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Solved: Cannot Boot into Safe Mode!

107K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  eduardo.sixty 
#1 ·
When I hit the F8 key, my Windows XP Pro OS takes me to the boot menu screen. I click on Safe Mode, and it scrolls with all the script, briefly, and then kicks into regular boot mode! Normally, with Safe Mode, it scrolls with the funny looking script, stays still for a few moments, and then goes into Safe Mode (after a prompt).

What the devil is going on? Is there a fix? A registry fix?

I think a virus may have hobbled my safe mode. I don't know.
 
#3 ·
Since my last post, I have been through the ringer! When I set the boot.ini in msconfig to Safeboot, I got into a deadly loop, it would go to the screen where I would click on safeboot and it would just loop back to the same screen and never boot into safe mode (or any other option for that matter, it always looping back to the menu screen).

I took my PC to a friend, and he said that a rootkit had scrambled the boot sectors, hobbling Windows and making it impossible to boot!

So he reinstalled Windows XP Pro. BUT... the initial problem persists. Now, when I try to hit f8, it goes into Windows and does not give me the option to safeboot! I am, naturally, scared to repeat the process of setting the boot.ini to boot into safe mode for fear of getting into that loop bind!!

So my question comes down to this: is there a registry fix/change that will allow me to get to the screen with f8? Something is amiss, for f8 does not lead to the screen.

In other words, I am still unable to boot successfully into Safe Mode. :mad:
 
#5 ·
Had a similar problem with a clients PC , they said the PC crashed while on the web and when they tried cold booting normally into XP or safe mode, windows would reboot after a few second of loading time

The answer was to run a scandisk type utility to check the hard disk for errors (I used Bart PE bootable CD but anything that supports NTFS or/and FAT32 file system should be OK)

1 error was found with file number 20436 (glad I didn't have to check each file by hand :) )

Rebooted PC and all was back to normal !

PS. Bart PE for those who don't know can be a real life saver...
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

Cheers K@K
 
#7 ·
Hats Off to Devil_Himself, K@K, and Tufenuf,

Thank you so much for all your wonderful tips. The Bootsafe program at AdBlocker went into the command prompt, BUT it hung saying "Please wait..." and nothing happened. I read about the Bart PE bootable CD, which looks great, but requires a bit more of a learning curve that I had the energy for at the time. However, the website http://www.hijackthis-forum.de/showthread.php?p=147697 gave me a link to another place where I got a registry boot repair file. I installed that through importing into my registry, and voila, it boots perfectly into safe mode now!

I have been a user of this site for years and have never been disappointed. You guys and gals are so kind to offer your time, insights, and guidance.

Thank you again!! :)
 
#11 ·
well, i spent almost 20 hours of work trying to fix it, downloaded all the existing:
- antispyware
- antimalware
- antivirues
- antirootkit
- anti haijackings

and softwares like fix-this-registry, improve-your-registry like and so on.
If i knew that paying 7 dollars i could save 20 hours... i would have kissed anybody who was going to suggest it to me.

For me that software worked,
i could reboot in safe mode, finally launch the anti rootkit, remove the rootkit and reinstall the antivrus.

I am going to publish the procedure on my blog as well (won't post the link here).
I think people need to be saved from such a pain.

And by the way, i found the origin, a software downloaded from p2p....
And obviously if could get it for free... but now i am scared of getting stuff for free!
 
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