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#1
rreynolds

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OK iv had a long chain of problems with my computer, so it makes sense to start from the beggining. It all started when i caught the psguard virus, i posted on here for help and somebody was very helpfull, however when part of the help required me to go into safe mode, the computer wouldnt let me, whenever i started up it would press F8 and nothing would happen, even tapping it repeatedly didnt work, after leaving it a few minutes it would boot normally, i then decided to research the situation online. i then read that if you go start->run then type "msconfig" then go to the boot.ini tab and then check the "/safeboot" box that this would automatically start safe mode when i booted up my computer, so when i restarted, absoloutley nothing happend, pressing F8 tapping everyother button or leaving leaving it for about an hour- nothing happend what so ever. continuing to find out what was wrong from another computer in my house i continued to post on my original post here and the moderator told me to access the BIOS i found the correct key to press but when i restarted that would not work. Nothing else works, using different monitors, keyboards or mouses dont work so that eliminates those problems with dodgy hardware. I have also tried to boot form my windows XP cd.
Is there anytihng anybody knows what i can do to sort out this problem???
any help would be much appreciated
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#2
gerryf

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I'm a little fuzzy on where you are right now...are you completely unable to boot at all because of the safe mode entry through msconfig?

When you did this, did you check anything else next to safeboot (options are minimal, network, alternate shell, ds repair).

Checking the default simply adds a command line swith to your boot.ini file (usually).

So, boot with your windows disk and use the recovery R option, then at the command prompt, type

type c:\boot.ini

report back the results
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#3
rreynolds

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my computer wont boot up atall, pressing r with the xp cd in wont work either, i am going to take it to a computer repair shop.
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#4
gerryf

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OK...just curious, did you have the atapi cdrom set as your first boot device?
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#5
rreynolds

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atapi? sorry i dont understand
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#6
gerryf

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you said you went into BIOS---did you set the boot order to CD-ROM first (or atapi cd-rom device, or something like it)
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#7
rreynolds

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i couldnt get into BIOS, thats the odd thing, my computer wont let me get into anything- safe mode, BIOS absoloutley nothing thats why i think the only way to fix it is to take it into somewhere. sorry if my original post was confusing
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#8
gerryf

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if your computer is not letting you get into bios (through f1 or f2) or tap the f8 key, odds are you have a multimedia keyboard with a function lock

The default option for such keyboard is off--look fo f-lock.

You need to boot the machine, tap the f-lock key, and then use said keys for accessing whatever feature.

Be careful--if you tap f-lock just as it powers up, your system will actually turn it back off, and you will have to turn it back on...What genius came up with this, I will never know.

I always carry a cheap $4 keyboard around with me to avoid this issue
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#9
rreynolds

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yeh i have a basic keyboard, i will go try this now thought just to be sure, ill report back with results
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#10
rreynolds

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as i suspected, no such luck
it seems likes my computer has died, it jsut starts up and whirs but thats it and i cant access any menu. tommorow i will be ringing dell to see if i casn get any help over the phone if not i think my warranty covers them coming to mine for free and having them sort it out.
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