Computer wont boot. How can I turn off safe mode?

[deanerino]

Here's the deal:
I got a virus, so of course, I tried to open the couple anti-virus programs that i have installed.
The virus prevented these programs from running so I turned off the computer and attempted to boot in safe mode to run the Anti-virus software.  It wouldnt boot in safe mode.
I have gotten this computer to boot in safe mode several times before so I assumed the virus was preventing me from doing it this time.
So I booted normally, ran MSCONFIG, and set it to boot in safe mode (i think this was my big mistake).
Now, the computer will not boot at all.
My assumption is that the virus is preventing me from starting in safe mode.  and the configuration settings i changed are preventing me from running in normal mode.

The big question is: How can I turn off safe mode without being able to boot?

I also began the process of doing a repair install of XP, but it wont install in safe mode.  I have all my important data backed up so Im not totally against a clean install but i would like to prevent that.  I just want my laptop back!!

[Dusty]

Welcome to the CH forums.

I also began the process of doing a repair install of XP, but it wont install in safe mode.

From the above can we assume that you have an XP install disk?  If so you can boot from that, after setting bios to boot from your optical drive first, then edit or delete Boot.ini from the Recovery Console.

Please read this.

[deanerino]

It looks like the repair install is working now. Thanks for your help!! 

[Allan]

If your system is infected a repair install will not solve the problem. When you get back into Windows you should go to the malware section of this forum and follow the instructions at the top of that page.