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Can Not Access Safe Mode Within XP Pro

Hi Everyone:

I am wanting to help a friend with a minor problem with his XP Pro, namely, being unable to access Safe Mode. In fact, we can not access any menu when pressing F8. Interestingly, the pc boots up fine in Normal Mode, but, not Safe Mode. I figure it would be good to resolve this issue for troubleshooting implications.

Any ideas for correcting this problem will be welcomed and appreciated.

Thank you

George

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sunray_2003

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DeanHarris1

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youre1m

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Cyber-Dude

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ashishdaga

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iwebfree

goto start run and type 'msconfig'

choose 'Diagnostic Startup' click ok and restart in safe mode

if you are able then let me know. Your problem will be due to a driver or program

GMartin

ASKER

Hi

When using Diagnostic Startup and select OK, should I still use F8 to attempt to get into Safe Mode? I am unclear with regards to what Diagnostic Startup does exactly since I have never used this startup option.

George

iwebfree

yes..

tap f8 or however you access safe mode. If you are succesfull let me know

>>> unclear with regards to what Diagnostic Startup does exactly <<< It is like a 'mix-n-match' SafeMode. If you uncheck everything under it, you basiclly have SafeMode. If you uncheck only some of them, you have a type of 'comfirm boot (driver?)' process. This let you figure out what is causing problems.

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iwebfree

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GMartin

ASKER

Hi There:

Thanks for the followups. With regard to the last comment, are 16 bit drivers old DOS drivers? Or, do they tie into the OS of XP in any way?

George

iwebfree

Actually after researching i do not believe Xp loads 16 bit drivers on DS but instead loads a minimal set of drivers to cut down the possibilities.

Are you able to get into safe mode in a DS startup?

GMartin

ASKER

Hi There:

Thanks for the followups. I will be going back over to my friend's house tomorrw. I will pick back up from there.

Thanks again everybody. I will post back in a day or two.

George

GMartin

ASKER

Hi Everyone:

I will post back on this one soon ok. Unexpectedly, I got tied up helping a different friend with a pc problem which has been more involved than I originally anticipated. I would appreciated everyone's indulgence and patience on this post.

Once again, thanks so much for the replies. I will be in touch soon on this post.

George

GMartin

ASKER

Hi Everyone:

I sincerely apologize for the lengthy delay in properly closing this post. But, this situation has been everything but normal. Interesting, the origin of this problem was related to the USB port. In order to get a clearer picture of things, I need to take a moment and explain the logistics of the hardware using the USB ports. My friend has a USB Hub which has a wireless network adapter and printer connected to it. He also has a USB Logitech Mouse which connects directly to the PC USB Port as opposed to the USB Hub. When we totally disconnected the USB Hub and only had the mouse and wireless adapter running to the pc usb ports, it was able to able to go to Safe Mode. Apparently, there is some type of conflict going on between the pc and the USB Hub. But, I will save that for another time as a post because I believe that one will take some time to resolve.

Thanks again everybody for the wonderful help.

George