I have this friend who some how got a virus and when he boots up his pc everything stops responding and when he checks the task manager it shows his processor at 100% and he cant get anything to load. So I told him to load up his pc in safe mode (F8) and it wont load into safe mode justs continues loading Windows. He tryed F8-F12 and still the same result.... the only thing he can get to come up in DOS on his system is the bios settings with the delete key. So my question is do any of you know of a different key that may bring up the boot menu to load Safe Mode or even a totaly different way? I would tell him to just format and reinstall windows but he doesnt have the windows Installation CD....

PS. He has Windows XP by the way.
Thanks

Some keyboards (I have an older one like this) needs to have the "Function" key enabled, otherwise it won't recognize that you are hitting F-8.

Also try turning of system restore.

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro Some keyboards (I have an older one like this) needs to have the "Function" key enabled, otherwise it won't recognize that you are hitting F-8. Also try turning of system restore.

Im not sure what you mean by a "Function" key.... does it just say function on it? lol

Yes, or something similar..my other keyboard says "FMode"

It acts much like the "Cap Locks" key, only for the function keys

It is often in the same row as the other F keys.

Or its also known as the F-Lock, thats what mine has right now. If safe mode doesn't kick in, you can try to log in as admin at the log in screen, crtl+alt+dlt, providing you know the pass word. MOre ways to login here.

Last resort?! Reinstall!

You can also set XP to safe boot every time until you set it back again.

Click Start>Run>type "msconfig">OK>BOOT.INI>check /SAFEBOOT>OK. Now it will start in safe mode until you go back through msconfig and uncheck it....hopefully after you've rid yourself of the virus.

The function key is also commonly labelled "Fn"