Running in safe mode ....

[Ganapathi]

Hi,

My OS is XP home edition.
I'm having problem with my system suddenly - processes
like explorer.exe or System hav been using 99% of cpu in
turns & was unable to work. :(

I was told to use msconfig & disable all startups except
rundll32,directcd,msmsgs & Wkdetect & run in safe mode.

As it worked I tried to restore the system but it pops up
the message -'no enough disk space' but i have 10GB of
free space in my disk.
It's been like a week & i hav been using the system in
safe mode.

Shutting down,Startup & everthing is not upto the regular
speed in safe mode.

Could anybody tell me a solution to this problem & also
the cause of it?

Also is it ok to run in safe mode for a long time?

Thanks,

bye

[Amethyst]

Ganapathi wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My OS is XP home edition.
> I'm having problem with my system suddenly - processes
> like explorer.exe or System hav been using 99% of cpu in
> turns & was unable to work. :(
>
> I was told to use msconfig & disable all startups except
> rundll32,directcd,msmsgs & Wkdetect & run in safe mode.
>
> As it worked I tried to restore the system but it pops up
> the message -'no enough disk space' but i have 10GB of
> free space in my disk.
> It's been like a week & i hav been using the system in
> safe mode.
>
> Shutting down,Startup & everthing is not upto the regular
> speed in safe mode.
>
> Could anybody tell me a solution to this problem & also
> the cause of it?
>
> Also is it ok to run in safe mode for a long time?
>
> Thanks,
>
> bye

Well if you were running in safe mode now, you wouldn't have been able to
connect to the internet to post this message. Running in safe mode is like
living in a house without furniture - you can live with it, but it's not
very pleasant. Several things are unavailable to you in safe mode (advanced
graphics, internet connection, do you have access to external peripherals
beyond the basics, I forget). Basically it's a stripped down version of
Windows, without any of the niceties of 'normal' mode.

As to a solution, I'm not sure. Have you done any ESM (Essential System
Maintenance) lately? This may be a solution to the out of disk space error.
Personally, if it was me, I'd back up essentials (except you won't have
access to a burner in safe mode). Does your drive have more than one
partition? If so, backing up to a secondary partition is the only way to
go - unless you can run in normal mode long enough to back up to a CD (I'm
assuming you have a burner).

One question: How long does it take for those processes to start hogging
cycles? As soon as Windows loads? 30 seconds later? A minute? 5 minutes? 10?
20? How long?

I just noticed you have DirectCD running - this is part of Roxio Easy CD I
believe and does not need to be running at startup. Have you disabled it
(via msconfig) to see what happens? I don't know what Wkdetect is (though it
rings a distant bell), as it isn't a running process on my system, therefore
it cannot be essential, I'd disable that too and see what happens. msmsgs
is Windows Messenger and you really don't need that (I don't have it running
as a startup process - I connect when I need to). Of the four processes
you've listed, only rundll32 is (probably) essential (though I don't have it
running either). Disable the three other processes and see what happens.
These things are nearly always a matter of investigation and guesswork.