XP home

[psykotrol]

Recently I was playing battlefield 2, when my screen froze. I then shut my computer down to restart it, only to find out that I cant start it again, I cannot boot into my computer setup (default f2) or into safe mode (default f8), however I can run the XP cd and get into the recovery console, is there any way that I can change the boot sequence from the recovery console? The screen is dotted with a bunch of dots up and down the screen in columns, and is in 4-bit video mode.

I have a Dell xps gen 5 with xp home.

the error I get is:

"Error: Cant enter setup. Video Mode 103 not supported by this video card."

[patio]

Not sure what mode you pushed the vid card to for that game but you could try booting into safemode by tapping F8 repeatedly on startup before Windows loads...
This will bypass the vid drivers and only load basic drivers,
From there you can go to Control Panel and re-set things to normal...

[psykotrol]

I edited it a little bit.

also, I dont know how I change vid modes, and wasnt aware it was changed. however, like I said, I cannot get into safe mode or setup to change the boot sequence of my harddrives.

also, I want to change the boot sequence so I can have my current D: drive be my C: drive, then move all my important files from D: to someplace else, because im being denied access to C: (probably a virus)

[patio]

Are you saying you don't know what changes you made ? ?
A computer won't just change video settings by itself unless the vidcard is totally wonked in which case you need to replace it.
Also i don't understand why booting to another drive would help the situation here...please provide more specifics.
If you can no longer get into safemode then there are issues with the Windows installation itself.

[psykotrol]

Im saying I didnt (knowingly) change the video mode, I didnt even know video output can have different modes.

I want to change th boot sequence because my current c: drive is swamped with viruses, and it wont let me log in to regular or safe mode, so I want to install windows on my d: drive, change the boot sequence so d: boots first, then get all the important files from the former c: to put onto an external harddrive, then format c: to get rid of the viruses from c:.

[patio]

Is D: another physical drive or a partition ? ?
If its a physical drive then just remove the problem drive temporarily and jumper D: as master. Re-boot with the XP CD and install.
If it's a partition you cannot boot to it as it doesn't have an OS installed... you will still have to boot with the XP CD and choose D: as the target for a new XP install.

[psykotrol]

D: is another physical drive.

I recently had a problem with my computer, before this problem, that forced me to buy another harddrive or reformat my harddrive which has important data. drive C: is supposed to be two harddrives that equal up to 320 gb, im assuming thats what you mean by partition, however that drive is currently only reading one of the 160 gb harddrives. so to sum it up, drive c: is supposed to be 320 gb, but is only being read as 160 gb. c: is the drive windows is installed on, c: is the drive that im having problems with.

also, I feel uncomfortable taking things in and out of my physical computer, because im afraid ill either break something or place it in wrong. I have no knowledge of how to replace harddrives.

[psykotrol]

update:

okay, ive formatted my D: drive, but now im able to get onto safe mode.

is there any way to reverse the windows 4-bit mode? plus all the dots on my screen, and it running incredibly slow.

its gonna take 10 minutes to transfer a 700 mb movie from c: to d:, id consider that slow, right?

[patio]

D: is another physical drive.

This is contradictory to what you are saying...

Let's start with the basics.
I have a 320G HDD that is divided in two:
160G would be C:
The other 160G would be D:
Another physical drive with only one partition would be E:
Since you cannot boot into Windows and use Disk Management there isn't an easy way of determining exactly what you have in this equation.
From here you would have to use a boot CD with HDD info program such as Ranish Partition Manager which will report exactly what's in the machine and how the hard drives are setup and partitioned.

Here you will find info on the Ultimate Boot CD which contains a bunch of utilities...

Note: The tools on this CD are very powerful and should be used with care. Mistakes can result in a total loss of data.

[patio]

Disregard the last post...the edits are being made while advice is being given.

How did you format D: ? ?
Why would formatting D: all of a sudden get you into safe mode ? ?
Did you determine what D: is ? ?

I think you are in over your head or disregarding advice faster than it is being given.
I'll wait here for more info,

[psykotrol]

I reformatted D: by booting the windows xp home cd by pressing F12 before the login screen. I then went into the recovery console and formatted it.

I dont know why I was able to get into safe mode that time, but now I cant, f8 doesnt work. Im now able to login, but the screen flashes and the computer freezes. Im getting into safe mode by going into msconfig > boot.ini, etc.

D: is a 160 gb physical drive, not a partition.

C: is partitioned, but the partition isnt being read I guess.

Now my main problem is the 4bit thing and my screen flashing, I have a feeling its a hardware problem, probably video card or D:, because geeksquad installed D: and I dont trust them..

[patio]

If it is indeed an addon card another option would be to physically remove the card and hook u to the onboard video...this may let you boot Windows normally long enough for you to do some more troubleshooting.

What did the GeekSquad install on D: and why ? ?
Sorry if i sound so confused i just don't want to make things worse than they are...