How to Skip Auto-App Startup

Hi,

I have a Windows XP PC that is a 16 camera DVR (digital video recorder). The the DVR software is set to start and run at startup.

Problem: The 230GB partition that holds the video recording (about three and a half months worth right now) is full. So the DVR software tells the system to shut down....then the system restarts...loads the DVR software.....shuts down again...an endless loop. I had to just turn off the power switch.

How do I startup XP but keep the DVR software from loading at startup? So I can delete some of the records on the 230GB partition....

Thanks!
Jeff

 

Jeff,

See if you can get XP to load in 'Safe Mode' by tapping the F8 key repeatedly (before Windows loads). Once you get into safe mode you should be able to delete some of the data from your video partition. If this doesn't do it post back and we'll figure something else out.

B

 

Mr. B,

Thanks, I get a couple different screens and options to pick but it still ends up with Windows loading then immediatly loading the DVR software....then that tells Windows to shut down....then the system and DVR software load again....endless loop again.

One time I got a Windows Safe Mode screen but the keyboard and mouse (both the regular and USB) don't work.

I was able to get another app open hoping that'd stop the shut down...but nope.

I just need to keep that DVR software from loading...hummm?

Jeff

 

Jeff, go back and do the F8 boot again until you get the option screen. Then select "Disable Automatic Restart on System Fault." Perhaps that will allow you to get into Windows and do some housecleaning.

 

Surfer,

I can't get to a screen with the "Disable Automatic Restart on System Fault." option.

I get the "Windows Advanced Options Menu" with
Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Enable Boot Logging
Enable VGA Mode
Last Known Good Configuration (....)
Directory Services Restore Mode (....)
Start Windows Normally
Reboot

...those are my options. And if I try Safe Mode all I get is a bunch of text on the screen.

There is no key I can hold down to just boot a minimal system (...like in Mac OS 9 holding the shift key disables extensions at boot)?

Can I boot from my Windows XP installer disk, delete some video on the 230GB partition then restart from the HD?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

Jeff, I'm not sure about booting from an XP install CD but, if you have or can obtain a startup disk, you may be able to get to a DOS prompt which will allow you to go through and delete a couple files.

I'm afraid I don't recall if there is a specific file which you can modify with the EDIT command to allow you to change your Startup options. Someone else might remember this??

 

...I had a DR Caldera boot floppy, just tried it. When I look at the diectory on the E: partition I get some odd characters on the left and then some sizes, dates and times. Does DR DOS (if thats what I'm running) support drives as big as 250GB?

Not sure I should mess with that partition with DR DOS.

Man, I really gotta get this working. Now my cordless Symbol bar code scanner is not working right and in order to try and fix it I need to run software that's on this PC!

Thanks for the suggestion...
Jeff

 

Is there a way (keyboard command) that would let me force quit the DVR software (before it tells XP to shut down)?

For example, on the Mac Command-Option-Esc will force quit an app (sorry for the Mac references...).

Jeff

 

ahhhh.....Control-Alt-Delete?? I'll try it....

 

If the partition uses the NTFS file system you won't be able to use a DOS boot disk. Dos doens't support NTFS so.... A couple things you can try.

First, boot from your XP cd to the recovery console and see if you can delete them from there. The only problem is, I dont' know for sure whether the delete command is available in the recovery console or not. I've never had to try it. It is available using a command prompt from within XP. Use del or delete. Both are valid from within windows. The syntax is pretty much the same as DOS.

If that doesn't do it, you could put the drive in another computer and delete the files from there. This would also give you a chance to copy those you delete if you wanted.

The only other thing I can think of would be to install another copy of XP on the computer. You'd end up with a dual boot scenario where you could boot to the new OS and delete the files from there. Probably not the best solution but it would get the job done. When you're done you could edit the new OS out of the boot.ini and then delete the new windows folder. I'd check back here though before you do this. I'm not really sure if that's all it would take to get rid of it or not but I'm guessing so.

 

Nope. Control-Alt-Del won't force quit the DVR software.

 

With windows 98 you used to be able to keep apps from loading at startup by either holding down the shift or ctrl key when the desktop first appeared. It's been a while so I'm not sure which one it was but it seems to me it was the shift key. I don't know if XP does the same thing or not but you could give it a try. You've got nothing to lose by trying it.

 

One more thought. If you know the name of the file that's loading and giving you the problem you could try renaming it from the recovery console. If you don't know the name file but you know the folder it's in you could rename the folder assuming it's not in your windows folder.

 

Jeff,

This may work or it may not... NTFS reader for DOS is a program you can use to boot with a floppy and copy files off a hard drive. I'm not sure if you can delete the files, but ideally you would like to copy the files. It's worth a shot, it's *free*. I found a couple of other similar programs, but they were only 'read-only' unless they were purchased and they weren't cheap. HTH

B

 

I'm now looking at the D: drive with the XP Recovery consol. Here is a screen shot (sorry it's not better!)

http://home.earthlink.net/~jeffny61/fixdvr/IMG_4084se.JPG

....I'm hesitating here because I'm really not that familiar XP. And right now I don't even know what I'm looking at...

Thanks for the help,
Jeff

 

>>With windows 98 you used to be able to keep apps from loading at startup by either holding down the shift or ctrl key when the desktop first appeared. It's been a while so I'm not sure which one it was but it seems to me it was the shift key. <<

You're right!!! It was the shift key!!!! And it appears to work in XP too. Thanks Zander, and the name change was a good suggestion too!

Mr. B. thanks for the info on "NTFS reader for DOS ". I will make note of that!

Thank you all for the help and other suggestions!

Think on my way now, and luckly my Symbol P370 cordless scanner seems Ok now, looked like that was a battery charging problem (I'll order a spare).

Thanks again you guys,
Jeff

 

Glad to hear you got it. I was beginning to wonder what was going to happen here. It would have been impossible for me or anybody else to say what to rename or delete without knowing a whole bunch more. Thanks for posting back. It's good to know the old shift key trick still works.