About a week ago I booted my XP computer and it was in fail safe mode and I had to hit the F1 key to continue booting. I have no idea why this happened but would like to... I have the option to hit the Del key... I have no idea what to do when I get to that page. I figured out how to navagate with the up/down arrows but thats all... Any help or answers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,Regi

Are you able to boot to Windows successfully after using the F1 key? On a Dell computer, you might see a message like that if the computer thinks it's supposed to see a hard drive (or a second hard drive) and it doesn't.

Is fail safe mode the same as safe mode? I've never owned xp. If so you usually get asked this is if the computer has shut down via a crash. In win 7 or vista you are given the option of booting in safe mode so you can sort out any problems or in normal mode. I usually try normal mode and it usually works. Safe mode just loads without drivers in case they are the problem.

Since Re said she had to navigate using the up/down arrows, I thought she was in the BIOS. Safe mode has a mouse, even on XP.

Seems like "fail safe mode" is Safe Mode though.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5957689_fix-failsafe-mode-xp.html

Apparently they renamed it at some point, though most people continue to call it Safe Mode.

But "it was in fail safe mode and I had to hit the F1 key to continue booting" doesn't sound like it was in Safe Mode.

The prompt to Press F1 to Continue sounds like there may be a failing device. Once you're in the BIOS there should be an option (probably on the BOOT Tab) to Halt on Errors that can be disabled.

It won’t fix the failing device, but it will stop the error message. It could be as simple as your floppy drive failing, but may be more serious.

When I turn on the computer at first, at bottom of page it says: System is running in Fail-Safe State....Please recheck-BIOS CMOS Setup...PressF1 to continue and a choise to hit DEL to enter set up.....DEL takes me to a blue Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Set up utility.........This is where I use the up/down key to navagate. .....The choise are: 1.)Guru Utility.....2.)Standard CMOS Features....3.)Advanced BIOS Features.........4.)Advanced Chipset Features....5.)Integrated Peripherals..........6.)Power Management Setup.....7.)PnP/PCI Configuration...8.)Load Fail-Safe Defaults. ....9.)Load Optimized Defaults....10.)Set Password...............11.)Save & Exit Setup.......12.)Exit Without Saving.....After that my choises are:......1.)Esc:Quit....2.)F10:Save & Exit Setup........3.)F6:Save Profile To BIOS..........4.)Load Profile From BIOS...........Those are my only choices. Oh My Inland, I sure don't need any failing devices. Besides this the computer seems to running smoothly. And, Jenny this is not a Dell computer. Thanks again, Regi I think I am going to log off for the day.Have a great one.

It may be that your CMOS battery needs to be replaced. Once the PC is up and running can you shut it down and restart it without the BOS prompt?

That may be Inland. Every time I shut the computer down I have to hit the F1 key to continue booting. I wouldn't know how to replace the battery. If I knew how to get the case open I'd clean the inside and replace the sound card. By the way, it's an Alienware computer I bought in 2005. No support from them anymore. Thanks, Regi

If you're feeling adventurous, peruse the how-to below. It describes how to replace a CMOS battery on a Dell PC -

How to replace a CMOS battery

I'll check that out in the morning. I've been adventurous enough for one day. Thanks again.

Hi all. Well, I think it could have been a failing vidio card that caused the problem...Thursday the moniter started not want to stay on. The computer was on but the moniter went from green light on to yellow light which ment it had shut down. The moniter would, no matter how many times I tried, stay on. I thought it was the moniter gone bad and went and bought another. That montiter seemed to do the trick that evening. Yesterday, shortly before noon, I was in my Sims 2 game an the screen went wankey and the game froze. By about 12:30 p.m. that moniter started shuting off..... It was saying no signal...I would say that sounds like a vidio card problem. ????? Any one have an idea before I have it worked on? Thank you, Regi

A bad or failing video card is a possibility. It could also be a bad motherboard slot, or damaged video card drivers, or overheating from too much dust, or something else. Since you said earlier you couldn't get the case open, you're probably better off letting a tech sort it out. Be sure to write down (or print out) the symptoms you've described to us and give them to the tech.