Win2000 hangs at boot up

[imported_deathblow]

I believe my hard drive is bad but in the interest of research, I am searching for opinions.


I have a system with three hard drives, all partitioned and one containing a partition with Windows 2000 on it. Yesterday, my computer freezes at the desktop. It does not respond to any commands so I press the reset button. When the computer boots, it hangs at the Windows 2000 splash screen (where it says "starting up").
All attempts to get it too boot up completely fail. I tried safe mode with the same results.

I took the hard drive out and had a friend put it in his external enclosure and and all the data is there. He tried copying the drive but found that some of the system files were corrupt. I have an image I can try to restore but if i do that on the same drive, I could loose all my data. So I plan on restore the image on another drive or just installing a windows 2000 fresh.

 

[Zepper]

run a "logged" boot - you'll quickly find what's missing.
.bh..

 

[LiLithTecH]

Or boot with the Win2k CD and do a REPAIR.

 

[imported_deathblow]

I will try this and report back with the results in a day or so. Thanks for the reply.

 

[imported_deathblow]

Originally posted by: Zepper
run a "logged" boot - you'll quickly find what's missing.
.bh..

If I do this and find something missing, then what? Thanks for the reply and I will post back results.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: deathblow

Originally posted by: Zepper
run a "logged" boot - you'll quickly find what's missing.
.bh..

If I do this and find something missing, then what? Thanks for the reply and I will post back results.

Another idea is to do a parallell install (to, say, Win2k directory on C and then update it to the same service packs and all, and then copy the SYSTEM32 files (only the files - not subdirectories) from the parallel into the original system32 directory, and see if that will let you boot. Make a backup copy of \winnt\system32 first....

 

[Rottie]

I remembered 2 days ago I had same problem like yours but I don't think it has to do with your hard drive when it hangs on win2k splash screen. What did I find out was something mystery or unexplained BIOS FSB change so I had to correct FSB setting and it worked.

 

[imported_deathblow]

Ok. so here is the update. I tried a new install of Windows 2000 with the purpose of just copying over the files that I needed from the original install. After the installation program copied the files and setup needed to reboot to complete setup, I got a Stop 0xD1 Driver IRQ Not less or Equal. I rebooted and windows stopped responding at the Windows 2000 start up screen. I tried installing a couple more times but each time windows stopped responding at the same spot. I am at a loss now because this was a completely different drive I installed windows onto. So now I am going to remove LAN card and sound card, and try booting up then. If that does not work, I will replace the IDE cables and try that. If that does not work, I will flash the bios and see if that helps.

Am I missing something?

 

[eydolic]

Do you O/C? If not, then you probably need to test your RAM. If it isn't your RAM, I'd say it's either the motherboard or processor. IRQL_NOT LESS OR EQUAL is a general system instability error, normally caused by one of the three. Oh, four. PSU, too.

 

[LiLithTecH]

What you missed was either doing a REPAIR or PARALLEL INSTALL rather than
a Full install over the top of the OS.

The STOP ERROR you are recieving can be caused by BAD Drivers or Hardware.

Do you have any USB devices attached?

 

[imported_deathblow]

Originally posted by: eydolic
Do you O/C? If not, then you probably need to test your RAM. If it isn't your RAM, I'd say it's either the motherboard or processor. IRQL_NOT LESS OR EQUAL is a general system instability error, normally caused by one of the three. Oh, four. PSU, too.

I do not OC.
I am in the process of testing my RAM right now. I will let you know the results.

 

[imported_deathblow]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
What you missed was either doing a REPAIR or PARALLEL INSTALL rather than
a Full install over the top of the OS.

The STOP ERROR you are recieving can be caused by BAD Drivers or Hardware.

Do you have any USB devices attached?

I did not install over the top of the OS. I installed windows 2000 on a completely different drive with only that drive plugged into the mobo. I have three hard drives. The one with the original OS on it, the one with the new OS on it, and a third drive that holds only misc files.

Ref. the stop error, I am going to remove my LAN card and sound card and retry. I have never had a problem in the past with installing when they are in the case but maybe now there is an issue.

 

[imported_deathblow]

Update**

I am now receiving, "Unknown Flash Type" message after POST. I have attempted to upgrade the bios but receive the same message.