Cannot start in Safe Mode

[Neale D. Hind]

I've wanted to start my XP Home PC in safe mode to attempt to get rid of
a folder that won't delete in ordinary mode.

But although F8 during start up displays the usual choices selecting any
of the Safe Mode options churns away, briefly displays the Admin / Guest
login screen for Safe Mode and then restarts the computer.

If I select Safe Mode / Command Prompt, then the computer waits for a
while then restarts.

I've performed a Repair Install, but to no avail (and some massively
raised blood pressure [see thread: MSCONFIG - a warning!]).

Any suggestions as to what may be wrong?

 

[DaveD]

I had your Safe Mode problem for several months and was never able to
find why neither by troubleshooting nor by researching on the Web!
I finally cured it with a Repair Install about 10 days ago. I see that
didn't
help you so perhaps you'll have to bite the bullet and do a clean
install
after you back up your data files.
To save yourself a lot of future time and grief, suggest you Slipstream
SP2 with your XP CD first then use the new CD to do your Clean Install.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

I've wanted to start my XP Home PC in safe mode to attempt to get rid
of a folder that won't delete in ordinary mode.

But although F8 during start up displays the usual choices selecting
any of the Safe Mode options churns away, briefly displays the Admin /
Guest login screen for Safe Mode and then restarts the computer.

If I select Safe Mode / Command Prompt, then the computer waits for a
while then restarts.

I've performed a Repair Install, but to no avail (and some massively
raised blood pressure [see thread: MSCONFIG - a warning!]).

Any suggestions as to what may be wrong?

 

[Neale D. Hind]

I've wanted to start my XP Home PC in safe mode to attempt to get rid
of a folder that won't delete in ordinary mode.

But although F8 during start up displays the usual choices selecting
any of the Safe Mode options churns away, briefly displays the Admin /
Guest login screen for Safe Mode and then restarts the computer.

If I select Safe Mode / Command Prompt, then the computer waits for a
while then restarts.

I've performed a Repair Install, but to no avail (and some massively
raised blood pressure [see thread: MSCONFIG - a warning!]).

Any suggestions as to what may be wrong?

I've installed Service Pack 2 today, but I still cannot start in Safe
Mode.

 

[Rock]

I've wanted to start my XP Home PC in safe mode to attempt to get rid
of a folder that won't delete in ordinary mode.

But although F8 during start up displays the usual choices selecting
any of the Safe Mode options churns away, briefly displays the Admin /
Guest login screen for Safe Mode and then restarts the computer.

If I select Safe Mode / Command Prompt, then the computer waits for a
while then restarts.

I've performed a Repair Install, but to no avail (and some massively
raised blood pressure [see thread: MSCONFIG - a warning!]).

Any suggestions as to what may be wrong?

I've installed Service Pack 2 today, but I still cannot start in Safe Mode.

As a general rule updating the OS to fix a problem won't work unless you
know for sure the update is intended to fix that problem. Otherwise it
can create even more problems. You need a stable well running system
for the SP2 upgrade to work properly.

Usually when a system can't boot into safe mode it's because the vga.sys
driver is corrupted. This is the video driver that loads for safe mode.
The normal solution is to extract a fresh copy from the installation CD.