Safe Mode Access Problem

[barrowhill]

I've been advised that my problem is more likely to be hardware rather than
software relatedand to post a new topic in the Hardware Forum and see if our
hardware guru's can offer any suggestions................

I have an NC6400 laptop that appears tp be working OK. However............it
won't start up in safe mode. Access to Options is via F5 key

Pressing F5 at startup and selecting safe mode option gets me to the
administrator/User accounts welcome screen. At this point, wether I select an
account or leave alone, laptop reboots.

If I run msconfig, select boot.ini tab and check the /SAFEBOOT option, I
end up in a perpetual reboot (this took a bit of time to get out of).

I've done a CD "repair" of XP but still won't start up in safe mode.
Appreciate any help on this issue.

Thanks

 

[barrowhill]

Further information...........

Found article "Situations on which Windows may not start in Safe Mode".
Found issue with mass storage driver. SATA driver missing and BIOS required
setting to enable "SATA Native Mode"

Situation now is.............

1. Safe Mode - still auto reboots at account login
2. Safe Mode with Networking - NOT A PROBLEM - BOOTS OK !?!
3. Safe Mode with Command Prompt - reboots at account login

Hope this information helpful

 

[Andrew E.]

Open BIOS,advanced chipset,enable SATA,close,then set BIOS for boot
priority,set for SATA,save & exit BIOS.As for safe-mode,microsoft has
the OS set to tap the F8 key for safe-mode,once in safe-mode,select specific
mode,then the user account selection.

 

[barrowhill]

Andrew,

Thanks for response.

As per my own add-on to problem, SATA driver installed and BIOS set to
enable "SATA Native Mode"

Situation Still is.............

1. Safe Mode - still auto reboots at account login or within 2-3 sec if no
action taken
2. Safe Mode with Networking - NOT A PROBLEM - BOOTS OK !?!
3. Safe Mode with Command Prompt - As per 1.

I can access boot options via F5 and F8 key. Both tried and situation is as
above.

 

[barrowhill]

As a closure statement the problem is now resolved. I cannot give any
specific reasons why as nothing was specifically done other than running an
adware cleaner (nothing found) and defragging hdd. Once these were done I
could start in all safe mode options. Weird!