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General discussion

DISK Boot FALIURE

Feb 5, 2004 11:29PM PST

I am trying to install Win2KPro on a 40Gb HD from CD but I get this message:

Updating ESCD...Success
Verifying DMI Pool Data
Boot from Atapi CD-ROM
DISK Boot FALIURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

I have tried booting from an MS-DOS 6.22 Floppy & Ultimate Boot Disk <http://www.startdisk.com>, hoping to use Fdisk but I got: "missing ntldr". I added the ntdetect & ntldr files to the Boot Disks but no luck. I can't find a way to access the A: Prompt

The drive originally had Win98SE on, I mistakenly tried to install Win2KPro Upgrade over it & the installation hung just before the end & I had to abort. No longer able to access files on that drive, I installed Win2KPro on another (120Gb) HD & found I could access the previous drive.

Another erroneous attempt to install Win2kPro over the 40Gb resulted in trashed partitions (I had already backed up). I used the Write Signature & Upgrade Disk Wizard in Win2k Disk Management to recover the HD. I then partitioned & formatted with NTFS.

I suspect the previous MBR is still resident in a boot partition, could this be so?, & if so how do I replace it?.

Discussion is locked

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Re:DISK Boot FALIURE
Feb 5, 2004 11:45PM PST

I can fix this easily by booting my Windows 2000 CD.

When it's setup runs, I take it's menus to delete the partitions on the drive, create a new partition and continue with the installation.

No use of a Windows 98 disk is involved and you may confuse yourself by doing that.

Bob

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CD Boot failures are a sign...
Feb 5, 2004 11:49PM PST

That you may have a bum copy of the Windows 2000 CD.

Is it SILVER in appearance with all the right logo's?

If it is a CD-R, then booting may be problematic or if a SILVER CD, then the CDROM may have failed or just doesn't support CD booting.

If it doesn't BEWARE that you are losing access to some of the easy tools to maintain and fix minor Windows 2000 problems in the future. I'd fix the hardware.

If you absolutely can't get a new drive or a proper CD, then go get the Windows 2000 Boot Diskettes from http://www.bootdisk.com There are four diskettes to be made.

Bob

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Re:CD Boot failures are a sign...
Feb 6, 2004 2:30AM PST

I have tried Bootdisk.com but the CD images are a little too big to fit on a Floppy, I understand 1.44 Floppys can be formatted to 1.6 but I dont know how.

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You may have not read the instructions at Bootdisk.com
Feb 6, 2004 2:47AM PST

Many try to put the files via some COPY onto a floppy.

Doesn't fit. If you learn about makeboot or such, you can put each on on a floppy after you have unzipped the zip file.

Bob

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Re:You may have not read the instructions at Bootdisk.com
Feb 6, 2004 11:05AM PST

I read these instructions:

DOCS:
Most of the files above are disk images. Download
the file to your C: drive, put a fresh disk in your
A: drive, then click on the file to create the
bootdisk.

The W2K Pro disks can be individually downloaded,
unzipped, and made with a program like WinImage. If
you download the entire set, one can make them in
dos or a dos window using makeboot for 9X or
makebt32 for NT.

Excuse my ignorance but all the image files but one are 1.47Mb & I can't see how to get them on a Floppy. If I click on one it opens as Unknown file format in a graphics program, I need a "walk-through" of the process.

In any case I think I have a bad Win2K CD and am going to install Linux instead. Thanks for the help.

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At your request.
Feb 6, 2004 11:23AM PST

"Windows 2000 And NT4 Setup Disk Sets

W2K Pro: Disk1 | Disk2 | Disk3 | Disk4
makeboot.exe | makebt32.exe "

I downloaded all of these and disk1 through 4 unzipped to 1.44 sized img files I can write to diskettes with makeboot or makebt32.

Best of luck in linux. But I fear if this one sidelined you, what awaits you in most linux will be even more fun.

As to the bad Windows 2000 CD, Microsoft does replace bad media for free or if it's been awhile, not much. I've had to do that.

Bob

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Re:At your request.
Feb 15, 2004 6:32AM PST

Those files are located on a W2K cd too. You can create a 4 diskette boot floppy set form Windows 2000 cd, and you can run it from another operating system, by using the run box.