SafeMode

  • Thread starter Thread starter Graeme
  • Start date Start date
G

Graeme

Hi

My PC (Win98SE) will not enter SafeMode. Windows help says press CTRL or F8
until the menu appears. Well that doesn't work, or I'm pressing it at the
wrong time, or the recent (today) WindowsUpdate I did has stopped it from
working. It used to work, but now it doesn't. Help!
 
Hi

My PC (Win98SE) will not enter SafeMode. Windows help says press CTRL or F8
until the menu appears. Well that doesn't work, or I'm pressing it at the
wrong time, or the recent (today) WindowsUpdate I did has stopped it from
working. It used to work, but now it doesn't. Help!
Click to expand...

So you haven't yet booted in safemode to the desktop yet, because
you've never been able to pull up that menu?

When the PC is done POSTing, you should be pressing the <F8> button
over and over... generally it needs to happen right after the beep,
when the system first starts booting from the hard drive. If your PC
is too fast to hit it at the right time then just keep pressing <F8>
early rather than late.

Are you using a USB keyboard but don't have USB legacy support enabled
in the BIOS?

You might also try booting to a DOS boot disk and at the prompt type:
C:\windows\command\scanreg.exe /restore
(then when prompted to choose a previous registry, choose the one just
prior to the Windowsupdate, would be the same date if system was
booted that day.)


Dave
 
kony said:
So you haven't yet booted in safemode to the desktop yet, because
you've never been able to pull up that menu?
Click to expand...

No it did work, not reliably though. But not since the last windows update.
When the PC is done POSTing, you should be pressing the <F8> button
over and over... generally it needs to happen right after the beep,
when the system first starts booting from the hard drive. If your PC
is too fast to hit it at the right time then just keep pressing <F8>
early rather than late.
Click to expand...

I press F8 repeatedly as soon as it has finished POST.
Are you using a USB keyboard but don't have USB legacy support enabled
in the BIOS?
Click to expand...

Standard PS2 kbd.
You might also try booting to a DOS boot disk and at the prompt type:
C:\windows\command\scanreg.exe /restore
(then when prompted to choose a previous registry, choose the one just
prior to the Windowsupdate, would be the same date if system was
booted that day.)


Dave
Click to expand...


OK I'll try the DOS boot approach.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
kony said:
So you haven't yet booted in safemode to the desktop yet, because
you've never been able to pull up that menu?

When the PC is done POSTing, you should be pressing the <F8> button
over and over... generally it needs to happen right after the beep,
when the system first starts booting from the hard drive. If your PC
is too fast to hit it at the right time then just keep pressing <F8>
early rather than late.

Are you using a USB keyboard but don't have USB legacy support enabled
in the BIOS?

You might also try booting to a DOS boot disk and at the prompt type:
C:\windows\command\scanreg.exe /restore
(then when prompted to choose a previous registry, choose the one just
prior to the Windowsupdate, would be the same date if system was
booted that day.)


Dave
Click to expand...
Actually, before I do a scanreg /restore, is there any way of starting
Windows in safe mode from the DOS command prompt (boot to DOS)?
 
For those that are interested, and can never quite get the timing right when
pressing F8, Microsoft's knowledge base suggests the following to get to
safe mode:
a) Insert non-bootable floppy. When 'non system disc' message is displayed,
press F8, F8. This will also work with a bootable disk, and when you hear
the floppy booting, then press F8.
b) From DOS, type win /d:m
 
For those that are interested, and can never quite get the timing right when
pressing F8, Microsoft's knowledge base suggests the following to get to
safe mode:
a) Insert non-bootable floppy. When 'non system disc' message is displayed,
press F8, F8. This will also work with a bootable disk, and when you hear
the floppy booting, then press F8.
b) From DOS, type win /d:m
Click to expand...

That is good to know.

Did you get the system back to normal again, or isolate the
WIndowsupdate update that caused the problem?

One I've seen do that is the "1394 Storage Supplement", 242975US8.exe,
which then needs the original "systray.exe" file from windows cd
extracted to replace the new version of the file, or it's INF file
"242975UN.INF" can be right-clicked -> Install, will remove it.
A similar method could be used for other problem updates.


Dave
 
If you boot to a DOS prompt with a floppy you can edit Msdos.sys in your hard drive root directory. Add these lines to bring up the boot menu. This will eliminate the need to use F8.

[Options]
BootMenu=1
BootMenuDelay=10
 
Thanks. That's the best method so far.

Mike Walsh said:
If you boot to a DOS prompt with a floppy you can edit Msdos.sys in your
Click to expand...
hard drive root directory. Add these lines to bring up the boot menu. This
will eliminate the need to use F8.
[Options]
BootMenu=1
BootMenuDelay=10
or
F8
Actually, before I do a scanreg /restore, is there any way of starting
Windows in safe mode from the DOS command prompt (boot to DOS)?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
kony said:
That is good to know.

Did you get the system back to normal again, or isolate the
WIndowsupdate update that caused the problem?

One I've seen do that is the "1394 Storage Supplement", 242975US8.exe,
which then needs the original "systray.exe" file from windows cd
extracted to replace the new version of the file, or it's INF file
"242975UN.INF" can be right-clicked -> Install, will remove it.
A similar method could be used for other problem updates.


Dave
Click to expand...

It all seems fine now, thanks.
It wasn't that the PC didn't work normally, it did. But I just wanted to go
into SafeMode for another reason, and it just wouldn't.
 
Or did I speak too soon.
I already have 'BootMenu=1' in my msdos.sys, so I just added
'BootMenuDelay=10'. On reboot, it just started up Windows as per normal
without asking if I wanted safe mode etc. Is there a specific order in which
to place these options in the ,sdos.sys file? What would 'Bootkeys=0' do?
Where do you find all this info?

Mike Walsh said:
If you boot to a DOS prompt with a floppy you can edit Msdos.sys in your
Click to expand...
hard drive root directory. Add these lines to bring up the boot menu. This
will eliminate the need to use F8.
[Options]
BootMenu=1
BootMenuDelay=10
or
F8
Actually, before I do a scanreg /restore, is there any way of starting
Windows in safe mode from the DOS command prompt (boot to DOS)?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
If you can still get into Windows. Run....type msconfig.... Advance
.......tick enable startup menu. Reboot. As someone has already
mentioned you can edit MSDOS.sys. You can add the BootmenuDelay if
the 30 second default is too long, I usually put 5 seconds in. Long
enough to appear but not long enough to slow the boot time. Remember
though before you edit MSDOS.sys to go into properties (right mouse
click after selecting it) and untick the read only box otherwise when
you go to save the changes it won't let you.

regards
Graham
 
I must appologise for my rapid postings, it must appear that I am very
impatient (which is true ;-).
I found a very interesting article (sorry for the long url, but I really
don't like using tinyurl as you don't know where it is pointing):
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:
80/support/kb/articles/Q118/5/79.asp&NoWebContent=1
Also in my msdos.sys is the line bootkeys=0. This is the cause of all my
problems. I wonder where that came from.
 
Here is what I have in my Msdos.sys

[Options]
; Must have BootKeys=1 to BootMulti
AutoScan=1
BootDelay=2
BootGUI=1
BootKeys=1
BootMenu=1
BootMenuDefault=7
BootMenuDelay=6
BootMulti=1
BootWarn=1
Dblspace=0
DoubleBuffer=0
Logo=0
Network=0
WinVer=4.10.2222

You won't need some of these items. BootMulti is for booting an older version of DOS (e.g. DOS 6.x), which is item 7 in the menu. I don't remember what some of the items, such as BootWarn and BootKeys, are for. I used to have a list of all these things but I can't find it now. It doesn't make any difference what order they are in.
 
Thanks Mike. It was the bootkey item which was set to 0 that was causing all
of my problems. I posted a Microsoft link in another reply which seems to
describe what these values mean.
What I still don't know is how bootkeys got set to 0.
Oh well. All's well that ends well.

Mike Walsh said:
Here is what I have in my Msdos.sys

[Options]
; Must have BootKeys=1 to BootMulti
AutoScan=1
BootDelay=2
BootGUI=1
BootKeys=1
BootMenu=1
BootMenuDefault=7
BootMenuDelay=6
BootMulti=1
BootWarn=1
Dblspace=0
DoubleBuffer=0
Logo=0
Network=0
WinVer=4.10.2222

You won't need some of these items. BootMulti is for booting an older
Click to expand...
version of DOS (e.g. DOS 6.x), which is item 7 in the menu. I don't remember
what some of the items, such as BootWarn and BootKeys, are for. I used to
have a list of all these things but I can't find it now. It doesn't make any
difference what order they are in.
 
Back
Top