When I press F8 during boot-up I will go into the boot options. I then choose 'safe mode'. The computer will start the boot process i.e. the screen will scroll through the various modules and items as they are loaded and then stop. There is still activity from the hard drive but nothing else happens. After a minute or two, Windows will start up but in normal mode. The same appplies when I try to select 'safe mode with comand prompt'. The computer just will not boot into safe mode. The reason I try to boot into 'safe mode' is that in normal mode I cannot seem to be able to fully defragment my drive. I am always left with two huge red (fragmented) chunks displayed.... Any suggestions will be greatly appriciated!

Well, the problem with the huge red chunks is in the defrag software, not in the boot mode. What hardware and/or software changes did you make just before attempting this chorus of defragmentation? Safe mode will hang if a driver or service is not loading. Also, have you checked your event viewer in gui mode? And what are you seeing in the log(s)? Beauty of the high sierra, and she's looking out for you.

Hi Thanks for your reply. Since posting this topic, I did manage to get into safe mode. However, when trying to defragment, I still cannot get rid of these big red chunks. I have to say that most of what you said is a bit of chinese to me. I really cannot remember any specific software changes. I hade some problems with DIVX codecs which I treated with uninstalling and reinstalling, DIVX, XVID, Nero and WinAVI. There was definitely no hardware changes. As for the repoert, no, I have not read them because more often than not, they do not mean much to me.... I know I am not very good am I? What shall I look for? You said - "Also, have you checked your event viewer in gui mode?" is that within the defrag program? Or do I have to 'go' somewhere else for that? Are the logs a type of report and where would they be? Sorry, I thought someone would come up with a really easy, quick solution i.e. "Oh! I know what's wrong! Just do this or that and that will solve the problem....". Thanks again, tzamroor

You may want to d/l and try diskeeper lite I had the same problem defragging and I tried this and it worked for me. DISNEY VIRUS Everything in your computer goes goofy

Thanks yankanuk. lol at your signature..... Thanks for the tip. I will try that and see. I might also try, and I should have thought about it before, the Partition Magic defrag. Will post results. Ta, Tzamroor

Glad to try to help you....it's a pleasure! DISNEY VIRUS Everything in your computer goes goofy

Update - All sorted now. Managed to defrag with windows own. The problem was a 7GB directory which I did not realise existed. Once I got rid of it, defrag was no problem. For the last few tries, Window boots into any mode chosen. Thanks all!!!