Safe mode - not an option

isofa

mymatebob wrote: »

I was hitting F8 continually - like a thing possessed!
I'll try turning off the fast boot.
I did hear the CD spinning but I think that was it just looking (as it were) and not running anything.

You could switch on safe mode by running msconfig (from a run/cmd box) when XP is running - then you wouldn't have to worry about the F8 / keyboard issue at all.

From the Boot.ini tab in msconfig tick the /safeboot option and then Restart.

mymatebob

isofa wrote: »

You could switch on safe mode by running msconfig (from a run/cmd box) when XP is running - then you wouldn't have to worry about the F8 / keyboard issue at all.

From the Boot.ini tab in msconfig tick the /safeboot option and then Restart.

If XP would boot up properly I would indeed do that.

Get stuck when I click on any of the accounts - egg timer of infinity

isofa

You could spend days faffing around with it, setup a boot disc or floppy if it has one and run a full chkdsk on the HD.

If it's failing - get rid of the disk - if not it's just a issue with Windows.

So providing your friend has a full backup, format and reinstall, it'll be much better in the long run.

mymatebob

isofa wrote: »

You could spend days faffing around with it, setup a boot disc or floppy if it has one and run a full chkdsk on the HD.

If it's failing - get rid of the disk - if not it's just a issue with Windows.

So providing your friend has a full backup, format and reinstall, it'll be much better in the long run.

The look on her face when I mentioned back up means that there may be a few days faffing about

mymatebob

All sorted now - thanks

Got in eventually and removed a couple of nasties so alls well.

TimothyEBaldwin

mymatebob wrote: »

Not sure if it has a ps2 connection.
Think I chucked my old one a few months ago - typical

The keyboard works as I can navigate round the BIOS screen, do you think this would still make a difference?

The BIOS may have an option to disable/enable USB keyboard support, if it is disabled the keyboard can still be used in BIOS menus, but not in other programs which use the BIOS keyboard support, such as the Windows boot menu.

In a typical Phoenix BIOS this option is called "USB Legacy Support".

If you have a PS/2 keyboard ensure it is pluged into keyboard socket. Some PS/2 keyboard drivers don't work if it is plugged into the mouse socket.