Can't boot, can't go into safe mode

likearock · Sep 30, 2008

I have a friends computer (Dell 8110 Win XP) that has virus' on it. I did not get a chance to see what the problem was, all I saw was a lot of pop ups and av 2008 asking to allow or deny. There were so many that I decided to boot into safe mode and run some scans. When I turned the computer off/of I got the Blue Screen of Death with
"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your system. IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL."

I tried to reboot and hit f8, it gave me the option of Safe Mode, etc. but after choosing an option (any of them) I get the same error but with 'the video driver failed to initialize' instead of the IRQ error.

I tried repairing windows with the XP SP2 disk and when it restarted I got the same blue screen.

Is there a way to enter safe mode from DOS?
Is there any way to fix this without wiping the HD?

chaslang · Oct 2, 2008

If you cannot boot this PC in either Safe Boot mode or in Normal Boot mode, you would be better off working in the Software Forum until you can get the PC to be bootable. As such, I will be moving this thread to the Software Forum. You may want to look at the below as a potential option to get back to an old restore point.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307545&sd=tech

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Can't boot, can't go into safe mode

likearock Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member