How do I pause the boot process?

[cru2005]

I know I just hit the pause key but that doesn't do what I need it to to. After it lists my hardware it quickly says there is a problem of some sort but it zooms through it so fast I can't read it. Even when I attempt to pause it I can never time it correctly to be able to stop it at the right time. Is there a way to slow it down?

I looked on the web for answers but didn't find what I needed. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[NetGuySC]

I would love to see this answered by one of the guru's here

 

[willstay]

If you are using Windows OSes, try hitting F8 and boot with option 'Enable Boot Logging'. I still don't know where log files are generated. (and you might have to physically move hard disk on running system to read those log files).

Microsoft has discontinued distributing bootvis.msi for XP (but you can find it listed in mirror websites). This tool is basically used for diagnosing what driver is taking how much time during boot up, in which sequence they are accesses etc. (This solution wouldn't be useful until you are atleast able to boot).

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

I think he's talking about a problem before the OS comes into play.

You could always just try rapidly toggling the pause\break button until you get to where you need to go. :shrug;

 

[Woody419]

I have set up a digital camera and filmed the boot process. Playing back the short 15-20 sec. movie frame by frame enabled me to read the messages. Most single shot digital cameras have a movie function.

 

[djdrastic]

Although not completly what you want you can perhaps try

1)F8
2)Select "Enable Boot Logging"
3)Windows will write a log file in %windir%\ntbtlog.txt
4)Boot off Recovery cd and go into recovery console
5)Go in to windows directory and use "more ntbtlog.txt"

You can also perhaps boot off a Knoppix / Ultimate Boot CD , and edit your boot.ini entry on your boot drive and add the /sos option at the back of destination option

 

[corkyg]

Back in the old DOS days, we could interrupt the boot process using Ctrl BREAK (Ctrl F6 as I recall.)

The BIOS boot cycle ends when Windows starts loading. The computer is technically already booted when Windows starts LOADING. From then on it is loading, not booting, and that is when you can use BootLog, etc.

Break

 

[bdoople]

Bluescreens on loading Windows but won't show you what the bluescreen error is, right?

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: NetGuySC
I would love to see this answered by one of the guru's here

Yeah, that's gonna be tough since he didn't even mention what OS.


He might be getting a BSOD at boot or something. If it's XP with sp2 installed he can tell it to stop after a bugcheck via the F8 menu. Otherwise you gotta edit the registry on the box with a WinPE disk or a parallel install or something. Check this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl

Bah. He's probably having a bug in his OS/2 Warp install for all we know.