Cannot boot into safe mode

Question

I have a Dell 3100 about 6 months old - P4 3GHz running XP Professional SP2.   The machine starts up in normal mode no problem but I would like to be able to go to safe mode if needed.   Which I switch on the computer, press F8 and try any of the 3 safe mode options, it starts but after about 15 lines stops as follows   multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)windows\system32\drivers\cleandrv.sys   and does'nt continue.  I have tried researching this problem and another forum mentioned that it would be worth running SFC.  I tried running SFC /SCANNOW and about 3/4 way I receive a message that it is trying to install a file to the DLL cache - please insert your XP CD now.  I researched this problem and followed the instructions as layed out in   http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html   Now these 2 problems may not be related but my suspicions are that they are.   I hope I do not have to do a dell restore or repair XP but if I have to, I will   Hoping there is an easier solution!   Any assistance greatly appreciated...

master99 · Answer

Many thanks, bobh621, for your quick response.

Tried checking the diagnostic box of MSCONFIG as you suggest below and receive the following small popup box title 'System Configuration' containing the following message:

'an access denied error was returned while attempting to change a service. You may need to log on using an administration account to make the specified change'.

When doing this originally, I was using an account with administrator privileges but, just in case, I rebooted and logged on as administrator and received the same message so something else must be up...

Any suggestions?

bobh621 · Answer

Try Start>Run>MSCONFIG and check the Diagnostic Box start up.

master99 · Answer

Many thanks for trying anyway, bobh621, - you have given me some ideas I can try...

bobh621 · Answer

Sorry, no suggestions. Maybe another user can help?

master99 · Answer

I ran into another problem now - I tried setting MSCONFIG diagnostic mode and rebooted - big mistake.  It starts booting and then a blank screen.  As I cannot get into safe mode (my original problem), it looks like I cannot reset MSCONFIG back to normal so I can boot normally.  So now I cannot boot the machine at all!!  I have a BART PE disk so I can boot into this and see the C:\ drive.   Is there anyway I can reset MSCONFIG or I am faced with doing a Dell restore??   Any help here greatly appreciated (again).

Delierious · Answer

may or may not work, but if you can get to the C:\ drive prompt, you could try to get to C:\Windows\system32\winlogon.exe and run it to see if Windows will open up from there.

master99 · Answer

Thank you, Delierious, for coming back to me.   I managed to solve the boot problem by using BART PE to edit boot.ini - when setting MSCONFIG to diagnostic mode, it tags a '/safe mode' string (or something to that effect) onto the end of the normal boot string - by editing this out, I was then able to boot into normal mode - phew!!   Then I read that booting into safe mode can sometimes be slow so I tried again and left it alone - hey presto, after 4-5 minutes, it booted into safe mode - was I delighted to see this!  Not sure why such a delay - must be a driver causing this - will have to investigate sometime.   So now, the only remaining problem is SFC and the DLLCACHE failure...

Delierious · Answer

...which is basically where you came in!

If you are having trouble with dlls, sometimes the fault lies with them not registering Go to Start | Run and type:

regsvr32 path & filename of dll

which you probably knew anyway.

Good luck!

master99 · Answer

The problem is that when SFC fails, it does not tell you the DLL it is having problems with.  Is there a quick way to find out what DLL is the problem?   Thanks again, Delierious, for coming back.

Delierious · Answer

Yes, the unexplained delay in entering Safe Mode is not very user friendly, my old computer used to stop for about 15minutes at Mupsys.sys.

When you say that you implemented the instructions at http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html what did you do? Did you edit the registry? I didn't bother with the registry hack, I just copied the entire XP CD to the hard drive "as is" and manually direct searches there.

And what happens now when SFC asks for a CD? What happens if you put the CD in? If you haven't transferred all the DLLs to C:\i386 it may not find the required file.

I found some information at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/wfp.mspx#top that has some interesting switches for SFC, particularly the /PURGECACHE switch, which would rebuild the DllCache... but if SFC will not run, it's not much use.

Have you got a copy of XP or any other disc with SFC.exe on it?

I'm struggling here, XP and SFC.exe are closely linked and there seems to be no third party alternative.

master99 · Answer

I was'nt expecting such a long delay either entering Safe Mode given that its a relatively new P4 3Ghz machine - but maybe that's the way it is - perhaps a driver problem or whatever - will investigate further...   When I went to http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html. I ensured that the registry pointed to the right places for SFC to run without the need for the XP CD as outlined at that web site.   This PC did'nt come with the XP CD as it has the Dell restore option by pressing cntl-F8 on booting.  However, i386 is present on the C: drive so SFC should be able to find the files as long as the registry is pointing at the right places (as outlined above) which I think it is.  Now I am wondering if the i386 directory I have contains all that would be on that XP installation CD...   Had a look at the website you suggested for SFC - interesting.  My reading of is that if you use the /PURGECACHE switch, it will purge the DLLCACHE and try to rebuild - however, again, this presumes it can get its required files from i386 (which I seem to be having difficulty with) or the XP CD (which I do not have).   Perhaps I'll just get onto to Dell and ask for the installation disks - I'd be much happier if I had them anyway.  It would also allow me to repair XP if I needed to...   The Dell restore option is great if you want to start from scratch again but this is not always desirable.   I see that there is a copy of SFC.exe in i386 - are you thinking that the current version of SFC that I run is perhaps corrupt?   Just as a matter of interest, since running the Dell hardware diagnostics from the resource CD, when I now try running SFC /SCANNOW, it is looking for a lot more files - not just the one it looked for before.  So now it looks as if a number of DLL files have been removed from DLLCACHE - I do not know why?  If SFC told you specifically what files it was looking for, that would be a big help as I could see if they are present in i386 or where ever else - is there a way of identifying the files SFC is looking for?   By the way, I am a relatively new user of XP - I was much more familiar with Windows 98 SE which I had for years - do forgive me if I do not always see the obvious - I'm learning though...   I am struggling here myself as I cannot see why SFC cannot find the files it requires...

Delierious · Answer

SFC does not show which file it wants, because, pre-XP, people would see that e.g. WATGAA.DLL, was required and just go off and find WATGAA.DLL regardless of the version - this caused problems as a computer would end up with several versions of the same dll on it. MSoft decided that this was a bad thing and thus the cryptic message - "Please insert your XP CD Windows needs to copy files".

As far as I am aware, apart from knowing the check-sum of every file and working through, there is no way of knowing which dll is causing a problem, unless it appears in an error message.

As you suggest, getting hold of an XP CD - any XP CD - seems to be the best way forwards and copying the contents of i386 to the C drive.

Good luck

master99 · Answer

Will do - thanks for all your help.

Windows General

Cannot boot into safe mode

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