Re: I need Help. "No Safe Mode" and...? Possibly an opportunity to recover.

From: Chad Harris (ddram32_nospam_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 08/26/04 

Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 14:52:33 -0400

D. Currie--

I think your suggestion about display and the monitor to Debbie is a very
good one well worth considering. The problem is we're not sure what's
happening on that box and we may never know.

You wrote:

"The problem with a cut-and-paste post with the complexity of yours is that
while some of it may be completely on target for a given situation, other
parts won't apply at all, and may confuse the person getting the message or
convince them that you didn't read their message and can't possibly have a
useful answer, thus they'll ignore the good advice given."

That's why no cookie cutter cut and pastes are ever launched from me.

I don't think it's that complex a situation. When you can't boot to
Windows, and you're dealiing with an NTFS File System or a Win-FS file
system in the next Windows OS, you don't have a wide panopoly of options.
There are actually relatively few simple ones. Here though, I agree we just
don't know what the dark screen means. It may well be a monitor problem or
bios triggered problem.

In addition to cutting and pasting, I delete and write the posts and tailor
them to the situation. Mosf of them are on the fly, because I either can't
get to folders with stashed references or it's just faster for me to nail
the article by searching. I tend to want to respond to an "I can't get to
Windows--I'm gonna lose my data and settings help!!!!!--(I may not have
backed up adequately)" type post and I get about 100% feedback on them and
lately that hasn't been the case that they are convinced I didn't read their
message and can't possibly give a useful answer and will ignore. That's not
what the tone of the feedback has been on the "can't boot to Windows."

I figure the reason I learned to write was not to shove cookie cutter "one
size fits all" solutions at people. However, I think everyone who tries to
help on the usenet/groups/forums stashes posts with links they can borrow so
they don't have to go throught the time consuming painstaking search trying
to find the system restore, system file checker, or recovery console link or
KB, when all of us are trying to help with the demands and pressures of
making a living.

Best,

Chad Harris
_________________________________________________

"D.Currie" <dmbcurrie.nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2p6li5Fhk7gaU1@uni-berlin.de...

"Chad Harris" <ddram32_nospam@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:uw1Wsc4iEHA.3896@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> What do you do when *you can't get into Safe Mode John*? Lay it on me.
> Because if that box will turn on, she might be able to change her bios
> order to boot from a CD."Debbie can't even get into Safemode!" *So what
> she can't get into Safe Mode?* The fat lady ain't done sung because of
> that piece of info--or has she for you when that happens?What do you do
> when *you can't get into Safe Mode John*? Lay it on me. Until I know
> "fer sure", I can't assume that the box won't turn on, nor that the advice
> I gave her isn't viable.
>
> People can't get into safe mode but can recover a high percent of the
> time. See:
>
> http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Hthegator&ie=UTF-8&hl=en
>
> I think the point is whether she can boot from the CD or she has a dead
> box--whether there is a software problem that can be repaired or a
> hardware problem where she and her friend will have to summon help. I
> don't know for certain, because I'm not in Debbieland right now. That's
> *why we have these groups John*. Until we know whether she can turn the
> box on and see a firmware or POST screen and enter the bios, then boot
> from the CD--the fact that she sees a blank screen that's blue or dark
> gray or black doesn't rule that out. I've seen plenty of "blank screens"
> where you pushed the button, got into bios setup, changed the boot order,
> and booted from a CD of some type and repaired the OS.
>
> I've been reading posts like hers for years, and much of the time
> restoration was possible via a repair or parallel install and even rarely
> and I mean rarely via Last Known Good, and a sketchy post like that may
> mean a wide gamut of things from hardware failure to the possibility that
> if she hard button starts, she can boot from the CD. I don't know if
> nothing will come up when she tries to manually restart her friend's
> computer or not. I'm not Carnack the Magician, and I can only prompt
> people for more information they should have given me in the first place.
>
>
>
> I see scores of posts on these groups where the version of Office or
> flavor of the OS is needed and never given not to mention other relevant
> pieces of history?
>
> BTW, what does "can't get into Safe Mode" mean to you? I'd be really
> interested. It certainly doesn't mean that she's never going to see
> Windows on that machine does it my man? Take a look at some recent posts
> I've helped with on the XP General group?
>
> Is there a point I'm missing in can't get up to Safe Mode? How about an
> inplace upgrade booting from the CD? We don't really know if her box is a
> door stop at this point or she still has some booting ability, and after
> posting 35 or so exclamation points since 5:34AM Debbie hasn't favored us
> with more helpful information.
>
> The worst that could happen is that she tries every which way to Christmas
> to tap to the bios setup and can't and then gets a "hands on" help. But
> until then, my man, we don't know.
>
> Would you assume everytime a doctor sees an isoelectric EKG on a street or
> in a hospital room or a living room that the person is just dead and
> non-resuscible, or that there might be moves that can get things back to
> normal--or that it might even be fine fib masking as a straight line? If
> a person is lying fairly still does that mean they're dead--leave them
> alone?
>
> I don't know whether that box will turn on and you don't either--and I
> can't press the button for her.
>
> I don't know whether she has an XP CD or her friend does or her friend's
> friend does? I can only work with the hand that's dealt me. If she does
> get some action out of the box, maybe I'll here from her. Some people
> post and then decide to throw the box in their car and take it some where.
> I can only work with what I see.
>
> She and some other people also have a decent blue print for what to try
> when they can't get into Safe Mode, and I have something I can paste to
> help the next person, when in a few hours or days from now someone else
> can't get into safe mode but can boot from the CD.
>
> Best,
>
> Chad Harris

The problem with a cut-and-paste post with the complexity of yours is that
while some of it may be completely on target for a given situation, other
parts won't apply at all, and may confuse the person getting the message or
convince them that you didn't read their message and can't possibly have a
useful answer, thus they'll ignore the good advice given.

In this case, given the lack of clarity in the original question, an attempt
to get back into the bios or to boot from the CD make sense. But the
suggestion to download and run belarc to determine the bios is a bit of a
problem, as the poster isn't getting into Windows to be able to run the
program. Some people will key in on that bit of advice and assume that you
haven't read the question at all and are just posting general repair advice
that's not targeted at the particular problem at hand.

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