Trouble installing Windows 2000

[SeaBass]

Hi Everybody,

I\'m having real trouble trying to install Windows 2000 Professional.  Whether I try to upgrade over Windows 98 or install on a clean formatted disk I get this after the computer reboots:
\"Microsoft Windows is scanning your Hardware\" or something like that... then nothing.  My computer should be (barely) able to run Windows 2000.

Gateway
Pentium 200 MMX
64 MB SDRAM
3.2 GB HD
Latest BIOS

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[nsafreak]

With a rig like that it might take Windows 2000 a while to scan your hardware, we\'re talking a couple of hours here. You are REALLY pushing it trying to run it on that particular system. I sure hope you don\'t plan on going quickly in Windows 2000.

Yes, I\'m smarter than you and yes I can read your thoughts. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!

[SeaBass]

Nevermind... it\'s ME for ME.

[Big_Z]

Stick with 98SE if that is what you have.
Faster, more stable, uses less memory.

[Tom Minerd]

I have installed Windows 2000 Professional on a Dell GM5100 with a 166MHz CPU and 64MB RAM. It should not take that long to detect hardware on the system. It does take longer than modern machines but it won\'t take 2 hours. I do installs over the phone all day long so that pretty much makes me an expert at this so I should know what I\'m talking about. Maybe something wrong with the hardware and some components may need reseated.

[Xenomorph]

i installed Win2k Pro on one of my \"low end\" PCs.

Pentium 233 MMX
64 Megs RAM (four old 16 meg simms i got out of some 486 systems)

Windows 2000 installed fine, and ran surprisingly well.. it wasnt slow at all.
 
a friend of mine installed Win2k on his Pentium 233 laptop as an \"experiment\" of sorts.. he was also surprised at how great it ran.

a Pentium 200MHz + is plenty for Windows 2000. i just wouldnt try it with less than 64 megs ram, ever.

if the system dies on hardware detection, try one of two things:

1. have any weird hardware? like some off-brand or generic chipset based item.. remove it, replace it, etc.

2. start the install before you go to bed, and let it detect all night in case it still is working.....

Windows 2000 installed on my Pentium MMX 233 system just slightly slower than on my Celeron 500 system.

[SeaBass]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback so far.  No I don\'t have any weird hardware, my Gateway is totally stock except that I upgraded the RAM from 32 to 64 MB.  After I read the first post I tried upgrading over Windows ME.  I went to sleep and 6 hours later-nothing.  Just \"Windows is now detecting your hardware configuration.\"  I figured I\'d give up and go back to Windows ME so I used System Restore---what a mess!  I couldn\'t boot into Winows ME or even with my startup disk, I had no idea what to do.  Finally I figured out a way to start up... I have a Linux-Mandrake disk that booted with no problems so I was able to format my hard disk with the Linux utility then get out, reboot and start the fdisk, format, and setup procedure.

My guess is it has something to do with the BIOS or BIOS settings.  I have the latest BIOS but still no go.  Any other ideas?

[AwwwCrap]

OK, I am not sure if this will help you...

1. Try hitting the F5 key when 2000 starts to load this will give you some options, I can\'t recall all the options BUT one is standard PC. Try selecting this....

2. If that does not work, try hitting the F7 key when Windows is installing or detecting IDE/SCSI controllers. Hit F7 a few times... It will not display anything and you will not know if it really did anything untill the install passes your hang location.

What that does is Disable the ACPI ?  Stuff for your controller.

I got the message once during am install to do this, the system was hanging on detecting hardware. After I did the F7 thing it worked?

Hope this helps ya!

Mick686

[Anonymous]

try to disable the that ACPI in the bios too if it\'s there


THE MICK

[SeaBass]

Thanks for the info, Mick.  Next time I feel daring enough to install Windows 2000 I\'ll take your recommendations.

[Anonymous]

dud imk haveing the same [censored] problem

[seiken]

I also had problems installing Win2k Pro.
I would create a FAT32 partition of 30GB(whole drive) and format. I then typed..

C:i386winnt (i also tried with the .exe at the end)

And it would first give me something about not using SmartDrive.. I would bypass that screen and the next screen would say unable to load windows boot loader. The only option available was exit at that step.

What did I do wrong? I\'ve tried so many different things and was never able to clean install Win2k. I ended up installed WinME and upgrading to Win2k from there.

Still bugs me in the back of my mind that WinME is still crawling in my system in one form or another.

Right now I have the upgrade installed with SP2 and converted it to NTFS.

Any suggestions on getting that boot loader to work?

Seiken

[Josetann]

Well, you already have win2k installed now.  You could start the install from Windows, and select the Clean Install method.  That\'ll fix you right up.

Just make sure you backup your documents and settings folder, as it\'ll probably wipe that out (that\'s where your My Documents folder is kept, and usually where your mail files are stored).

[Bud S]

...Had the same problems with installing 2000....my 800 meg,256 ram computer just wouldn\'t cooperate with the setup files ( and other things)....I talked to a guy from Microsoft....told me to get rid of my cheap memory.....2000 server and whistler are a lot more \"pickier\" about memory than any of the previous versions of windows.....had my doubts......tried a 256meg stick from work (from a mainframe)....and geez,everything worked just great..smooth as butter on a hot day.....I guess I \'d better stay away from anymore Best Buy brand X memory from now on.. http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'\' />

[AntiJester]

As JT know, I just installed w2k on a p90, so it will work for you.

[snowboarderdude]

Im having trouble intalling either Win 2000 Pro or Server.
When it says detecting mice and keyboard etc etc it stops and gives me a screen full of  \'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\' . I think its a hardware problem can anyone help me sort it out possibly without changing my hardware? Thx.

[himanshu]

i tried installing win 2000 pro on my p2 266 with 160(32+128) MB RAM system but it hangs with the blue screen reading-setup is starting windows 2000- no matter how i tried to start the setup. i dont know much about bios but my shutdown menu shows standby.
any suggetions?

[Anonymous]

Experiencing the same problem but my screen also shows a number of lines with @@@ followed by several lines with \'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\' . I\'ve tried to rule out hardware problems by stripping down my machine to the bone. Most of the devices I own actually can be found on the Microsoft Compatible Devices lists. The only thing left is that my motherboard (MSI-6166) might cause the problem.

If anyone knows a cause/solution please share it.

[Bubeaucoup]

Experiencing the same problem but my screen also shows a number of lines with @@@ followed by several lines with \'\'\'\'\'\'\'\'\' . I\'ve tried to rule out hardware problems by stripping down my machine to the bone. Most of the devices I own actually can be found on the Microsoft Compatible Devices lists. The only thing left is that my motherboard (MSI-6166) might cause the problem.

Did you find a solution yet?