I have a computer that suffered a video card failure, but now, the computer is stuck in a reboot loop, even while running a different video card and even while running in safe mode! Could a bad video driver really wipe out the whole Windows XP OS? How do you get into safe mode when safe mode isn't working? There is no BSOD that I can see, it just resets when it's about to load Windows. You CAN choose to start in Safe Mode however, it's just that safe mode never loads.
It won't boot into safe mode! It restarts while starting safe mode.
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dannyd
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And you have performed what steps to find out what's wrong ???
Heriberto t.
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did you try the Enable VGA mode ? or like dannyd stated, what have you tried ?
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Press F8 on startup and choose "Disable Automatic Restart". It'll allow you to see a BSOD if there is one. Then you can Google the error message.
paul1149
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Have you tried entering SM by configuring msconfig's Boot tab?
rjg.tech
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Like Bryce said, "disable automatic startup upon system failure" in the advanced start up options (f8).
Then you should be able to see a BSOD that will give you more information.
Then you should be able to see a BSOD that will give you more information.
Xander
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Maybe we could stop taking potshots until the OP does us the courtesy of giving us more information. It's been 3 days and he's given no further information.
16k_zx81
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At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I can't believe this thread has gained the traction that it has.
Okay thank you everyone very much for your suggestions. I have tried most of them. The problem was the video card was truely damaged (it was old and had a hard life of constant 3D gaming for probably 3 years or more). I was getting obvious, visible, screen glitching, even during the POST, before any boot options are available. So I put in a known good PCIe card and booted the computer with that with safe mode enabled so as to remove the offending driver, thinking this was the cause of Windows XP not booting. However, a few seconds after choosing safe mode, even after hitting F8 and telling the computer not to restart on errors, the computer restarted, and looped, whether safe mode was enabled or not. So then I suspected the hard drive was also corrupted. ---related to the video card going bad?--- so I booted from a retail XP disc and went into the Recovery console. From there I did a simple "chkdsk /r", which took forever to complete: many hours. However when it was done, the computer went right into safe mode no problem, I removed that corrupted driver, restarted the computer using the on-board graphics and had Windows up and running.
Now I'm doing some low-level hard drive error checking stuff booting from a CD. I'm concerned that the hard drive is failing.
I'm sorry I'm such a noob but I've never had safe mode just not work. I also feel like a noob because I don't know whether or not it's possible for a simple driver to go bad, and actually destroy data on the hard drive that would cause SAFE MODE not to work. Maybe the two problems are unrelated? Maybe safe mode hasn't been working for a long time on this person's computer.
Xander
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One thing I've learned is that almost anything is possible in this field. It is entirely possible they've had the no-safe-mode problem for ages but had no idea because they never use it. People who never update their systems will have no idea that their updates aren't installing
Oh, and get used to Safe Mode not working. Always assume it won't, and be glad when it does. Murphy's Law dictates that anytime a simple Safe Mode fix will work, then Safe Mode probably won't boot.
Oh, and get used to Safe Mode not working. Always assume it won't, and be glad when it does. Murphy's Law dictates that anytime a simple Safe Mode fix will work, then Safe Mode probably won't boot.
That's a really great piece of information for me to know then, thanks very much. Do you recommend that program called Safe Mode Fixer? (http://www.moonvalleysoft.com/safe-mode-fixer-p-29.html)
My personal safe mode problem was just fixed by a good-old chkdsk /r, but are hard drive mechanical problems/surface error problems the most common cause? I'll bet viruses cause safe mode not to work a lot...
My personal safe mode problem was just fixed by a good-old chkdsk /r, but are hard drive mechanical problems/surface error problems the most common cause? I'll bet viruses cause safe mode not to work a lot...
I'm assuming the linked program just rewrites the boot.ini, doesn't really show much tech behind what it is doing so would not rely on that. Especially since you have got to pay, there are plenty of free diagnosis programs you can use with a bit of know how.
MobileTechie
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I hope you backed up up the data before running chkdsk /r because it's a very easy way to destroy lots of data. If you suspect a corrupt drive then the first thing is to back up the data and the second is to test the disk using offline tools before deciding what repair tool to run, if any.
The fact that chkdsk /r appeared to fix it temporarily might indicate a disk problem. It's not likely to be related to the card but things go wrong at the same time sometimes.
You never described what happened when you followed the advice to disable automatic restart.
You must be new if you've not see a safe mode problem before. They are pretty common. All safe mode does is to disable non-core drivers, services and app startups. If the problem is not related to them, then safe mode will be affected just like normal mode.
The fact that chkdsk /r appeared to fix it temporarily might indicate a disk problem. It's not likely to be related to the card but things go wrong at the same time sometimes.
You never described what happened when you followed the advice to disable automatic restart.
You must be new if you've not see a safe mode problem before. They are pretty common. All safe mode does is to disable non-core drivers, services and app startups. If the problem is not related to them, then safe mode will be affected just like normal mode.
ATTech
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That looks like it was written by somebody taking his first .NET class...
Ah okay I did mention this earlier but when I followed the advice to disable automatic restart, the computer still restarted on it's own! Like it just wasn't listening to me about telling it to not restart.
Also, after running chkdsk /r, I then ran SpinRite, level 4 setting. It chewed away on the disk for another 12 HOURS and said pretty much the same thing that chkdsk said, that "there were surface errors" and that data was recovered and the area repaired. Hmm. Total errors from spinrite it said was 1.5 MB of data on the 250 GB drive.
That's good to know about the dangers of running chkdsk /r, I didn't know I could lose data that way. I have both Ghost and Acronis True Image, and after using both a lot I really like Acronis better. So the correct thing to do is take an image of the drive and work on that? ...Okay so then do you have a link for a thread with the best tools for diagnosing HDD problems from an image? What tools do you personally use for that?
MobileTechie
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No you can't use disk tool on images.
You take the image to secure the data, then you can do what you like to the disk.
Tools people commonly use are on UBCD - e.g. the manufacturers own tools or generic ones like MHDD.
Anyway, if the disk has surface errors you need to replace it and see if that solves the problems.
You take the image to secure the data, then you can do what you like to the disk.
Tools people commonly use are on UBCD - e.g. the manufacturers own tools or generic ones like MHDD.
Anyway, if the disk has surface errors you need to replace it and see if that solves the problems.
Oh okay cool. Yeah I gave the computer back to the guy and told him that his hard drive is showing that it has errors, and that means that it is going to fail at some point, which could be in a few weeks or a few years, it's hard to say. I told him to back up his data and be ready for the day that his hard drive simply isn't going to work at all.
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