CompTIA A_ Certification All-In-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition - Michael Meyers [296]
The second indication of a device problem that shows up during the GUI part of startup is a freeze-up: The Windows startup screen just stays there and you never get a chance to log on. If this happens, try one of the Advanced Startup Options, covered below.
Registry
Your Registry files load every time the computer boots. Windows does a pretty good job of protecting your Registry files from corruption, but from time to time something may slip by Windows and it will attempt to load a bad Registry. These errors may show up as BSoDs that say “Registry File Failure” or text errors that say “Windows could not start.” Whatever the case, you need to restore a good Registry copy. The best way to do this is the Last Known Good Configuration boot option (see the upcoming section). If that fails, you can restore an earlier version of the Registry through the Recovery Console.
Boot to the Windows installation CD-ROM, select the repair installation to get to the Recovery Console, and type these commands to restore a Registry. Notice I didn’t say “your” Registry in the previous sentence. Your Registry is corrupted and gone, so you need to rebuild.
delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
Advanced Startup Options
If Windows fails to start up, use the Windows Advanced Startup Options menu to discover the cause. To get to this menu, restart the computer and press F8 after the POST messages but before the Windows logo screen appears. Windows 2000 and Windows XP have similar menus. Vista’s is just a tad different. Central to these advanced options are Safe Mode and Last Known Good Configuration. Here’s a rundown of the menu options.
* * *
EXAM TIP Windows 9x had an option for step-by-step confirmation, but that is not a choice in Windows 2000/XP/Vista. Look for it as a wrong answer on the exams!
Safe Mode (All Versions) Safe Mode starts up Windows, but loads only very basic, non–vendor-specific drivers for mouse, VGA monitor (not in Vista), keyboard, mass storage, and system services (see Figure 17-57).
Figure 17-57 Safe Mode
Once in Safe Mode, you can use tools such as Device Manager to locate and correct the source of the problem. When you use Device Manager in Safe Mode, you can access the properties for all the devices, even those that are not working in Safe Mode. The status displayed for the device is the status for a normal startup. Even the network card will show as enabled. You can disable any suspect device or perform other tasks, such as removing or updating drivers. If a problem with a device driver is preventing the operating system from starting normally, check the Device Manager for warning icons that indicate an unknown device.
Safe Mode with Networking (All Versions) This mode is identical to plain Safe Mode except that you get network support. I use this mode to test for a problem with network drivers. If Windows won’t start up normally but does start up in Safe Mode, I reboot into Safe Mode with Networking. If it fails to start up with Networking, the problem is a network driver. I reboot back to Safe Mode, open Device Manager, and start disabling network components, beginning with the network