Hi, Sonnic.
It's EASY to misread those instructions. :>(
choose to "Restart in Safe Mode" from the drop-down menu on the "Start"
menu.
This is not referring to the Start button that appears on your Desktop after
WinXP is booted. It means the operating system menu that appears BEFORE
WinXP even starts to load. When you first turn on the computer's power
switch (or Restart the computer), it "counts the RAM"; detects the hard
drives, CPU and other installed hardware; and gets ready to load Windows or
another operating system. On many computers, all this may be hidden from
the user, but it goes on in the background.
When all of that has been completed, the computer may present you with a
Menu of operating systems, including WinXP and any others that you may have
installed. If you have only one (just WinXP, for instance), this menu will
be skipped and the computer will simply load the only choice and start it.
That probably is your situation, so you never see that menu.
If you press the F8 key while that Menu of operating systems is displayed,
you will see a second menu that offers choices such as Normal, Safe Mode,
Last Known Good Configuration, etc. THAT's what the Help file instructions
mean. Even if the first menu is not displayed, pressing F8 at this point
will still produce that same second menu. But your timing has to be just
right - or persistent. As Will said, press F8 repeatedly during the boot
process to be sure that the computer recognizes it at the right moment and
presents that second Menu, from which you can choose Safe Mode.
RC