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Thread ID: 59741	2005-07-11 10:20:00	Can someone help with a Win2k Upgrade and formatting problem?:-)	Robert_Pike (8505)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
371298	2005-07-11 10:20:00	I recently upgraded to win2k under the advise of a friend as i was having some driver issues. This has presented the following problems: I made some errors upgrading and have ended up with more than one copy of the operating system on the pc, this has led to substantially reduced harddisc space which i need (i only have 8 gig). Win2k does not have a restart in dos mode option ( only a command prompt whilst in windows) therefore not allowing a format to take place as windows is still running. I have created a boot disc for win2k (four 3.5 inch floppies) but i suspect that the bios setting does not recognise the cd-rom on start up and i am concerned that once i achieve a format that i will not be able to instal any operating system at all. The bios does recognise the 3.5 inch floppy obviously, and after considering the present problems , along with the fact that i may have old inactive viral files a format would definitely be the best option now. My pc is a pentium 3 with 128 ram and standard components like cd writer, modem and soundblaster soundcard. I think the main questions to ask are: how do i format the main disc? Can i be sure that the boot discs will get the computer running enough to do a full install from the win2k cd-rom, or, can i alter the bios to ensure that he cd-rom will be recognised upon startup so i can install windows ( if it can be made to work this way at all)? Thanks in advance for anyone who may be able to help... regards rob.	Robert_Pike (8505)
371299	2005-07-11 10:56:00	If the BIOS detects the cd, (see if it picks it up on secondary Master/Slave in the BIOS), change the bootdisk to cd in the BIOS. Then save the BIOS settings. Then chuck the 2000 cd in. And see if it gets to the setup screen. If it does, hopefully it'll ask for a previous version of Windows like 98. If it does chuck the 98 cd/disk/s in and hopefully it'll install properly. Once Windows 2k has finished installing, change the bootdisk in the BIOS, back to the hard drive. And save settings / reboot.	Speedy Gonzales (78)
371300	2005-07-11 11:52:00	You have two win 2ks + win98 or just two win 2k's? You can have parallal installation with win2k, but it can get messy. You deactivate in the unwanted ones boot.ini could delete the folders (could probably do it from the, DOS like, Repair Console accessed via booting the win 2k CD), but is would be safer to to a clean install. As Speedy says, change the boot order so that the CD is listed first, no need to change it back because it will just carry on looking for a drive to boot if there is no CD Rom in the drive.	Murray P (44)
371301	2005-07-11 21:40:00	As Speedy says, change the boot order so that the CD is listed first, no need to change it back because it will just carry on looking for a drive to boot if there is no CD Rom in the drive. And unlike a floppy, it will continue looking for boot devices if you do have a CD in the drive & it isn't a valid boot disk. The best thing to do would be to wipe everything. you can do this by deleting any partitions on your hard drive. there is an option to modify partitions in the windows 200 setup (I think it is one of the first screens after detecting your hardware) - it will present you with a list of partitions you can install to & you can press a key (can't remember what key, it will tell you) to delete a partition. If you can't boot off CDROM, do a google search for boot disks. most of them load CDROM drivers so you can navagate to the setup program on the CD & run it. I'm not sure if there are any boot disks that will automatically boot up the CD.	Greven (91)
371302	2005-07-11 21:50:00	As the others have advised, back up all needed data (bookmarks, email etc) and reformat the drive. If the CD player is having issues, it may be because the generic cd driver file in Windows is corrupt. Unlikely to be BIOS after a faulty upgrade. So long as you have your 4 boot disks ready, and the CD boot/install disk as well, you are good to go :)	Myth (110)
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