Only starts in Safe Mode

My home computer will only start in safe mode, where it cannot do most things and the icons are huge. If I restart it it gives me the option normal start DOS promt or safe mode but regardless of whet I choose it opens in safe mode. My virus program (AVG) works in safe mode but it hasn't detected anything. I tried to start "Dr. Watson" but it won't start.

 

Hi Tom,

While there are lots of references to safemode only bootups in the Archived Posts, here's a couple I dragged out for you. Please pay particular attention to my threads and sublinks in these:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27709&highlight=only+safemode

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9990&highlight=only+safemode

It may help to know what you did just before finding yourself in safemode. Installs, uninstalls, updated, improper shutdown etc etc.... Knowing what you did will help to figure out what your best options are for the repair.

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Any problems or questions just append to your current post. I or another would be happy to explain further.

Please remember to end this post with any update, good or bad, on how your doing with this particular problem. Sharing your fix may save another.

 

Thanks Ann. I'll read the links you posted. I think my 6-year old was playing games on www.nickelodeon.com before the problems occured.

Tom

 

Well I can get it to start in regular mode now, although it has altered my display settings and won't allow me to make them bigger in control panel. I used to have it at something like 768x1000, can't remember the exact setting. now the highest it will go is 720x576. I did the scanreg method and I think that fixed it, although it still boots to the screen where you have to choose between safe mode, regular login and the dos command prompt. It also wiped out my AVG which I had to download again from the web.

Before these probs it would just boot up and go to the windows desktop and the icons were the correct size. Now everything is so huge i have to scroll to see stuff.

One more thing, while I was still trouble shooting, I did the step by step command prompt thing, and it hung up on two files it was looking for, symevnt.386 and navap.vxd which appeared to be files from an older installation of Norton Anti-Virus which had been deleted. I found that original CD and reinstalled it, now those files don't hang up anymore.


Tom

 

One more thing I forgot.

Now every time I restart the computer it finds a "Wave device for Voice Modem" It looks for the driver but can't find it, and asks for a disk I don't have, so it ends up with the yellow exclamation point in the device manager.

Computer works okay oherwise, It can get on net, etc.

 

Uninstall Norton. Having AVG and Norton installed at the same time will cause conflicts. Even if you do not have Norton starting up, remember those files missing? They are loading up, and will create conflicts.
Uninstalling Norton completely

You need to install your video drivers, and and reinstall the modem drivers (the wave device for voice modem). You may just need the Serwave.Vxd replaced from the windows CD. System File Checker can extract it for you. It goes into the C:\Windows\System folder.

Start\Run, type in Msconfig and press Enter. Click on the Advanced button, uncheck Enable Startup Menu.

 

Joy!

Reloaded Nvidia drivers and have reset my icons to 1024x768.

Deleted Norton and the AVG works fine, no probs. No conflicts.

Changes in Msconfig worked as well. Boots quickly.

One new small glitch, but no big deal. When loading the desktop a message box pops up:

"Telephony Client Set Up Help

Usage is:

client set up

TCMSETUP (/Q) /C remoteservername

Client Disable
TCMsetup (/Q) /C/C "


I can click the boxes off and it goes away so it's no big deal. Not sure what this one is though.

Thanks so much for getting me back to normal.

Tom