Thread: Installing Wiindows 2000

I have built a computer with Pentium D, 1GB RAM, GeForce 7 graphics card etc. and i am currently trying to install Windows 2000. I have 2 Hard Drives: one is already occupied by two versions of Windows XP and the other is blank, i think. I also have a copy of the windows 2000 installation CD.

I have tried various ways of installing it but the computer refuses to boot. How should i go about getting this to work?

P.S i need an answer quite urgently as i am leaving for italy tommorow and ideally need it up and running by then.

Why do you want to install 2000? Why not get Vista? Then you would have Vista and XP on one computer, which I think would be ideal.

Im installing 2000 because i happen to have a 2000 disk.

Now can someone who has a brain give me a hand?

Two things could be happening
1.) BIOS isn't setup to have the CD boot first, have to change that in the BIOS
2.) The CD, if it's a copy and not an original, may not have the correct boot files on it. Either you need to make a new CD with the required boot files or research how to put them on a USB stick. Once they're on the USB stick you can boot to that, and with the correct boot files it will then boot to the CD

Also this may or may not work, never tried it with different OS's. Put in an OS with working boot files, then once it begins to boot switch it out with the 2000 CD.





I think that's the question you had...

Originally Posted by The P-manator

Why do you want to install 2000? Why not get Vista? Then you would have Vista and XP on one computer, which I think would be ideal.

lol why would you get vista??? First of all XP is better than Vista at the moment. Everything on XP runs at a faster frame rate than Vista...

Anyway... Hazz you can try making a partition on a drive then try installing it. Ya Kabooom can also be right but normally by default the boot is always to the CD and if there is no CD in the computer than it boots to the hard drive.

If all goes to fail change the jumper on your CD drive to master and your hard drive to slave. By doing this you open up your computer get tweezers and move the little square jumper.

Originally Posted by FancyShoes

Originally Posted by The P-manator

Why do you want to install 2000? Why not get Vista? Then you would have Vista and XP on one computer, which I think would be ideal.

lol why would you get vista??? First of all XP is better than Vista at the moment. Everything on XP runs at a faster frame rate than Vista...

Anyway... Hazz you can try making a partition on a drive then try installing it. Ya Kabooom can also be right but normally by default the boot is always to the CD and if there is no CD in the computer than it boots to the hard drive.

If all goes to fail change the jumper on your CD drive to master and your hard drive to slave. By doing this you open up your computer get tweezers and move the little square jumper.

Erm, will you listen to yourself ???!!

Do you actually KNOW which operating systems are designed for which purpouses ?!

You say that XP runs things at a faster frame rate than Vista at the moment. True but you are talking about games when you speak of frame-rates, right ?

He wants to install Windows 2000. If you know anything about OS's then that should tell you that the running of computer games is not what he is planning to do; moreover it is system stability. the Windows 2000 platform is FAR more stable than XP.

PS. No !! Do NOT change the jumper settings on the CD-drive or the hard-drive. That WONT work !!

Erm, you have TWO versions of XP on ONE hard-drive ?

How ?? and Why ??

Anyway..... Make sure the other hard-drive is pre-formatted.

Open up your PC, diconnect the molex power connector to the drive which contains XP. Boot the computer from the CD and install on the other hard-drive. If it isthe CD which refuses to boot, then I expect it has something to do with the CD itself.

There's no reason to ever touch a jumper anymore, unless it is to reset the motherboard. Otherwise never touch the jumpers, the motherboard's BIOS is quite capable of handling boot order these days.

What I meant by using the USB stick to boot to the CD is that sometimes when you copy an OS without making it an ISO then burning it that way is that the boot files don't copy over. So you would need to research how to make those, which can be a major pain in the ass.

Also I'm not sure why you would want to install 2000 when you have XP, but whatever floats your boat.

WHAT?! moving the jumper on your hard drive or CD drive would not reset anything if you move jumpers on your motherboard... yes it would reset things but moving the jumpers to master or slave on your hard drive or CD drive does not reset anything it only changes which drive to boot off of. Master=boots to. Slave=boots to if selected. Then there is Cable select which is usually default on most computers because then you can change it to slave or master in your BIOS.

Right.

Just to clarify a few things.

I have two XPs on a hard drive because one fucked up and i couldn't be bothered to format the drive so i just installed another.

The BIOS is set to boot to CD, but now i have another problem.

The computer will not recognise the CD drive nor the Hard Drive. I have the wide cable (sorry i'm not good with names of cables) connected from the motherboard to the hard drive and then on to the CD drive. And the power cables are connected and i have power in the CD drive, but it cannot find any drives.

Originally Posted by Hazz

Right.

Just to clarify a few things.

I have two XPs on a hard drive because one fucked up and i couldn't be bothered to format the drive so i just installed another.

The BIOS is set to boot to CD, but now i have another problem.

The computer will not recognise the CD drive nor the Hard Drive. I have the wide cable (sorry i'm not good with names of cables) connected from the motherboard to the hard drive and then on to the CD drive. And the power cables are connected and i have power in the CD drive, but it cannot find any drives.

Its an Intelligent Drive Electronics parallel ribbon cable.
Hmm, this is a tricky one. I solve all of my IT problems through trial and error. you should have 2 IDE ports on your m/board. Try connecting it to the other one. Failing that try a new cable. Infact what id do if I were you, would be to buy two IDE cables and have a look on your m/board. Attach one IDE cable from one m/board port to your hard drive, then attach the other cable to the other port and attach it to your CD drive.

The other IDE port (if it is one) is smaller than the other one and so the IDE cable does not fit it.

It also says Floppy 1 on it. It is the only port remotely like the IDE port on the Motherboard.

The smaller port is for your floppy drive (black one at bottom of above image)

You should have two of the IDE ports ( the green and white ones in the pic, although colors vary) One primary, one is secondary...allowing for 4 drives total.

Some weird motherboards only have one.

You can see a notch in the port...most cables have a tab that fits in it so you can only put it in one way, although some cables don't have the tab, so it is possible to put it in upside down. If your cable doesn't have a tab, try it the other way, it won't hurt anything is it's wrong..it just won't work. Some computer won't even boot with it in the wrong way.

If that's not what causing the problem, make sure that don't have both drives set as master or both as slave. Don't use CS for cable select, as you need a special CS cable for that to work (cable select cables have a twist in two of the wires)

If that doesn't work, get back with us.

No way is that your machine mac, I have the mental picture of layers of Ptretzels, cookie crumbs, toenail clippings etc all glued down with caffeine rich dried coffee stains, or is it.. pueke from that party..

LOL! That's just a random image I pulled from the web....but you're real close it's scary. And it's cigarette ashes glued down with coca-cola, my keyboard is a nightmare...The "home" key is melted from a smoke I dropped on it. My case has extra fans in the front and back and on the back of the PS all attached with MacGyver's best friend...drywall screws.

Mines got a thick layer of sawdust in it firmly glued down with nicotine, a hard disk that's still hanging from it's wires only (it locks up if I lay it flat...) no covers, a cpu fan that keeps stopping, A VDU that I have to keep thumping (it 'wineglasses' about 40& in the middle). And I think the whole thing is firmly stuck to the bench... But it's a 'sacrificial' PC used only for the net and email.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

Mines got a thick layer of sawdust in it firmly glued down with nicotine, a hard disk that's still hanging from it's wires only (it locks up if I lay it flat...) no covers, a cpu fan that keeps stopping, A VDU that I have to keep thumping (it 'wineglasses' about 40& in the middle). And I think the whole thing is firmly stuck to the bench... But it's a 'sacrificial' PC used only for the net and email.

My PC is as clean as an operating theatre !! ..........

....... all covered in blood from the amount of times ive had to kick the damn thing !

The cables are all the right way round, and the jumpers are correctly set as master, but it still does not recognise any IDEs.

Please help, i have no idea what to try next.

Have you bought new cable ?
It could be that your m/board just died.

Also...........

Try taking out the CMOS battery (itsas small silver flat battery)
Leave it out for 2-3 miinutes, then boot your computer up, then shut it down and replace the battery.

(This is the quickest way to restore the bios to its factory settings)

then try again. (you WILL need to reset the time and date through the bios after though)

I have tried a different cable and the motherboard must work otherwise it wouldn't turn on. I will try the battery idea now and get back to you.

The battery trick doesn't work either.

Originally Posted by Hazz

The cables are all the right way round, and the jumpers are correctly set as master, but it still does not recognise any IDEs.

Please help, i have no idea what to try next.

the jumpers? there is only one jumper on each drive.
the HDD must be the master, the CD-ROM set to slave.

Originally Posted by Hazz

I have tried a different cable and the motherboard must work otherwise it wouldn't turn on. I will try the battery idea now and get back to you.

Just because something "turns on" doesnt mean it works. Unfortunately I have thought of everything I can think of. Sounds like its in desperate need of a technician. (and take it to a proper techie too !! not someone working in a computer retail store who THINKS they know all about computers because they know how to build-one. Take it somewhere where they will actually TEST the motherboard for you.

One more question though.....When you turn the machine on, do you get any "beeps" from the pc speaker iniside ?? If so, how many ?

one more thing, set the blank drive to master.
if the XP drive was set up with another computer then it will only work with that computer. this is microsofts anti piracy at work.
set the empty drive to master and the one with XP to slave.

Originally Posted by Hazz

I have tried a different cable and the motherboard must work otherwise it wouldn't turn on. I will try the battery idea now and get back to you.

Leohopkins can be right about the motherboard. Even if the the computer can be turned on there still might be a problem with it. If you have tried moving around the jumpers, tried using the 2000 disk in another computer (mabye the disk is the problem). Made sure all the cables are connected properly then obviously its your motherboard or your CD drive. For example one day when there was power outage my AGP slot on my computer did not work anymore so I went to go get another computer of course when I went to get another motherboard I upgraded to PCI so then I had to buy a new video card >.>.