Help! Can't boot windows even in safe mode!

Hi everyone

I was following the "How to optimize your notebook" discussion and did the steps they told me... it worked great but I just tried doing Bootvis and it gave me an error
When I rebooted, it first showed the Windows logo, then the screen turned dark
I tried booting in safemode but the screen was still dark and I don't think the system actually booted into windows, since it stalls for a LOOOOONG time while trying to boot into safemode, then gives up, reboots again in normal mode and freezes at the dark screen

Anyone know what to do??
Thanks for your help!

 

OK, I have run into this situation before.

What you want to do is, when you first start booting up, when your manufacturers logo appears, press F8. It will then give you a bunch of choices.

Use the arrow keys and go down to "Last known good configuration" (or something similar I can't recall the exact line).

Press Enter and then go from there.

Let me know if this helps!!!

 

Yeah, I tried that too
It except I guess my computer thinks the last good configuration is the bad one...
Any other ideas?
Thanks for the help tho!

 

well, if that fails, try to boot from the window cd and do a "Repair" and not a full reinstall. That should do it. Otherwise....

BTW, what did you do that caused it to fail?

 

I have Win XP Pro SP2 installed, but I don't have the cd
My reseller installed it for me, but I didn't buy the cd
I have a copy of Win XP Pro SP1
Would that work?
I don't want to do full reinstall
I popped the cd in and tried the repair but I wasn't sure exactly which option to choose
I tried one of the options (forget which one exactly) but it brought me to C:\Windows in DOS prompt

On Bootvis, I went to trace > next boot + driver delays
Rebooted and I was stuck
The rest is history

 

yes, any windows xp disc will work. you just have to boot off of the cd. Then you hit 'R' to get to the repair mode. Here you can try things like fixboot and fixmbr, just be careful.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, Quikster

Any tips on how to use fixboot or fixmbr?
I vaguely know that fixboot creates a new Windows boot sector code on the system partition... but I've never tried it and I'm not sure how to proceed in the safest way possible.

Could you elaborate on what you would do if you were in my shoes?
Thanks so much for your help
I really really don't want to reformat

 

I would try to do a repair like Quikster suggested. It won't erase your hdd so you'll still have your personal files. It will just repair windows and fix any problems that might have occured. I had to do this a couple of weeks ago, and its takes about the same amount of time as a windows installation. If you need instructions here is a website...
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

That gives you directions on how to do a reinstall without going into DOS, so the CD will do all of the work.

SG

 

Haha, I was just reading up on that site too
Thanks SouthernGirl

Hmmm...
This site doesn't really describe anything about fixboot or fixmbr

Should I try fixboot and/or fixmbr or just go ahead with the reinstallation of Windows?

 

i would try the reinstallation of windows first since its not going to reformat your pc. I think that will be your best bet to fixing windows. Just remember to choose repair and not reinstallation or format once you accept the license.

I found another site about fixboot... http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
scroll down and it towards the bottom of the links. I've never really tried fixboot, so I can't help ya on that one

SG

 

I fixed it!
I just reinstalled/repaired windows on top and everything seems to be more or less working again.
Some of the programs are acting funny, so I gotta reinstall one or two programs, but almost everything else seems fine.
Thanks SouthernGirl, Quikster, and ChazMan421 for all your help!

 

don't forget to install your service packs. I didn't know until after i did the reinstall, but it removes the service packs .

 

I slipstreamed SP2 into my Win XP, so everything worked out fine
Thanks for the reminder though, SouthernGirl!