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Vista Home Basic fails to boot into Safe Mode
Hello,
I was trying to fix an issue with my computer (Inspiron 1521) with windows Vista Home Basic Sp1 when I noticed that it no longer boots into any time of safe mode as it hangs at the windows logo (sometimes it makes it to the logon screen) but automatically restarts before I can do anything. I have heard of this behavior occurring on XP as well as vista machines and was wondering if there was any ideas? I have run a virus, spyware etc check and everything seems fine which is another reason why I was going to run them in safe mode to make sure. I have tried the startup repair as well as system restore and do not really want to reinstall since regular windows works fine. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank You
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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March 15th, 2009 09:00
In XP it does I just did this yesterday fixing my daughters computer.
Try running the Dell diagnostics. Press the F12 key as soon as you see the Dell splash screen and run the diagnostics.
Normally when the system will not boot into either normal or Safe mode a reinstall is required. On thing to try though is a repair reinstall option first.
TheRealFireblad
4.6K Posts
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March 15th, 2009 09:00
It shouldn't get as far as displaying the Windows logo?
To boot into safe mode, keep pressing F8 as soon as you restart the laptop :emotion-55:
JDog514
6 Posts
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March 15th, 2009 10:00
Thanks but what I meant is it boots into safe mode using F8 showing the loaded drivers and then the windows logo then if it gets that far the login screen but it just reboots at this point. Any ideas? By the way, normal mode works fine. How would I do a repair install in vista? Thank you very much.
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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March 15th, 2009 10:00
click on the hyperlink in my last post
JDog514
6 Posts
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March 15th, 2009 17:00
Thanks. I realize I have done this many times in XP. I am hesitant in Vista because I have Sp1 but my vista DVD from Dell is pre SP1. I would have to uninstall Sp1 before doing a repair install and then reinstall it. My computer also has a recovery partition, maybe that has Sp1 as well? How would I restore using the partition? Also, I am thinking of waiting until Sp2 as many that will fix the problem by changing some of the OS code but that is just an idea. As you can tell, it is not too pressing of an issue seeing how regular windows works. Thank you again.
Davet50
14.4K Posts
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March 15th, 2009 17:00
The recovery partition would be the same as the disk pre SP1. Not sure if SP2 will fix the issue but as long as you don't need to boot into safe mode your ok. I had a simular issue with XP and ended up doing the Factroy Restore to fix it. Then all the updates and programs and fun fun fun...