[KikkiFails]

I had a bad virus on my computer and I wanted to boot it into safe mode. So I tried and everytime I tried it wouldn't work. I kept getting this message on a blue screen saying my video driver failed to initialize and it shut down automatically but it would boot up normal if I didn't try to go into safe mode.

So I read that you could set your computer to automatically boot into safe mode from msconfig so I went in and set it to boot into safe mode automatically every time I powered up. So I turned off my computer and tried to.

No matter what I do, no matter what option I select the blue screen with the error about my video driver comes up and it shuts down automatically.

What can I do to fix this? Anything? Is there a way to change the way my computer starts back up (to normal becuase the normal startup doesn't work) from before windows loads or away to access a DOS window or something?

I'm using XP home btw

I cannot even boot into the Windows XP CD. I put it in my CD drive and powered on and it didn't work. The F8 menu still comes up and nothing I change still works.

I changed the bios to boot from the CD drive but it still presented me with the same F8 menu which still takes me to the blue screen error about the video driver.

I pressed F2 when it started up and moved the CD drive up to number 1 from the boot setting then I pressed Esc and saved and exited. Then when I restarted nothing had changed

[managed]

Try this download, unzip to a folder and follow the instructions in the Readme.txt file to make the bootable CD, boot with the CD and hopefully you will get into Windows where you can remove the safe mode switch in Msconfig.

http://freepctech.net/files001/xpbootcd.zip

[TheOutcaste]

Welcome to TSG!

Have you tried the Enable VGA Mode option?

If this doesn't work, we need to get it to boot from the CD or we won't be able to do anything.

With the CDROM set as the first boot device, when you boot you should see a prompt that says "Press any key to boot from CD..." This will only appear for 2 to 5 seconds. Are you seeing this and it ignores the keyboard, or are you not seeing this?

Is this a Microsoft CD, or one from the manufacturer of the PC?

Have you tested this CD in another PC to confirm it's bootable?

Do you have more than one CD/DVD drive? If so, the one shown in the boot options may be the other one, so try the disk in the other drive.

Have you gone back into the BIOS and confirmed the CD is still shown as the first boot device? Perhaps the change didn't get saved for some reason.

HTH

Jerry

[KikkiFails]

When I put the XP cd in my DVD drive it gave me the option to boot from the CD so I pressed enter and it loaded and stuff. I'm just not sure what to do from there.

Someone told me I should use the recovery console is this correct?

[TheOutcaste]

Originally Posted by TheOutcaste

Have you tried the Enable VGA Mode option?

If the above works this will be your best option, as that would allow you to remove the graphics driver, then re-install it.

About the only thing I can think to do from the Recovery Console would be to rename the driver files for your video card -- if windows can't find them it might force it to use the Standard VGA driver built into Windows. You would have to know the names of all the driver files though. If you have the exact model of the graphics card someone can probably get the names off of their system, or you could download the driver and get the names from the download.

The last option would be to do a repair install of Windows from the CD. More info at this thread.

HTH

Jerry

[KikkiFails]

I have tried to enable VGA mode but that didn't help.

I also have done a repair install. Once I did that, when I started my computer up again it did not automatically go to the F8 menu like it previously had, it did however try to load on it's own I think, (I don't really know) and I got the blue screen error again.

This is the technical information it shows onthe blue screen


Technical Information:
*** STOP: 0x000000B4 (0x822A6280, 0x821DC000, 0x821DA000, 0x00050000)

I still cannot boot into windows.

[TheOutcaste]

So the repair install removed the forced boot to safe mode, but now you get the Video error on all 3 Safe Mode options, on Enable VGA Mode, and on Start Windows Normally?

If your PC has a parallel port you might try the steps from this KB article:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/240369

You would have to do this in the BIOS, but I wouldn't think this is the issue as the article indicates you would still be able to boot to safe mode.

There's a slight chance that this could be a hardware problem. If you can try a different video card, or boot the system from a Live CD that would rule out a hardware problem.

A live CD would also let you back up your data and run a virus scan. It could be what ever virus you had is still there and is corrupting the video drivers. This could keep a repair install from working, meaning you would have to delete the partition (which will delete all your files) and start from scratch if the virus scan can't find/fix it.

Live CDs
Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
Knoppix
Ubuntu

Hopefully someone else will have some more ideas, cause I'm about out.

Jerry

[KikkiFails]

Ok thanks for your help. I get the blue screen error on every option I chose.

So a live CD will let me back up my files and it can rule out a hardware problem? What does a live CD do?

I'll try that then.

If that doesn't work, would it be best to back up my files and reinstall XP?

I've never done this before so I don't really know.

[KikkiFails]

And is there a Live CD that is different or are they the same? Basically, does it matter which one I try?

[TheOutcaste]

A Live CD loads an operating system (Linux or Windows) from the CD without installing anything onto the hard drive, and has troubleshooting tools included. The Windows version (Ultimate Boot CD for Windows) might be easier if you are not familiar with Linux. The web site has a good FAQ, just follow through the steps to create the CD.

Jerry

[KikkiFails]

Okay. Thanks. I'll go do that right now.

[KikkiFails]

I have downloaded and built the Windows Ultimate Live CD. I put it in my computer and it boots up to it alright. What do I need to do exactly though?

[KikkiFails]

I have run the windows Ultimate Boot CD and transfered some of the files from my computer to my laptop and such. (It saves as a read-only file, is there something I can do about that)

What can I try to do from the Boot CD to fix my computer?

[TheOutcaste]

Sorry for the delay, somehow missed the notice on this thread.

To change the read only attribute of the files you copied, just right click the file, click properties, then un-check the Read Only box. You can do multiple files at once.

You could try a "manual" system restore, but as you had a virus previously, that might restore the registry entries to restart the virus if the files are still on the PC. Let me know if you want to try, I can give you a procedure to follow.

I've been working with another member on a very similar issue, maybe something in that thread might be worth trying: http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt...er-failed.html
At least your system will boot with the UBCD4Win -- theirs won't.

At this point, your best bet if you have all your data backed up might be to start over and do a clean install. If the PC has a Recovery partition or CD, a "restore to Factory Defaults" would be easiest. Otherwise a clean install from the Windows XP CD is in order. You'll have to re-install all your applications as well, so if you have downloaded installers you've saved on the hard drive, back them up as well as your data files.

If you use Outlook or Outlook Express, make sure you have backed up the email database.
How to back up and to restore Outlook Express data
Back up Outlook
Since you can't boot you can't check the file paths, but the defaults are:
C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Local Setings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
You'll also want to make sure you have all the drivers you need for your PC; chipset, network, video, sound, etc. These can be downloaded from the PC manufacturer's website, or you might have gotten a CD with the drivers.

HTH

Jerry

[KikkiFails]

To change the read only attribute of the files you copied, just right click the file, click properties, then un-check the Read Only box. You can do multiple files at once.

Everytime I try that I get an error saying access is denied, but that's okay, it's not really my big problem. And I've found (this might be a really silly way but it works) that if I select the read-only files and do right click>> send to my documents that they aren't read only anymore. Heh.

I've been working with another member on a very similar issue, maybe something in that thread might be worth trying: http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt...er-failed.html
At least your system will boot with the UBCD4Win -- theirs won't.

Wow, their problem is very similar. So because their boot CD works on one of their machines but not the broken one, you think it's probably a hardware problem, but because mine will start on my broken computer it's probably not?

At this point, your best bet if you have all your data backed up might be to start over and do a clean install. If the PC has a Recovery partition or CD, a "restore to Factory Defaults" would be easiest. Otherwise a clean install from the Windows XP CD is in order. You'll have to re-install all your applications as well, so if you have downloaded installers you've saved on the hard drive, back them up as well as your data files.

So, should I do another install from the XP cd or should I wipe the disk clean with something because of the virus?

If you use Outlook or Outlook Express, make sure you have backed up the email database.

If I don't really care if I lose my emails or not does it matter if I don't do that? I do use outlook though.

You'll also want to make sure you have all the drivers you need for your PC; chipset, network, video, sound, etc. These can be downloaded from the PC manufacturer's website, or you might have gotten a CD with the drivers.

I don't know if I have the right CD so I'll describe it. heh. It is kind of blue and purpleish on the top and says "Driver & Utility Ver. 2.0 Multi-language" is that the correct CD?