PCTech Forums

Hi Guys, here's a weird one.

I'm trying to load W2K onto a HDD on which it has been loaded before with no problems.

I've selected "Format Hard Disc" using NTFS as a file system.

Format runs Ok, Initial installation goes Ok, can set up administraotr account, set keyboard & language locales Ok, then all goes belly up when W2K tries to copy files from original CD to HD.

It cannot find certain files under the SP2OEM_EN\I386 folder, example file names are :
Object~1.cls
msdtc.exe
imgthumb.ocx
sol.exe

The list is endless.

Browsing the CD on a different Pc, I can see that the files are there, but with a truncated extension attached to the filename, e.g.
Object~1.cl_
msdtc.ex_

The pc I'm trying to load them on is an old PIII running at 500MHz, I've reset tht BIOS to it's original defaults. This combination has worked before, but I don't know what to try next.

I did copy 2 "missing" files from a working pc (W2K) onto a floppy, and it accepted them Ok.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Col

Nobody have any idea then??

You might try a Windows 2000 Repair to see if that will clean up the install. Do you get an error message when the install fails?

Can you copy the files manually from the CD? If you can't, it may just be that the CD is duff. Do you gave another copy of the CD you could try?

Did you FDISK the drive before trying the W2K installation?

I'd use Win2K's Disk Management to format any partitions other than the root. Then, personally, I would want to make absolutely certain that my root partition [C] is well-and-truly formatted. To do that, I'd use a Win98 boot floppy. First of all, go into the BIOS and set the first boot device to FDD. Then turn off the computer and turn on again with the Win98 boot floppy inserted. You'll not want CD support at that stage. This will get you to an A prompt, where you can envoke FDISK, FORMAT, or whatever.

However, before formatting C, it'd be an idea to type fdisk /mbr at the A prompt. This will clear the existing Master Boot Record and give you a clean sheet (doing that will prevent Win2K booting; once Win2K has been reinstalled, a new MBR will have been written there). Then format C. Then, at the A prompt again, type sys c: (this will make that partition DOS-bootable; you may or may not want that). Alternatively, you could use format c/s.

You'd then need to power off, turn on again and enter the BIOS. There, set the boot sequence to CD first. Turn the computer off then turn on again with the Win2K installation CD inserted. Follow the instructions for installing Win2K. One of the first things it'll ask about is whether you want to format to NTFS. Accept this. If the partition size is 2GB or more, it'll format to the default cluster size of 4KB.

As soon as the installation of Win2K has completed, install Service Pack 2 (SP2). Definitely install SP2, as it's pretty much essential. I'd also recommend you apply the hotfix for the hard disk cache writeback problem (Q281672.exe), if that's an issue also.