Post #1,853
7/15/01 9:35:29 PM
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DOA Windows 2000 Server hard drive
My 300Mhz Celeron box died, so I got a 1Ghz AMD Thurnderbird CPU and motherboard to replace it.
The new hardware is working; however, the Windows 2000 hard drive reports an error and suggests chkdsk /f or something else to fix it. I tried getting into Safe Mode command prompt to run the frelling thing, only I get the same error in safe-mode and safe-mode command prompt! Booting off the setup floppies and telling it to repair the hard drive install has it prompt me for the admin password, which it keeps telling me is wrong. I set the damn thing and wrote it down, and it says it is wrong! So it must have a damaged file associated with the admin password? How do I reset the fscker? I am going to attempt a reinstall instead of a repair and see if that fixes it.
Any ideas what could have gone wrong? I do not want to RRR because I have some data on it that I did not back up yet. I'm using a CDR drive as a backup device. I'd hate to have to reinstall everything, but this thing is ticking my off greatly!
| "I can see if I want anything done right around here, I'll have to do it myself!" | Moe Howard |
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Post #1,867
7/15/01 11:42:18 PM
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2000 is Plug-and-Pray . . .
. . so who can know what it's done when you swapped in a different brand CPU and motherboard chipset at three times the clock speed. On the other hand, reinstall with a new Registry should work.
[link|www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #1,878
7/16/01 3:27:11 AM
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Eh?
What's an "install with a new registry"?
Of course you'll get a new registry if you reinstall. Not that it'll help, if the problem lies at the motherboard/crappyBIOS level.
--
Peter
Shill For Hire
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Post #1,880
7/16/01 6:38:00 AM
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I presume 2000 . . .
. . . is like NT which seems to give you a fresh registry on reinstall, not like 95/98 which carefully preserves the sins of the old registry (but thought I'd state it to be clear).
With 95/98 I have to go in and delete the registries under DOS or the reinstall will use them and the machine will still be screwed up.
[link|www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #1,913
7/16/01 11:28:22 AM
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I see.
No, the evil behaviour of which you speak is common to 95, 98, ME, NT and 2000.
Crap in the registry is *always* preserved when you choose to "upgrade" an existing installation.
--
Peter
Shill For Hire
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Post #1,919
7/16/01 11:59:19 AM
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I have to do a lot of reinstalls . . .
. . . with the registries removed because many of my clients would "have a hard time finding all those disks" to reinstall the software.
I've developed various techniques for preserving the desktop, start menus, DLLs, Fonts, etc., but If a program can't reestablish it's registry entries, I just tell them "well, that's the breaks". Office 97 is never a problem, but Office 2000 is a "reinstall from original media" every time.
"Well, could you just, you know, sort of get it on there for us, somehow?"
"Sorry, we run OS/2, so we don't have any of the Microsoft CD-ROMS. You'll just have to 'find' yours".
[link|www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #1,926
7/16/01 1:46:53 PM
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Well, W2K improves one thing
It breaks the user profile information out of the %SYSTEMROOT% tree and into a top-level directory called "Documents and Settings", located on drive C: usually.
But as for people who have Software-With-No-Obvious-Purchase-Order-Number installed, they're screwed and they're going to get more screwed with the arrival of Office and Windows XP.
The reason you have to install O2K from the original media is that you've destroyed the MSI entries in the registry; now O2K doesn't know what's installed and what isn't, so you have to reinstall it.
--
Peter
Shill For Hire
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Post #1,934
7/16/01 2:44:40 PM
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MSI Entries
I learned far more than I wished to know about MSI Entries when a client: - Had problems with Office 2000 Pro bombing out.
- Attempted to reinstall from a set of Office 2000 Small Business CD-ROMS.
- Called Automation Access
Yes, the era of "casual licensing" is drawing to a close, at least as far as Windows software is concerned. [link|www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #1,935
7/16/01 2:53:09 PM
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Which is why
I am suggesting StarOffice to any clients that wish to use Office software.
I also can make backups of their CD disks. I suggest that they store the originals in a safe place and install from the backup CDR disks. That way if they lose the CDR disks, or break/scratch/whatever them they will always have the originals to work from. Of course not everyone takes my advice.
A few Windows 95, Office 95, etc CDs went walking away from my place one too many times. So all recent software gets copied to CDR, unless it is copy protected or something. After looking all over for them and tearing up parts of the house, I am convinced that someone walked off with them. That is what I get for leaving the CDs in a CD Tower near my computer area instead of locked in a safe or fire-proof box. :(
| "I can see if I want anything done right around here, I'll have to do it myself!" | Moe Howard |
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Post #1,941
7/16/01 3:48:20 PM
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CDs have legs
I warn my clients about this. Some pay attention, some don't. those that don't have no Windows CDs within a weeks or two. Hiding them in a drawer that isn't locked is the same as leaving them out on the counter. Office is just about as bad.
This leaves me in the position of reinstalling Windows from my own CD-ROM in many cases, but, if Windows will run I can get the customer's reg number with regedit, and if it won't, I boot on a floppy and search the registry with XTree to find it.
[link|www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #1,951
7/16/01 4:50:05 PM
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Which is why we have an IS-Library at work
A file cabinet cataloged by an Access database that has the registration keys in it and the location of each software and who checked it out last. The IS Secretary (we keep losing them, they either get moved to the Helpdesk or they quit for a better job) takes care of it and monitors who has what software. CDs do have legs and can walk out of the office, never to be seen again.
Who takes them? I have no idea. Must be the King of the PATATO-People! :)
| "I can see if I want anything done right around here, I'll have to do it myself!" | Moe Howard |
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Post #1,958
7/16/01 5:55:08 PM
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Incidentally, were did the NT CDs you are installing at...
home come from? :)
Sorry, I know they're just copies.
Alex
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Post #1,960
7/16/01 6:14:25 PM
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You want the truth?
They came from the MSDN Library, and are backup copies. I am using them to learn how to develop under Windows 2000 and ".NET" as well. They are not on the same network as my work computer, so Microsoft should not have an issue with them.
| "I can see if I want anything done right around here, I'll have to do it myself!" | Moe Howard |
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Post #1,877
7/16/01 3:26:32 AM
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Have you actually run chkdsk /f?
I would also pay attention to your motherboard chipset drivers and BIOS revision. You may need to upgrade the BIOS.
As far as reinstalling goes, I wouldn't, yet - you'd be surprised how installing the right drivers can bring a system around.
To sort your "can't run chkdsk" problem, you need to boot to the recovery console. Boot off the CD, and follow the options to repair the installation; you can then run the recovery console and chkdsk your drive.
Me, I've got a BX440 which is the last truly great chipset Intel have produced. Supported by everyone, thoroughly debugged. :-)
--
Peter
Shill For Hire
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Post #1,881
7/16/01 6:41:14 AM
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I think you're on the right track.
When I got that motherboard I noticed that there were lots of warnings about installing updated drivers, etc. There's a good FAQ on the ABIT KT7 here:
[link|http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm|[link|http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm|http://www.viahardw...7/kt7faq.htm]]
especially
[link|http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/trouble.html|[link|http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/trouble.html|http://www.viahardw...trouble.html]]
What drivers should I use with the motherboard?
VIA drivers
It is recommended to do a clean installation of Windows when you first install your ABIT KT7 motherboard. Immediately after installing Windows 98 or Windows 2000 you should install the latest VIA 4in1 and USB filter drivers for the motherboard. The original VIA drivers should be included on the CD which accompanied the motherboard, but the latest drivers can be found at [link|http://www.via.com.tw/|http://www.via.com.tw/] or www.viatech.com and on the downloads page. Always install these drivers before trying other solutions to your problems! See the VIA official FAQ for more information on the use of these drivers. The latest VIA drivers will only install those drivers you require. Beware! If you have disabled the onboard IDE controllers (if you use only the Highpoint controller or a SCSI controller) the VIA drivers may not install correctly. You will need to temporarily enable them.
also
[link|http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/faqboot.html|[link|http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/faqboot.html|http://www.viahardw...faqboot.html]] says:
I have just swapped my disk from old motherboard and Windows fails to boot, sometimes giving the message "Inaccessible_boot_device". Why?
The problem lies in the IDE driver. If you've installed the bus mastering IDE drivers for another chipset, Windows cannot boot with those. You have to hook up your old motherboard, replace the busmastering drivers with the default IDE drivers Windows ships with, and then switch motherboards and safely boot into Windows. You can then install the VIA 4in1 drivers.
Lots of other useful information at that site...
HTH. And I hope this doesn't end up eating all of Onion Blaster's free time... :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #1,901
7/16/01 9:42:44 AM
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Was not able to run chkdsk /f at all!
I booted off of the four disks, and it asked me for the administrators password to get into the recovery. Which I entered, and it told me it was the wrong password. I wrote the sucker down so I would not forget it. Something was fried in the registry for sure.
I could not get to a command prompt to run chkdsk /f, so my only option was to reinstall the OS and pray that it didn't destroy any of the data.
My other user accounts where there, same passwords, same network configuration, Windows 2000 Server must have done an "Upgrade" install and preserved the registry. The only password I didn't have was to the "Admin" account, of which I was able to reset it from one of my other accounts with admin access. When I went to reinstall the OS, it asked me if I wanted to try and repair the current version on the hard drive and I hit yes. I think that was the key. The normal repair seems to want to ask for the admin password, and as I said the password I had set for the admin account was not working anymore.
| "I can see if I want anything done right around here, I'll have to do it myself!" | Moe Howard |
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Post #1,957
7/16/01 5:40:57 PM
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Install sets
With HDD as large as they are now, it makes sense to maintain install sets - just copy the CD to your HDD. I have a directory called Install and under that are all my bits and bobs.
qts
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Post #1,961
7/16/01 6:20:04 PM
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That is very much what I am doing
usually all the drivers get kept under an C:\\INSTALL or C:\\DRIVERS directory and get installed from there. That way if someone loses the install CD, they can pull the files from that directory off of their hard drive. That is, unless they deleted it to save room? :(
But it does come in handy to copy the /WIN98/ directory from the CD to the hard drive C:\\INSTALL\\WIN98\\ because sometimes the OS does not detect the CD-ROM after a reboot because it doesn't have the Motherboard IDE controller set up yet, D'oh! It is easier then to pull the files from the hard drive. Either that or set up a DOS CD-ROM driver and then pull it from there.
I think some big name computer companies use c:\\windows\\options\\ to store their cab files, driver files, etc on the hard drive.
| "I can see if I want anything done right around here, I'll have to do it myself!" | Moe Howard |
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