Help Needed! Upgraded CPU and now Win2k Pro won't boot

[Metropolis2000]

Yesterday I upgraded the CPU in my machine. I went from a 1.2GHz Athlon to an Athlon XP 2400+ (with new HS & fan). Before I did the upgrade I flashed the BIOS to the latest version (May 2002). The system was working fine, no problems whatsoever.

It took a few tries to get a POST but mainly because I had the wrong clock speed set. After setting the jumpers to default, the system recognized the new CPU at the right speed. Good so far.

Then Windows 2000 Pro starts. I get the first (black) screen with the long progress bar the says underneath "For troubleshhoting hit F8......". Then comes the Win 2K splash screen that has a smaller progress bar and says "Starting Up" Copyright 1985-1999 MS Corp. Good so far.

Then comes a blue screen that normally has small message boxes that say "Windows is starting up" and "Applying security policy", etc...but those messages never appear. The system just hung at the blank blue screen. After rebooting it goes thru the first two startup screens I just mentioned then up comes a black screen that says something like "Disks need to be check for consistency" basically a chkdsk or a scandisk. The second paragraph says "Hit any key if you wish to skip the disk check" then it starts to countdown from 10 seconds. 9, 8, 7, then it just hangs at 6 seconds....EVERY time at 6 seconds. Very odd.

Here's what I've tried:
* Tried skipping the disk check, system just hangs
* Tried Safe Mode, I get the black screen with the long progress bar, when it gets to the end it hangs
* Booted from Win2K CD, after it loads a bunch of files you then can hit "R" for the recover utility, hitting "R" gave me a "Please wait" message and it just hangs
* Booted from Win2K CD, after it loads a bunch of files you then can hit "Enter" to install Win 2K, hitting "Enter" gave me a "Please wait" message and it just hangs
* Booted from a DOS floppy, ran a 3 hour scandisk, same results

Any suggestions???

From a DOS prompt I can see all of my files and directories on C: drive. I'll reformat if I have to but I'd like to know if there's any way I can backup important files before doing so. I have an old DOS prgram called Fastwire which works ok, but all filesnames are cut down to 8 characters and finding files like e-mail adress books, IE favorites, etc is a real pain.

Any help would really be appreciated.

System specs:
Epox 8K7A with 5/29/02 BIOS
AMD Athlon XP 2400+
IBM Deskstar 60GB 7200
512MB Crucial DDR 2100
Pioneer A06 DVD writer
Floppy drive
ATI Radeon LE 32MB
300w PS
Windows 2000 Pro (not sure of service pack, maybe SP3?)

 

[xSauronx]

cpu overheating? is the heatsink on backwards in relation to the socket? will it work at lower speed? (different fsb or multiplier?)
you can backup stuff

put the drive as a slave in a working machine (though, i doubt its the drive since it happened when you changed cpus) and backup that way
or if you dont have another machine to use, burn Knoppix to a disc, that will let you browse the windows drive so you can backup stuff elsewhere

still, first thought i get is cpu overheating...or no good

try with the old cpu and see what you get before you do anything with your data or to your drives

 

[Metropolis2000]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Temperatures are ok. CPU is at 32C.
I will try lowering fsb and/or multiplier. Good idea.

I'm a little reluctant to swap the cpu's, since I don't know what condition the thermal pad on the new one will be in once removed and I don't know if I have any Artic Silver left (gotta look for it).