PC problem installing Win 2000

[MT Stringer]

Lemme be the first to post a question. Hopefully, someone may have a helpful hint.

I have a PC CHips motherboard that was running Win98SE. It is a Celeron 500 with 128 meg of ram.

We upgraded the hard drive to 80 gig. I had to upgrade the bios to acceept the hard drive.

But when I tried to do a fresh install of Win2000, it fails every time while it is copying files for setup. I've tried several things to no avail.

changed out the memory for other sticks.
changed out the CD-ROM
removed the fax/modem
removed the NIC
disabled the onboard video and installed a basic 4 meg PCI card
It still won't install.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Mike

[bill]

What errors is it giving (if any) or does it just stall/lockup?

[bg]

A couple of possible issues from my experience.

1 - It could be a bad CD, might try a different one if you can get your hands on one.
2 - What it the BIOS setup for the drive access? It should be LBA for Windows. Sometimes others will work with 98 but almost never with 2k or xp.

[MT Stringer]

Somewhere between 24 - 30% complete copying the setup files it would stop and say it couldn't copy a file. If I chose to skip it, then there would be more files that couldn't be copied. I tried another CD but it didn't help. These CD's have worked before.

The last try, I took everything out of the PC except for the video card. I managed the copy process and the installation went through until the last part where it was doing the final configuration and saving my setttings. Then I got the blue screen with some error I couldn't figure out. I'm about ready to set it out for the garbage truck in the morning.

Mike

[bill]

that hard drive. Have you installed it on any other computer? I have had systems that would run win98se fine but not install winxp or 2k.
Do any of these look familiar?
can not copy:
ndisuio.sys
dgsetup.dl
or do you get a "hardware Installation message" The software has not passed windows logo test.

On your CD you should have the win2000 check, see if that will run.
Also what model motherboard are you using? M_____

[MT Stringer]

LBA mode

Sometimes the files that wouldn't copy were random from one installation to the next.

I may have another hard drive if I can find it.

Motherboard: M748LMRT

[bill]

If the RAM you have is two sticks (64 meg each), try only one on each slot. I have had RAM go out if it get bumped while inside changing hard drives. Also check your temp in the BIOS it might be getting hot. While looking inside, double check all connections and fans.
Are you going to NTFS or FAT32. Might try a dual boot with FAT32.

[MT Stringer]

Original ram was 1 128 meg stick.
But, I have tried one, then two 256 meg sticks, one then the other and I tried a single 64 meg stick.
I was switching to NTFS. The hard drive was working OK with WIN98SE

I found an almost new Samsung 10 gig. I think I'll give it a go and see what happens.
Thanks for all the tips.
Note: Bill, you are so right about loose cables. I've had my share of dislodging them in the past. More times than not, I was my own worst enemy! :)
Mike

[bill]

I get to laugh at myself then finish the job..Let me know if it works.

[Torque]

Do you a raid configuration on your board? If so press the key it tells you to if you want to load your own drivers for the raid (i.e., HTCP). I have seen where 2000 doens't load the RAID drivers correctly and it will dfail downstream with some funky error. Good luck

[MT Stringer]

Thanks, but no RAID configuration, but I have pressed the F7 Key (I think that was it). And I read somewhere to try the F6 key. I've tried it also. Neither worked. This has become a spring, now summer project! :(

All I want to do is load Win2000 and set it up for a friends kids to play games on. Turns out, it was easier said than done.

[bill]

maybe try this just incase there are partitions hidden.
gdisk

gdisk 1 /del /all (deletesall partitions)

gdisk 1 /mbr /wipe (wipes MBR)

gdisk 1 /mbr (reinitializes mbr)

now reboot pc with no discs- you'll should see No oper system found- that's OK.

shut down, and start the install process over again.

I have not given up thinking about this.

[MT Stringer]

Bill, don't stay up all night just because I am! :)

I've got the other drive formatting. It turned out to be a 20 gig Samsung.
I can't recall if this is a good drive or not...but that's another memory problem (mine!).
Mike

[bill]

sent you a PM

[bill]

Try cleaning the CD with a mild solution. M$ suggests making a boot setup disk so you might think about that.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;197063

If these do not work, I'm leaning toward a problem with the motherboard. Since it's going to be used for the kids, anyway they might be able to live with win98?

[ShadMan]

Mike - As a last resort, before you ditch the machine ( ;) ), load NT4.0 with a base install, then load Win2000 over it and see if the install completes. Win2000 is NT 5.0, so some of the drivers are the same, and I'll be the install completes successfully. If so, you shouldn't notice any detrimental effects of loading over a clean NT 4.0 base insallation.

[MT Stringer]

Thanks for the note Jeff, but I don't have that OS. The owners don't want to sink any additional $ into the machine, so we may just scavenge the good parts (CDRW, hdd, memory, etc) and then chunk it.

[ShadMan]

Hmmm...if I still lived in Houston, I'd loan you a copy, since you wouldn't need a license because you wouldn't actually be utilizing the OS.

Probably a smart choice not dropping additional bucks into that machine when you can get brand new, loaded 2.8GHz machines for under $350! If you are looking for a new PC, check this one out. This is the PC I use (and the one we bought for CoolChange), the Dell PSC400. It's actually a low line server, but makes a great PC! I upgraded mine to 1GB RAM and added a 160GB hard drive for an extra $200 or so. Rick's was upgraded to 80GB hard disk space (dual 40GBs), and 512MB RAM for about $125 extra. It's a helluva good deal!

http://www.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=26606&postid=0#post0

[FishinChick©]

Mike,

I think I have a clean copy of NT 4.0 somewhere around here. Want me to look for it? No promises but I think I know where it is. Let me know.

Jan

[MT Stringer]

Thanks for the offer, Jan. But I have already pulled the motherboard and put another in its place.
Mike