to: HKLM>Software>Microsoft>Windows>Current Version>Run and RunOnce and RunOnceEx and delete any subkeys (be sure to save/export before making changes). Also go to HKEYCURRENTUSER and use the same subkeys as shown above and again remove any offending entries AFTER exporting the key for safety..... good luck!

hd2k

 

- boot up in safe mode
- bring up Task manager (Ctrl/alt/del)
- Select file: either use the browse button to get to this path and double click on msconfig.exe or type the entire path in by hand

C:\windows\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\msconfig.exe

This will bring you back to msconfig screen.
- From there you can select the boot.ini tab and unselect the /SAFEBOOT check box.
- Restart your PC and you should be ok

Steve

 

Thanks guys. I got out of Safe Mode. I apprciate your help.

Denise

 

I got out of Safe Mode but Device Manager is empty, most of my programs don't work and I have no internet connection. When I tried to make an internet connection, it didn't work.

I didn't touch any settings when I was in Safe Mode except to get a DOS prompt. I ran some anti-virus programs but they found nothing so nothing was deleted.

Do I have to reinstall Windows?

 

Try the steps below Denise before considering a reinstall. You seem to think that you have some type of malware, which could be the case. If the steps below don't work the Malware section would be my next suggestion.

Steve

 

Prior to receiving your instructions, I wanted to see what was inside my computer. When I rebooted, I received 2 error messages that said the same thing:

When I tried to go into Disk Management, it said:

 

I'm the only user of my pc and I'm the Administrator.

1. Go to Start > Run and enter regedt32
2. Maximize the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" window.
3. Scroll down to "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum"
4. With "Enum" selected click the "Security", "Permissions" menu. <- There was no "Security" option, just "Permissions"
5. Click "Add".
6. Add the group "Everyone" and the user "SYSTEM". <- The groups "Everyone" and "SYSTEM" were already present so I didn't add them
7. Select "Everyone" and check "Read" ONLY!" <-"Everyone" was checked as "Read Only"
8. Select "SYSTEM" and check "Full Control". <- It was checked as Read Only and Full Control so I de-selected "Read Only"
9. Click the "Advanced" button at the bottom of the window.
10. On the Advanced window check "Reset permissions on all child objects..." <- I put a check mark in the box for "Replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects." I did this for both "Everyone" and "SYSTEM"
11. Click "OK" <- did it
12. On the warning window click "Yes" <- did it
13. Close REGEDT32 <- did it

I rebooted. When I right clicked on My Computer and clicked on "Manage", nothing happened.

 

I have never seen that error before........don't know. You may have knocked or pulled something loose, check all the connections.

Don't know if it will help or not, do you have a restore point before all this started?

Steve

 

Just saw your last post.

I don't know, hopefully you will have a restore point. Right now that is all I can think of, maybe one of the other members is familiar with that error.

Have to get off for awhile, maybe you will get some other ideas.....I hope.

Steve

 

I had restore points but they were all deleted when I went into Safe Mode. I tried to use one to get out of Safe Mode but none were available.

I can check all of my connections and I'll let you know if I find anything.

If I find nothing, I'm prepared to do a full reformat. I don't want to repair or just reinstall Windows. It would save time but if I reformat, I'll be starting completely from scratch so that no current problems will be passed on.

If you remember the build of this computer, you'll remember all the unusual problems that I ran into. We dubbed the name of the computer "Damien", lol.

 

Not knowing what the errors mean, I don't know where to go with it. I do remember you having problems with it before but thought you had gotten that all straightened out.

Reformatting would save you alot of time and troubleshooting. But, you could get some other thoughts on it and it might be a fairly easy fix.......it just sounds awfully complicated to me.

Steve

 

What I do is right click on Start, choose properties, Customize, Advanced, and under Start Menu Items uncheck some of the items (Favorites, Help and Support, My Pictures, My Music, etc.) but make sure Run is still checked. At the lower resolution they don't all show, so Run isn't there.
Bug

 

Reformatting would probably be the best thing I could do but I decided to not take such an aggressive step just yet. I just finished repairing Windows. Things seem to be going well. The repair was a little difficult because it kept asking me for files that are on my mobo's disk and I had to lead it to the location of the files. After that happened a couple of times, I woke up and ran the disk, then put the Windows disk back in. Everything went fine after that except that it said that DTC Service could not be installed. I Googled it and it seems to not be an essential service so I'll leave it as it is for now. I could have sworn that I had made a backup of my C drive and placed it on one of my external hard drives but I couldn't find it. I really need to get the Automated System Recovery disks made. If I had them or if I had the backup, I could've shaved a couple of hours off the process.

Right now, I'm having two problems. One of them is that I'm getting notified of updates from Microsoft but each time I click to download and install them, they fail to install. It doesn't give me a reason for it though but they're all X64 updates. The other problem is that it takes about a minute or 2 longer to boot up and things run more sluggishly than they did before.

We had gotten all the strange problems solved (even blew a PSU and my floppy drive when I installed a SATA card), but strange problems keep popping up, like this one. I don't see any reason for what just happened because it was a simple process to go into Safe Mode, run some anti-virus programs and exit Safe Mode with no changes made, yet it did happen.

 

I had deleted all the programs that were recently used and in my Start menu. It's how I found the Command Prompt but Run was just not there. I have my settings on high resolution because I have an LCD monitor and I use small icons.

Is there a way that I can make a shortcut to it on my desktop?

 

One of your error messages mentioned could be an external hard drive. The one that has "One Touch" in the message.

Do you use a Maxtor One Touch?

Steve

 

Geeze, I am really out there this AM, please forgive my ignorance.

 

I have 3 Maxtor One Touch II external hard drives. They work perfectly so I don't know why the error message mentioned One Touch. The drives weren't on when I was in Safe Mode. I never made a backup using One Touch. I always use Microsoft's Backup program (shadow copy).

I decided that I'd try to repair Windows first instead of reformatting but it didn't work, so I reinstalled Windows but that didn't work either. I wound up having to do the reformat. Whatever happened in Safe Mode did serious damage. I ran Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, Avast and Spybot S&D. I was going to go into Safe Mode with Networking so that I could run Panda and Trend Micro, but I never got that far. As I said earlier, none of the programs found anything, not even a cookie (because I used AdAware and Disk Cleanup before I went into Safe Mode).

The reason why I was looking for a virus or something else is because my computer slowed down a lot. After I got back on line, I did a lot of research on the files and folders that I clean. I usually go into Prefetch and delete all the files in there because most of them are from sites that I'll never go to again. It never caused a problem with my old computer, maybe because it wasn't SATA. In my research, I came across an article that said

So I after I reformatted, I checked to see if layout.ini was in the Prefetch folder and it wasn't. I followed the directions and after the third reboot, layout was in the Prefetch folder. He also said that a lot of people disagreed with him about his theory but I won't empty Prefetch again.

Denise

 

P.S. - My computer is still sluggish. I was downloading Microsoft updates when I came to this forum and it took about 45 seconds to open Internet Explorer, click on Favorites, click on the bookmark for this thread and for the thread to open. If I hadn't been downloading the updates, it would have taken only about 10 to 15 seconds. It always slows down when I have 2 things going at the same time, such as opening a CD or DVD and renaming folders/files at the same time.

 

What anti-virus is installed? That might be slowing you down some.

Steve

 

Hi,

Sorry for not replying, but I didn't get an email that said there was a response on this thread.

I use Avast! anti-virus and Windows Firewall. I run Spybot S&D, AdAware and Microsoft Malicious Spyware Removal programs at least once a week. I check out Trend and Panda once a month, just to make sure my pc is ok. They've never found anything more than a cookie.

I have 13 ext hdds and I spent last night and today getting them in order, putting similar files on each drive. The disorder was getting annoying. It took about 12 hours. This brand new, X64 SATA computer is as slow as my 5-yr old computer and worse at times. I can't change the name of a file while I'm transferring a file to another drive, or open My Computer, and other simple procedures. If it does work, it takes about 15-20 seconds with the hour glass spinning. Sometimes the action will receive a "Not Responding" message. Something is definitely wrong with the computer but I have no idea what it could be. I just reformatted it so there shouldn't be any glitches. I ran chkdsk to make sure and received the message that everything was ok. When I'm on the net, I feel like I still have a 56k modem instead of high speed cable. I have 3G of memory, along with a SATA mobo and hard drive, so it should be zipping right along.

Is there a program on the internet that can scan my system and determine what the problem is? I think either my mobo or my hdd was damaged when I connected the SATA card and it blew my PSU and floppy drive. The SATA card doesn't work any longer but I don't know if it's the card or the mobo port that was damaged, or both. Since my floppy drive was damaged, there might even be a chance that my hdd was damaged.

I don't have spare computers or parts sitting around in order to test the parts so I'm hoping there's a legit program that can scan my pc and let me know the problem(s) it found.

 

I have a pc that will only boot to the safe mode startup menus, last know good doesn't work either. Will this process get it to boot normally? Any chance of not being able to boot in safe or normal after doing it?:confused

 

You might have other issues, but you can check. Just make sure that SAFEBOOT is unchecked, then go back to the first screen under General and make sure that Normal Startup is selected.

If this doesn't help, start a new thread of your own in the Software forum. That way we know exactly what your problems are and can go from there.

Steve

 

I don't remember how I resolved the problem because it happened in June and I had so many other problems with my pc since then, but I got out of Safe Mode. I may have formatted my pc again.

All the other problems that I was having were due to the fact that I didn't install the risers under the mobo when I built the pc. I didn't know about them and the mobo was laying flat against the side of the case. Last week, I brought the pc to a comp tech about 2 wks ago and when I explained the build to him, he asked me about the risers, so he took everything apart, installed the risers and put everything back. The next day, I brought my pc home and it works good. In other posts, I wrote about other problems that I was having . . . extremely slow, the psu. a SATA card and a fdd failed, a new fdd sparked and died, etc. All those problems are resolved now.

Thanks for your suggestions
.