can't get into safemode on xp sp2

[Tom and Christine]

we recently had a problem with our computer freezing and crashing.  We found that if we went into safe mode, disabled the graphics driver, and re booted,  the computer would work fine.  We download a new graphics driver and also changed some monitor settings to re enable the graphics driver, but it kept crashing.  Now when we try to boot into safe mode it gets to the line..........multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows\system32\driver\alim1541.sys......... and stops!!!  We can still boot the computer in diagnostic mode but are afraid to change any settings to load any devices in case it crashes  and we can't reboot.  How do we get back into safe mode?

[patio]

When you say you are in diagnostic mode do you mean you are in the Recovery Console ? ?

Black screen with a DOS type prompt ?

[Tom and Christine]

No, we managed to go into msconfig, after a lot of attempts, as the computer was not stable. We restarted with a dot in the diagnostic startup and now it is stable but very limited in what we can do.  eg. we can not get into device manager etc.  And we can not get into safe mode.

[patio]

All the research i did points to the video driver itself...this means it's either the wrong driver for your card or a corrupt DLoad.

If you can get to Add/Remove in Control Panel i suggest un-installing the driver, re-booting and let Windows use the generic driver and then finding and re-installing the correct one.

Another issue that possibly causes this is a weak/failing PSU...post the make model and specs on that if possible and let us know how old it is../.

[Tom and Christine]

I think I have a 700/radeon VE 64mb graphics card and AMD 3D processor @450mhz 128 mb ram,directX 9c.
The radion dosn't appear in the add + remove programs, I can't get into device manager or add hardware because i am in diagnostic set up.
If i could just get back into safe mode i could dissable the driver for the graphics card and it would start with the generic driver and it did run ok like that untill i messed it up. So i think you are right about it being the graphics driver.
But why can't i get into safe mode ?
If i change to selective start up in msconfig and start every thing but not the graphics driver then that might work. but i don't know which boxes to tick?

[Tom and Christine]

Do you think I might beable to get into safe mode if I deleted the Driver called ALIM1541.sys ?   Because this is where it gets stuck every time?
What does ALIM1541.sys DO?

[soybean]

Some info: http://www.file.net/process/alim1541.sys.html

And: http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/sys/83-Alim1541sys.html; check to see whether the details (size, version) for your file agree with this.