Windows 2000 Pro Clean Install

[llcamino]

Hello All,

Hopefully someone can help me. I'm not the most computer savy, so please bear with me.

I'm trying to load Windows 2000 Pro. and when loading from the 4 boot floppys everything went fine. Then I got a message saying that "could not copy file cdaudio.sys." After skipping through a few cd files where the cd rom would just sound like it was winding up, it finally stopped the noise and would not locate any other files. I was given some advise that I should:

boot from Win 98 floppy
format c:/s
then from w2k CD type dir d:\
xcopy d:\i386 c:\i386\

I guess this is to copy directly to HD first?

Anyway, I can't even get a prompt to come up. All I get is:
Searching for Boot Record from Floppy..OK
Non-System disk or disk error
Replace and press anykey when ready


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[rislejay]

Did they instruct you to run winnt.exe from the c:\i386 folder after the copy? Boot from the 98 disk and run winnt.exe from the c:\i386 folder.

If that doesn't work, booting from the Windows 2000 CD would be your best option if you can boot from a CD.

 

[llcamino]

Yes, I was told to run winnt.exe. Problem is, I don't get that far. I tried booting from the 4 boot disks, which works just fine, then when the CD starts to copy the files, it runs through the first 6% and then boggs down and can't get any more copied. I'm now thinking that I don't have enough RAM, or I have a bad RAM card. I'm running this on a P2-266 with 128MB Ram.

When trying to run from the 98 boot disk, it gives me the "Floppy OK, Non-system disk or disk error" So I don't get the point where I can make any requests at a prompt.

Thanks for any additional help you can give.

Andrew

 

[michbar]

Do you have another Win2000 cd you could try?

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.-Mitch Ratcliffe

The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents.-Nathaniel Borenstein

 

[DTracy]

Andrew,

It sounds like your boot floppy is dead. The error you receive says the floppy is not a bootable disk, is it possible you have it mixed up in all those other floppys? If you don't find it, ask a friend to make you a new startup disk, and try that. The instructions you were given are good, you just have to do them in the proper order. Let us know how things work out.



Best Regards,
David Tracy

 

[Brimestone]

If you can...I would reformat the harddrive just in case there is a bootsector virus and check the floppies, however, even most P2 systems should be able to set the bios to boot from the CDROM. This would be faster and has a greater chance of working.

Computers are like a bag of hammers, they won't do a damn thing until you pick it up and SMASH something with it!!

 

[bcastner]

92.3% of these problems that are not a problem with the physical hardware: the CD or the CD Driver are:

. a system RAM problem

http://public.planetmirror.com/pub/memtest86/

. a BIOS issue. See if an upgrade is available

. an incompatible USB device connected

. an Overclocking issue

 

[jreis]

Ok have a few problems in win2k pro, I did a clean install on a 40 gb HD, and I have a AMD 950mhz with 756Mem and when I got done what the new install all worked well..until I restarted the machine and then everything,was coming to gether until I got to the win 2000k loading screen, after it got to the last load, it went to a blue screen, and said
The Video driver failed to initialize, and it wouldn't gopast that screen....

I tired to reboot and then go to F8 safe mode..it ran threw a few commands and then went to the blue screen again.... is the some thing I messing, or what
I also ready down the blue screen and it said to disable BIOS memory option such as caching or shadowing, I did this and it still does the same thing ....
can someone please help me ......hhuuummmmmm plz HELP

thanks Jreis

 

[wolluf]

What was on the machine before? (like, was it running 2k ok? Or was the clean install because yu had a problem - if so, please tell. If not 2k - was whatever it was running ok?)

Have you another graphics card you could try in the machine?

 

[TomCologne]

Andrew,

Before you spend a lot of frustrating hours with serious troubleshooting look at the Win2k CD.
Sometimes all it takes is a little dish soap and a carefull cleaning.
Make sure that there are no 'blind' spots on the CD. Scratches on the printed side can damage the reflecting layer and cause reading errors.

You could also try the CD on another PC, if possible.

TomCologne

 

[jreis]

Ok sorry for jumping into you forum dude. I had the same problems and know their fixed, and now having another problem.....llcam.....

here try this go to another machine put the CD in and look for Boot disk for Win2000 it will create 4 floppys. and this will do the job, just make sure you have them number 1-4 on the disk.
put the number 1 disk in and turn on your machine and it will do all the work.....
also make sure all the ram is the same kind... or you will have problems ok

 

[jreis]

sorry to have to ask are you at the HP compag site. if so I can come and help u out

 

[rwdukes]

Thank you bcaster for pointing me in the right direction. I've been working on a similar problem for about 30 hours now - needless say that I've attacked the problem from every angle imaginable just to be sure I didn't miss anything. Your suggestion about the memory tester was on the mark. Three seconds into the test and I got a steady stream of errors.

As always, Tek-Tips and those who contribute their expertise have help me solve another brain buster of a problem.