XP home edition safe mode boot only, must restore for normal boot up

[Mel]

On an old desktop running XP home edition, SP3, the machine will
sometimes boot normally, but usually it goes to safe mode and stays
there. The only way I can get it to boot normally is to do a system
restore to a point back a few days.

How do I get it to boot normally?

Thanks for any help.

Mel

 

[JS]

Next time your able to boot normally
check Device Manager.

Also download and install the latest set of
drivers for your motherboard, Video,
Network, Etc. from the PC manufacture's or
the motherboard manufactures web site.

Do not use drivers from the Windows Update site.

 

[Leonard Grey]

Your question doesn't provide any information that points to a cause for
your problem.

Do you see any error messages? Does Event Viewer offer any clues?

 

[Mel]

Next time your able to boot normally
check Device Manager.

Also download and install the latest set of
drivers for your motherboard, Video,
Network, Etc. from the PC manufacture's or
the motherboard manufactures web site.

Do not use drivers from the Windows Update site.

Is there one site I can go to to have the computer scanned to see if
any updated drivers exist?

 

[Mel]

Your question doesn't provide any information that points to a cause for
your problem.

Do you see any error messages? Does Event Viewer offer any clues?

No error messages. How do I use Event Viewer?

 

[Bob Lucas]

You could install and subscribe to Driver Detective at
www.drivershq.com

 

[JS]

I stay away from these sites as not all of
them can be trusted. Maybe someone
can recommend a good site but I always
check the PC vendors or motherboard
site.

I created a folder with the name of the PC
Then subfolders:
Examples:
C:\MyPcMake\Chipset drivers\
C:\MyPcMake\Video drivers\
C:\MyPcMake\Network drivers\
C:\MyPcMake\Documentation\
C:\MyPcMake\Audio chip drivers\
C:\MyPcMake\USB drivers\
C:\MyPcMake\Utilities\

Note: Some of these driver download files are in .ZIP format
and need to be 'Extracted before you can install them.

After I have extracted and installed all the drivers I burn a CD
with all the driver files in case I should need them again.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com

Next time your able to boot normally
check Device Manager.

Also download and install the latest set of
drivers for your motherboard, Video,
Network, Etc. from the PC manufacture's or
the motherboard manufactures web site.

Do not use drivers from the Windows Update site.

Is there one site I can go to to have the computer scanned to see if
any updated drivers exist?

 

[Leonard Grey]

"How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

 

[Bill in Co.]

If you do that System Restore, is ok after that, or does the problem recur?
I can't tell from what you wrote.

 

[Mel]

On Feb 2, 2:46 pm, "Bill in Co." <[email protected]>
wrote:
After a system restore to a few days back, it boots up okay for a few
times, and then without warning (maybe after a few days) it will only
boot up in safe mode. After that happens, the only way I can get it
back to a normal boot is to restore to a time/date of a few days ago.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Next time your able to boot normally
check Device Manager.

Also download and install the latest set of
drivers for your motherboard, Video,
Network, Etc. from the PC manufacture's or
the motherboard manufactures web site.

Do not use drivers from the Windows Update site.

Is there one site I can go to to have the computer scanned to see if
any updated drivers exist?
==============

Not reliably, no. Such sites could not be either current or reliable
without a large amount of constant research and testing, and that is
*expensive*. So, if it were free, it would be worthless or worse.

Just look at Device Manager, but more importantly, note the time, boot into
regular mode, and look at the system logs to see what is failing during the
boot.

HTH
-pk

 

[Bill in Co.]

Well, you could try going back to your oldest restore point.