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I am using Windows 95 and when I start it up, it boots into safe mode
Explanation: When you boot up Windows 95, it starts in safe mode.
Diagnosis: Safe Mode is usually invokes when Windows 95 encounters a problem it
cannot easily resolve when trying to boot up the system normally. There are a wide variety
of different reasons why this may happen. Some of these are hardware-related, some are
related to the operating system installation itself, and others are related to drivers or
other software.
Recommendation: I would strongly recommend checking at Microsoft's web site or using
other software-specific on-line or off-line resources to resolve your problem. However,
you may find the following general advice to be of some assistance:
- Scan the system for viruses. Viruses can
interfere with the Windows 95 boot process and are a common cause of the system booting up
in safe mode.
- If you have recently worked inside the PC or added any new hardware to it, that is
likely the cause of the problem, even if it seems unrelated.
- If you just added any new software to the system, it could be causing the problem. In
particular, any software that includes items that are automatically loaded when Windows
starts should probably be considered suspect.
- If you just installed Windows 95, and you installed it over top of a previous
installation of Windows 3.x, there may be a conflict or problem being caused by settings
inherited from the old installation. I (and most others) recommend only installing Windows
95 clean to a new hard disk or directory.
- Check your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files for extraneous programs or drivers being
loaded. Disable anything being referenced there that you do not absolutely definitely
need.
- Check the file system of the boot drive
for errors. File system errors in the wrong part of the hard disk can cause the system
to boot improperly.
- The Windows 95 registry may be corrupted. Rebooting using the backup copy of the
registry may help (but be careful before mucking around with the registry).
- There could be a bad driver on the system. Try updating or changing to a system-standard
driver and see if this helps.
- Double-check your BIOS settings.
Make sure they are not set too aggressively. Try resetting to default settings after
making a record of the current settings.
- There could be a resource conflict between
two pieces of hardware causing the problem.
- There could be a problem with a particular piece of hardware that is only showing up
within Windows. If you suspect a possible hardware problem, troubleshoot it by looking up
the best description of the problem in the appropriate hardware area.
- The same sorts of problems that can cause general system instability can tend to cause
Windows 95 to boot into safe mode. You may want to check this
section for more ideas, but bear in mind that some of the suggestions listed there may
not apply to this specific situation.
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