win 2K won't finish loading

[novice]

This system is driving me nuts. Has been stable and reliable until today when I replaced the CD-Rom drive with a DVD-Rom drive. It rebooted during the restart and hasn't been able to finish loading windows ever since. I disconnnected the new DVD drive, but still no cigar. I blew all the dust out with canned air, tested the memory with memtest 86, tested fine. Tried a different power supply, no change. Current PSU is a two year old Sparkle 350W unit. Also replaced the IDE cables. Tried to start in safe mode, gets to a blue screen, but reboots too fast for me to read what it says. Kind of at my wits end here.
System specs:
MSI KT3 Ultra 2 Via KT333 chipset
XP1700 T-Bred B yes it was overclocked, but wouldn't work at default, either
2x256 mb PNY Optima PC-2700
Asus Geforce 4 Ti4200 128 mb
Maxtor 80 gig D740X hard drive master
Maxtor 40 gig D740X slave
Optorite 48x16x48 CDRW
Pioneer DVD-Rom
Was a Sparkle 350W PSU also tried cheap Raidmax 320W unit
Windows 2000 Professional
BIOS looks fine, tried to boot from Windows CD, tried repair option, tried safe modes. nothing.
Am I right to assume this is a hardware problem? at this point, I figure it is either CPU or motherboard. The new DVD Rom drive, a Sony from newegg works fine in my Shuttle AN35N Ultra system, so I think I can rule out a bad drive. The Pioneer drive now in the problem system was working fine in the shuttle system before, so I think it was a coincidence that it just happened to flake out when I installed the new drive. Appreciate any other ideas or suggestions. Maybe it is just time to build a new system. Hope I can scrape up the necessary bucks.....

 

[mechBgon]

Try another Repair, but this way:

1) Unplug your network cable to keep the system isolated from the Internet. You're going to end up with a "raw" Win2000 that is prey to worms for the interim

2) Download ZoneAlarm firewall software from here: link. Burn that to CD or put it on a USB key or something. Firewall protection while you're vulnerable, check. If you have a cable/DSL router, that can do the firewalling too.

3) Begin Win2000 Setup from CD. It'll ask if you want to Repair or to do a fresh install. This first time, choose fresh install.

4) Let Win2000 Setup get revved up and it'll EULA you and then ask you where to install. Aim it at the existing C:\ partition and it will spot the existing C:\WINNT installation and offer to Repair it. NOW choose Repair, and let 'er rip. 🙂

5) When it gets to the desktop, you can install your ZoneAlarm and your motherboard/NIC drivers, and preferably your antivirus software too, and then plug in your network cable and get your antivirus software updated, then go to Windows Update about five times 😛 to load up all your patches.

That's enough to make Windows adopt 100% new hardware, so if that doesn't work, check your old MSI for leaking capacitors. Good luck! 🙂

 

[novice]

Thanks for the reply, mechBgon. I am booting from the CD as I type. I will try to fresh install then repair and see if that does the trick. I already had zonealarm installed, and use a D-Link router for my cable modem. The problem is my teenage sons, they love the instant messenger programs and "never met a download they didn't like". Hence they pick up virii and malware, spyware early and often. That was the main reason I got the DVD-Rom drive was to keep my oldest son off of my machine. Now I have to get the other one back up and running or there will be a mutiny! Thanks again for the suggestions. I will post the outcome of these latest attempts at recovery.

 

[mechBgon]

You could make Restricted User accounts for yourself and for your sons, and use the Administrator account only at need, and the RU accounts the rest of the time. This would put a stop to almost all software installations. The key is for your own account to be a RU account so that even if they sneak onto your own session, they haven't gained any privileges by doing so.

That would require that you choose "Users must always enter a username & password" when Setup asks. It's not without its drawbacks, but it's a good practice in your situation. If you need to exercise an Administrator-only privilege while logged in as your RU account, then hold down the Shift key and right-click what you need to run (Defrag, for example), then choose Run As... and enter the Administrator account & password as credentials. That particular process will run at Admin privilege levels.

Hope that helps, if it comes to that 🙂

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: novice
This system is driving me nuts. Has been stable and reliable until today when I replaced the CD-Rom drive with a DVD-Rom drive. It rebooted during the restart and hasn't been able to finish loading windows ever since. I disconnnected the new DVD drive, but still no cigar. I blew all the dust out with canned air, tested the memory with memtest 86, tested fine. Tried a different power supply, no change. Current PSU is a two year old Sparkle 350W unit. Also replaced the IDE cables. Tried to start in safe mode, gets to a blue screen, but reboots too fast for me to read what it says. Kind of at my wits end here.
System specs:
MSI KT3 Ultra 2 Via KT333 chipset
XP1700 T-Bred B yes it was overclocked, but wouldn't work at default, either
2x256 mb PNY Optima PC-2700
Asus Geforce 4 Ti4200 128 mb
Maxtor 80 gig D740X hard drive master
Maxtor 40 gig D740X slave
Optorite 48x16x48 CDRW
Pioneer DVD-Rom
Was a Sparkle 350W PSU also tried cheap Raidmax 320W unit
Windows 2000 Professional
BIOS looks fine, tried to boot from Windows CD, tried repair option, tried safe modes. nothing.
Am I right to assume this is a hardware problem? at this point, I figure it is either CPU or motherboard. The new DVD Rom drive, a Sony from newegg works fine in my Shuttle AN35N Ultra system, so I think I can rule out a bad drive. The Pioneer drive now in the problem system was working fine in the shuttle system before, so I think it was a coincidence that it just happened to flake out when I installed the new drive. Appreciate any other ideas or suggestions. Maybe it is just time to build a new system. Hope I can scrape up the necessary bucks.....

The definitive test is this - can you install another installation of Windows 2000 to a different directory, and have the machine work normally? If so, it's not hardware. If you have a few minutes to do a quick test, boot from the 2000 CD, and tell it to install to a different partition or drive (the slave drive is fine) (and don't format). If you can install 2k, your hardware is probably fine. So then I'd update that version of Windows to the same servicepack you had on the original install, then do a 'bigcopy' of the c:\winnt\system32 files (only the files) from the new install to the bad old install, and see if that fixes things. If not let me know and I'll help out.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: dclive
The definitive test is this - can you install another installation of Windows 2000 to a different directory, and have the machine work normally? If so, it's not hardware. If you have a few minutes to do a quick test, boot from the 2000 CD, and tell it to install to a different partition or drive (the slave drive is fine) (and don't format). If you can install 2k, your hardware is probably fine. So then I'd update that version of Windows to the same servicepack you had on the original install, then do a 'bigcopy' of the c:\winnt\system32 files (only the files) from the new install to the bad old install, and see if that fixes things. If not let me know and I'll help out.

Also, make a quick backup of your system32 directory (the entire thing) on your old OS install prior to doing this, so you can more easily go back to the way it was if need be.

Once you've got that parallel install on there, there are all kinds of troubleshooting steps that can be done.

 

[novice]

Thanks for the suggestions. Our attempts to repair have proven fruitless. Keep getting the same error :
stop 0x0000001E
kmode_exception_not handled
addr EB481A59 Base at EB 48000 Date stamp 3d90d 765 Cdr 4_2K.sys

My friend thinks this is definitely a hardware problem. I replaced the ram with a known good stick of Crucial, still does it. Won't finish installing windows. Am going to try a clean install on a new hard drive to see if it can be made to work. Otherwise, I am thinking new motherboard and possibly new cpu. Newegg has the XP2000's for around $57 and quality Nforce 2 boards for less than $70. Can probably squeeze them into the budget.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I do appreciate the efforts.

 

[novice]

just a quick update. Am in the process of a clean install on a new hard drive. Seems to be progressing normally. If it takes, I will install the old hard drive as a slave, hopefully be able to recover any needed data, and then reformat it. Fingers crossed. Still don't know why it decided to become fubar, but if I can recover it without any additional expenditures, I will be happy. (Already had new hard drive on hand from previous maxtor RMA) Maybe I should have done it first. Thanks again for the assistance.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: novice
Thanks for the suggestions. Our attempts to repair have proven fruitless. Keep getting the same error :
stop 0x0000001E
kmode_exception_not handled
addr EB481A59 Base at EB 48000 Date stamp 3d90d 765 Cdr 4_2K.sys

My friend thinks this is definitely a hardware problem. I replaced the ram with a known good stick of Crucial, still does it. Won't finish installing windows. Am going to try a clean install on a new hard drive to see if it can be made to work. Otherwise, I am thinking new motherboard and possibly new cpu. Newegg has the XP2000's for around $57 and quality Nforce 2 boards for less than $70. Can probably squeeze them into the budget.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I do appreciate the efforts.

Did you ever install any Roxio software ("EZ-CD Creator" and the like) on that system? Because that driver looks like a CD-burning driver that 3rd-party software installs. When you changed out your CD for a DVD, that driver might be incompatible, and cause the crashes. I would try booting into the "Recovery Console"/"Safe Mode Command Prompt only", and find that driver and rename it to something other than .SYS, and then it won't be able to load any more.

The other possibility, is if the mobo IDE ports are somehow mis-configured or damaged. Try disabling UDMA mode/setting the drive to PIO mode in the BIOS setup, and see if that fixes anything. I once had a problem with a not-fully-ATAPI-version-1.2-compatible CD drive, that XP really flaked out on. Older versions of MS Windows tend to be more tolerant of older non-standard IDE CDs, but newer ones really require standards-compliant ones. I had to disable DMA mode, both in the BIOS and inside of Windows, for it to operate even remotely correctly.

Testing a fresh (parallel) install, on the same hardware, is a good idea, and should rule out whether the hardware itself is defective or not.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: novice
Thanks for the suggestions. Our attempts to repair have proven fruitless. Keep getting the same error :
stop 0x0000001E
kmode_exception_not handled
addr EB481A59 Base at EB 48000 Date stamp 3d90d 765 Cdr 4_2K.sys

My friend thinks this is definitely a hardware problem. I replaced the ram with a known good stick of Crucial, still does it. Won't finish installing windows. Am going to try a clean install on a new hard drive to see if it can be made to work. Otherwise, I am thinking new motherboard and possibly new cpu. Newegg has the XP2000's for around $57 and quality Nforce 2 boards for less than $70. Can probably squeeze them into the budget.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I do appreciate the efforts.

I seriously doubt this started as a hardware problem. You may have one now though. You likely have a problem with a driver or filter driver that is failing to load. If you haven't ripped your computer and/or OS all to shreds, make a parallel install and send me a zipped copy of your Registry's system hive found in windows\system32\config PM me for my email addy. I'll fix it and send it back along with a list of changes.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Smilin

Originally posted by: novice
Thanks for the suggestions. Our attempts to repair have proven fruitless. Keep getting the same error :
stop 0x0000001E
kmode_exception_not handled
addr EB481A59 Base at EB 48000 Date stamp 3d90d 765 Cdr 4_2K.sys

My friend thinks this is definitely a hardware problem. I replaced the ram with a known good stick of Crucial, still does it. Won't finish installing windows. Am going to try a clean install on a new hard drive to see if it can be made to work. Otherwise, I am thinking new motherboard and possibly new cpu. Newegg has the XP2000's for around $57 and quality Nforce 2 boards for less than $70. Can probably squeeze them into the budget.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I do appreciate the efforts.

I seriously doubt this started as a hardware problem. You may have one now though. You likely have a problem with a driver or filter driver that is failing to load. If you haven't ripped your computer and/or OS all to shreds, make a parallel install and send me a zipped copy of your Registry's system hive found in windows\system32\config PM me for my email addy. I'll fix it and send it back along with a list of changes.

Easier to have them run NTBACKUP and then take the newly backed up registry from c:\winnt\repair.... (and in 2000, it's c:\winnt\repair\regback)...