XP Safe Boot

[deve]

I'm good at Trivial Pursuit, but I suck at computers, so
this may seem like a stupid question.
I upgraded from ME to XP [Home].
All went well. At least until.....
I tried to install drivers for a Brother HL1030 printer.
Couldn't get printer to work, so was following the
troubleshooting guide, and did some thing with a DOS
command that they suggested at some point in the process.
I didn't do it right, because I appear to have messed up
the spooler files in the register.
Have found all the articles on what to do to fix using
Register Edit.
But I have to re-boot in Safe Mode to do it.
And I cannot seem to find the way to do that.
I've followed the instructions in article from the MS
site on Safe Boot for XP, but all I get is a little blue
box asking if I want to re-boot from a floppy or the CD
or the HD. Doesn't say anything about the options they
tell me I should see - such as SAFEBOOT_OPTION=Minimal.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Thanks.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

When you power on the computer, you will see some text displayed by the
computer's BIOS. This will usually be white text on a black background.
Depending on the BIOS you have and whether you have "quick boot" enabled or
not, this may scroll upwards or be replaced by other white text on a black
background.

Eventually, the screen will go black and then (a second or so later) the
Windows XP logo (with the three squares moving from left to right) will
display.

To get into Safe Mode, you need to press F8 during the time that the screen
is black between when the BIOS related text disappears and when the Windows
XP logo displays.

Unfortunately, this is a timing thing - you have to press F8 at the right
time. I suggest pressing and releasing F8 repeatedly just as the white BIOS
related text disappears. You should then get a panel where the Safe Mode
options are displayed.

 

[Wislu Plethora]

-----Original Message-----
When you power on the computer, you will see some text displayed by the
computer's BIOS. This will usually be white text on a black background.
Depending on the BIOS you have and whether you have "quick boot" enabled or
not, this may scroll upwards or be replaced by other white text on a black
background.

Eventually, the screen will go black and then (a second or so later) the
Windows XP logo (with the three squares moving from left to right) will
display.

To get into Safe Mode, you need to press F8 during the time that the screen
is black between when the BIOS related text disappears and when the Windows
XP logo displays.

Unfortunately, this is a timing thing - you have to press F8 at the right
time. I suggest pressing and releasing F8 repeatedly just as the white BIOS
related text disappears. You should then get a panel where the Safe Mode
options are displayed.

It's also perfectly usless to know the wrong answer to the
right question. If you just press and hold the F8 key it
will repeat on its own faster than you can make it repeat
by tapping it.