computer unresponsive in safe mode

D

dmehling

Member
I am having a puzzling time diagnosing and addressing a problem with one of my older desktop computers. First of all, this is a Windows XP computer. After turning on my computer several days ago, it booted up and informed me that it needed to enter safe mode, or enter windows according to the last working configuration. Of course, if I don't choose any particular option, it automatically loads windows into safe mode. However, immediately after the Windows loading screen appears, the monitor goes completely blank, so I cannot see what is going on. I thought I would try selecting the mode to enter windows according to the last stable or working configuration. However, I cannot even select a different mode to boot into because the keyboard is unresponsive. My hunch is that it's because I am using a USB keyboard, and the USB drivers have not been loaded yet at this point in the boot process. This is the only keyboard I have, but I have a feeling that if I used an older PS/2 keyboard, it would respond. I would have to buy keyboard, probably on eBay. What I need to know is, why is my monitor going blank when it boots into safe mode, and should I buy an old keyboard so I can choose a different option for booting into the computer? I'm very puzzled about this since I have never had a computer exhibit this kind of behavior.
 
Go into the bios and make sure that legacy usb is enabled, this enables usb keyboards to work before windows loads. However, if you can't get it to enter bios then you will need to borrow a ps/2 keyboard to get into bios.
 
still having major problems

I am still having major issues with my computer. I was able to find an old keyboard and monitor to be able to make a selection when the safe mode options screen came up. I thought if I selected the option "last known working configuration", Windows would load normally. So I selected that option, but I had the same problem of my monitor going blank just before Windows loaded. So my monitor going blank was probably not the result of entering into safe mode. Now things have gotten even worse. The next time I turned on the computer, the monitor never came on. I have no idea whether it entered into Windows or not. Also, I have a USB mouse that lights up as soon as it is operable (as soon as Windows loads), but ever since this problem started the mouse has not lit up. This is leading me to believe that the computer is not even able to load Windows. Also, as soon as I turn my computer on, the hard drive light on the computer is lit up, and it is constantly showing activity. I can let the computer run for hours, and it is still showing constant hard drive activity. At this point I have no idea what might be going on. For now this computer is completely unusable. Any ideas on what to try next?
 
When you turn your computer on it should ask if you would like to boot from disk, use your OS disk and see what happens.
 
o i thought you meant the screen went blank when trying load the os from hdd meaning u could atleast see the bios, i guess first thing would be check some hardware, video card, ram, hard drive, if none of those fix it could be the motherboard or cpu, but i would try resetting the cmos maybe before jumping to the conclusion of the motherboard being bad.
 
When this problem first started, I could see the BIOS and other stuff and then the monitor went blank when Windows tried to load. But now in the last couple of days, the monitor will not display anything.
 
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