How to Boot the Computer in Safe Mode

Safe Mode is a computer start mode that only loads the bare minimum of drivers and startup programs. The purpose of Safe Mode is to help you diagnose startup problems in Windows.

So if your computer is having boot or startup problems, the first thing you'll usually want to do is boot to Safe Mode. If you can get to Safe Mode, then often times you can use System Restore to go back to an earlier time when the computer was working fine.

So how do you get the computer in Safe Mode? First, turn the computer off (use the power button the tower if you have to). When you turn the computer back on, you'll want to keep hitting the F8 key on the keyboard until a menu comes up. In the list of options, you'll see Safe Mode. Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to select it and then hit the key on the keyboard.

Booting to Safe Mode takes a few minutes and you may see a black screen with a lot of text on it for a couple of minutes. Just be patient and wait. After a couple of minutes you should see your computer desktop again (only it will look huge and colors will be off - that's normal).

If the computer never progresses past the black screen with writing (be sure to give it a good 15 minutes) - then you've got bigger problems to worry about. You could try repeating the process to boot to Safe Mode and see if it works next time or you could try "last known good configuration" in the startup menu of options when you press F8.

If neither of those work, then chances are you'll have to reload your computer from scratch again (but make sure your data is backed up first).

Knowing how to boot to Safe Mode can help you solve some computer problems so it's good to know how to this.

Computer Won't Boot After Windows Update

If you won an AMD-based computer running WinXP, you may have a problem installing Service Pack 3 (SP3) on it. I've run into this problem a couple of times now (mostly on HP computers). Most people experience the problem (i.e., the computer won't boot) after doing a Windows Update.

Here's the problem. SP3 tries to load an Intel driver on your computer during startup following the installation of SP3. The problem is that this driver is not compatible with AMD computers. To fix the problem, you have to disable this driver (which is very easy).

Here's how to fix the problem:

1. First make sure your computer is an AMD-based PC (not Intel). This is VERY IMPORTANT. In most cases, you can look at the front of the tower and there will be a sticker telling you if it's AMD or Intel based (this is assuming you've never replaced the motherboard).
2. If the computer is AMD based, start the computer to SAFE MODE (when you push the button to start the computer, you should see the SAFE MODE option; if you don't start the computer again and keep hitting the F8 key on the keyboard til you see a menu offering you the choice to boot in Safe Mode.
3. Once you're in Safe Mode follow the steps below:
   

• Click the START button and then RUN
  
• In the window type: sc config intelppm start= disabled
  (note there is a space between each word and before the word, "disabled")
  
• Hit "enter" on the keyboard
  
• Reboot the computer normally (it should work)
  

Hopefully this solved your booting problems. If not, then you may have something else wrong with the computer which requires professional technical support. If the steps above did fix your problem, I'd suggest creating a new "restore point"

Running Windows Update and installing SP3 is a good thing. This is just one of those rare flukes that caused a problem. So please don't let this little problem keep you from updating Windows.