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Troubleshooting a Windows problem is a bit difficult when the
system freezes up or the display becomes unintelligible. You
need a way to get Windows to bypass some of its complexity and
bloat so the system can start, allowing you to perform
troubleshooting. Windows provides several alternate startup
modes just for that purpose.
To access these alternate startup modes, start your computer and
immediately after the startup beep, press the [F8] key. The
startup menu will display as shown below.
1. Normal 2. Logged (BOOTLOG.TXT) 3. Safe mode 4. Step-by-step
confirmation Enter a choice: 1
Press the number key for your choice and then press the [Enter]
key.
1. Normal allows you to get out of the startup menu and resume
starting Windows normally if you pressed the [F8] key
accidentally.
2. Logged causes Windows to log its startup activity in a file
named bootlog.txt in the drives root directory. Bootlog.txt will
be a very long file. Open bootlog.txt with Windows Notepad or
DOS Edit and search for a line that contains the word "failure".
If Windows freezes before completing startup, the last line in
bootlog.txt might give you a clue to the cause of the problem.
You may find that one or more steps fail during the startup
process. Don't assume those are the cause of your current
problem. Those steps may have been failing all along and you
didn't know it.
3. Safe mode. This mode bypasses most startup configuration
files, including most of the registry. It starts windows without
most of the drivers. It loads only generic mouse and keyboard
drivers and a standard VGA video driver.
Safe mode lets you work with "bare bones" Windows. You have
access to your drives, so you can copy or delete files. You can
use the Registry Editor to inspect or edit the Registry. But
Control Panel | System | Device Manager will return the message
"Status is not available when Windows is running in Safe Mode"
for the properties of every device, so you can't troubleshoot
the area that causes the majority of Windows problems.
4. Step-by-step confirmation performs the startup process one
step at a time. Before each step a message is displayed on the
screen letting you select to run or bypass the step. This lets
you bypass the steps that returned "failure" in the bootlog.
Windows 95 and 98 may provide you with several additional
startup options, for example "Command prompt only", "Previous
version of MS-DOS", or "Safe Mode with Network Support". Windows
Me does not contain an independent DOS command processor so
these modes are not available.
Windows 2000 and XP also provide you with several additional
startup options, for example "Enable VGA mode", "Last Known Good
Configuration", and "Debugging mode",which can be used for
specific troubleshooting purposes.
If Windows freezes up or the display becomes unintelligible, you
can bypass some of Windows complexity and bloat by choosing an
alternate startup mode. One of these alternate startup modes may
provide you some clues as to the source of the problem, or
permit you to troubleshoot.
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