Boots in Safe Mode but not Normal Mode

[TexasDolly]

I recently ran a system restore in the safe mode . It appeared to be restoring
and said it had after it finished. It would not boot up in the normal mode,
however. There is no undo button available in system restore.
Running winxp pro with sp3.
Any help would sure be appreciated.
TD

[Augenj]

Originally Posted by TexasDolly

I recently ran a system restore in the safe mode . It appeared to be restoring
and said it had after it finished. It would not boot up in the normal mode,
however. There is no undo button available in system restore.
Running winxp pro with sp3.
Any help would sure be appreciated.
TD

Do you still have the system CD that came with the computer? If so, you could restore that to get to a normal mode and then restore from your original backup. If you don't have the CD, I'd backup up your data files from safe mode and install Windows 7. Of course you'd have to re-install all of your applications after that and the data files.

[TexasDolly]

Originally Posted by Augenj

Do you still have the system CD that came with the computer? If so, you could restore that to get to a normal mode and then restore from your original backup. If you don't have the CD, I'd backup up your data files from safe mode and install Windows 7. Of course you'd have to re-install all of your applications after that and the data files.

Thanks for the quick reply. I don't have a CD,there is an option to restore the oringinal factory system,however. I am running 4 virtuals and if I can I would really like to save them,plus all the other stuff.
TD

[JustRalph]

Run it again, choose a different date ?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449

Some info,

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...system-restore

I know it won't help this time, but for future reference

[TexasDolly]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

Run it again, choose a different date ?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449

Some info,

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...system-restore

I know it won't help this time, but for future reference

Thanks Ralph,
I tried to use another date but all failed to restore. There was no undo option available for some reason. I had set one on 18th Feb. plus the ones set by the system checks.

TD

[PaceAdvantage]

Would it be something as simple as repairing the MBR? I seem to remember something can happen to that after doing a restore (or maybe it only happens after a full restore from a full backup). In any event, it's a simple fix...but might not be your problem.

[TexasDolly]

Originally Posted by PaceAdvantage

Would it be something as simple as repairing the MBR? I seem to remember something can happen to that after doing a restore (or maybe it only happens after a full restore from a full backup). In any event, it's a simple fix...but might not be your problem.

Thanks PA,
I took a quick look to see how to repair the MBR and it appears you need a CD which I don't have. I'll continue to look for ways to repair it.
TD

[Dave Schwartz]

Best guess is that you have a driver corruption. I had something similar on one of my machines recently with an nVidia upgrade. Rolling back did not work as now there was no driver, which forced the Safe Mode only option.

Make it easy on yourself and take it to someone (like the Geek Squad at Best Buy) and let them charge you like $125 to put things right.


Dave

[TexasDolly]

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

Best guess is that you have a driver corruption. I had something similar on one of my machines recently with an nVidia upgrade. Rolling back did not work as now there was no driver, which forced the Safe Mode only option.

Make it easy on yourself and take it to someone (like the Geek Squad at Best Buy) and let them charge you like $125 to put things right.


Dave

Thanks Dave,
Probably will have to do that at some point . I'll try some more probably,if no reason other than I will learn something for the future.
TD

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by TexasDolly

Thanks Ralph,
I tried to use another date but all failed to restore. There was no undo option available for some reason. I had set one on 18th Feb. plus the ones set by the system checks.

TD

if you run restore from safe mode, you can't undo. it's in one of the docs I linked to.

can you get it to drop to a command prompt?

I am sure it's a driver if it will boot to safe mode.

can you get to the run line? in safe mode?

If so, type "msconfig" and try turning on and off certain drivers or programs and services loading. try top half off first, then bottom half until you narrow it down.

if you can drop it to the command prompt you can try to fix the MBR from there, but you might end up with it being worse off if you have multiple partitions etc........ I would make that a last resort.

"fixmbr" is the command from the command prompt, but I'm doing that off the top of my head.

[TexasDolly]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

if you run restore from safe mode, you can't undo. it's in one of the docs I linked to.

can you get it to drop to a command prompt?

I am sure it's a driver if it will boot to safe mode.

can you get to the run line? in safe mode?

If so, type "msconfig" and try turning on and off certain drivers or programs and services loading. try top half off first, then bottom half until you narrow it down.

if you can drop it to the command prompt you can try to fix the MBR from there, but you might end up with it being worse off if you have multiple partitions etc........ I would make that a last resort.

"fixmbr" is the command from the command prompt, but I'm doing that off the top of my head.

Thanks Ralph,
I will boot it up in the safe mode and follow your suggestions
I am able to access the cmd line and msconfig. I am not clear how I eliminate the drivers . The services I found okay and a driver folder under
system.ini. Do I do something there ?
Thanks again .
TD

[Segwin]

I'm on a tablet which is a pita to try and paste and copy so Google SFC /scannow. It's a built-in system file checker in windows. Should be able to run it in safe mode as well. This may solve it or as part of a process of elimination.

Should you get it to boot normally run scandisk /r at a command prompt to check and repair broken file and bad sectors. Once you enter the command you have to reboot the computer to get it to run scandisk - it will prompt you through.

If you're booting into safe mode with no networking it automatically dumps drivers.

[TexasDolly]

Originally Posted by Segwin

I'm on a tablet which is a pita to try and paste and copy so Google SFC /scannow. It's a built-in system file checker in windows. Should be able to run it in safe mode as well. This may solve it or as part of a process of elimination.

Should you get it to boot normally run scandisk /r at a command prompt to check and repair broken file and bad sectors. Once you enter the command you have to reboot the computer to get it to run scandisk - it will prompt you through.

If you're booting into safe mode with no networking it automatically dumps drivers.

Thanks Terry,
I am currently attempting to run a "clean boot' following Ralph's suggestion.
The article I found suggests eliminating all the things(driver,services etc) you can for starters.
If it doesn't "clean boot" I will try your suggestion.
TD

[TexasDolly]

Terry.
I was unable to get scanow to run in the safe mode,but I did find a way to run chkdsk while booting to the normal mode . Will this do the same thing as your suggestion ?
TD

[Segwin]

Originally Posted by TexasDolly

Terry.
I was unable to get scanow to run in the safe mode,but I did find a way to run chkdsk while booting to the normal mode . Will this do the same thing as your suggestion ?
TD

No, they're two different programs but in your case both should be run. In safe mode:

You need to run it from a command prompt. Once Command Prompt is open, type the following command and then press Enter.

sfc /scannow

If you Google SFC (system file checker) and Scandisk in safe mode XP you will get all the info you need to run them in safe mode.