# Solved: always boots in safe mode



## mobbgrease (Oct 14, 2004)

I just took the hard drive from another computer and put it into another system just to see if i could ix it up a little bit. Now when I boot up the system...it only boots in safe mode. The last startup in the old computer with this hard drive was in safe mode...and i'm wondering if that's why it can't start up normally in the new computer. Any idea on how to alleviate this problem?

win98 os


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## kiwiguy (Aug 17, 2003)

Let me see if I understand this correctly ...

You have a hard drive that has Windows (and all drivers) installed on it for a particular PC.

Now you have relocated it to a different PC (different hardware, motherboard etc)?
And it fails to start correctly?

This is usually doomed to fail, as its immediately loading (or trying to load) all the wrong drivers for the entire system, which usually results in a boot failure. Its not as catastrophic on Win 98 as it is on later versions, but never a good idea. A clean install is best.


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## mobbgrease (Oct 14, 2004)

hello...thanks for the reply.

I know it's not typical to switch a hard drive from one pc to the other. I'm just sort of playing around with two older systems...one which had a dying motherboard which the drive is from and another empty machine pretty much.

When i booted up the first time with the newly relocated hard drive it found, recognized and installed everything i think...at least there were not any errors with that part. It just happens to boot in safe mode. Other than that...magically eveything thing seems to work fine. 

The last time the hard drive was started in the old system was in safe mode...that's why i wonder if it defaults to that now. any suggestions?


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## 1069 (Sep 7, 2004)

Does it actually say "Safe Mode" in all 4 corners when you boot up or are the graphics just devoid of colour and are poor resolution?


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## mobbgrease (Oct 14, 2004)

Wow..i really overlooked that assuming it was in safe mode because the screen looked like it...but it does not actually say 'safe mode' in the corners.

but yes the graphics are poor 16 colour..etc...all icons ar emuch larger and web pages also are distorted in size


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

Hi click on start>settings>active desktop>customize my desktop..
Under settings>change to 256 colors..under appearance you can change icons etc..
You can test various combinations..until you get it how you want it..


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## mobbgrease (Oct 14, 2004)

it still only presents me with 16 colours...there is no option for 256 which is odd.


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## blues_harp28 (Jan 9, 2005)

Hi not that odd..as kiwiguy suggested in post 2..trying to load with the wrong drivers..
It's not going to load correctly...A clean install is your only option..


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## mobbgrease (Oct 14, 2004)

i was just googling some similar problems where the graphic adapter only shows 2/16 colours as options. People suggested downloading the drivers from somewhere..is this possible?

not that this is of any help but the system is a IBM Personal computer 300GL


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## kiwiguy (Aug 17, 2003)

Yes, you should download the drivers from the IBM website of the motherboard or video card maker (if it has a third party video card). 

But remember the same issue now exists for every device, the wrong drivers are loaded or are trying to load. The only way to get long term reliability is to reinstall on the actual hardware as described.


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