[drclaws]

Hello, last night on my PC running XP I was running defrag when the power went out in my house. When I turned my computer back on it got stuck in the blue screen that says windows is starting up. I tried pressing f8 during reboot to get into safemode but I guess i'm not pressing it at the right time? Any help would be appreciated thanks.

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You keep tapping as soon as you press the power button until it shows the options

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Start the System Restore Utility at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a Command Prompt then press enter.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click 315222 to see a description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

[Retired Tech]

You keep tapping as soon as you press the power button until it shows the options

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Start the System Restore Utility at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a Command Prompt then press enter.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click 315222 to see a description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

[drclaws]

I pressed F8 continuously as soon as I hit the power button but it still just started up normally.

[Retired Tech]

If you tap delete or F2 does it go to BIOS set up

[drclaws]

yeah i can get to bios set-up

[Retired Tech]

Look for BIOS defaults / fail safe defaults and load those, press F10 to save, press enter, type Y to reboot

Do you have the XP CD

[drclaws]

I don't have an xp cd

The only thing I found was Load Setup Defaults, is that it?

[Retired Tech]

Yes

Can you borrow a same version as was originally installed CD

[drclaws]

maybe but probably not

[Retired Tech]

See if loading the defaults helps

[drclaws]

by version do you mean like home or pro?

[drclaws]

ok i did the load defaults but it still gets stuck at the windows is starting up blue screen

[Retired Tech]

Tapping F8 still goes nowhere?

[drclaws]

still isn't working

[Retired Tech]

Press and hold the power button to switch it off

If the tower has an off switch at the back, turn it off, then unplug from the mains for a minute, if no switch, just unplug it from the mains for a minute, then plug it back in and try to load it