Cannot find Windows 2000 Installation!

I am sure that a lot of folks posted such a question before, but help again.

My Win2K computer crashed for unknown reason. If I restart in Safe Mode,
it still boot OK. So I tried to fix the problem whatever it is using
Win2K Pro CD for repair, but I got an error massage that says: Setup
cannot find a Windows 2000 installation to repair.
This is frustrating because the Window 2000 OS is there. I suppose the
Setup program looks for a piece of basic file but it is probably somehow
damaged or lost.
Can anyone tell me how I can save this HDD instead of reinstalling a new
Window which would make installed program unavailable? (I don't have an
emergency disk.)
Help will be appreciated highly.

 

Recovery console may not recognize the third-party disk controller but
running a repair is likely to do nothing. Most likely some hardware failure
or driver corruption is to blame. Start again in safe mode and check the
event log and device manager for clues.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]



"Beyond X" wrote:<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>I am sure that a lot of folks posted such a question before, but help
>again.
>
> My Win2K computer crashed for unknown reason. If I restart in Safe Mode,
> it still boot OK. So I tried to fix the problem whatever it is using Win2K
> Pro CD for repair, but I got an error massage that says: Setup cannot find
> a Windows 2000 installation to repair.
> This is frustrating because the Window 2000 OS is there. I suppose the
> Setup program looks for a piece of basic file but it is probably somehow
> damaged or lost.
> Can anyone tell me how I can save this HDD instead of reinstalling a new
> Window which would make installed program unavailable? (I don't have an
> emergency disk.)
> Help will be appreciated highly.
>
>
>
> <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

Dave,
Thanks for the reply.
I checked event log through Administrator's tool/Event Viewer in Safe
mode. One thing I noticed was a message that failure of Frame work 2.0.
In the beginning I attempted to install drivers for the onboard
Ethernet. It required to first install Frame work (I do not know
anything about it.) So I downloaded dotnetfx.exe from Microsoft and
stalled in the computer. Later I found out the onboard Ethernet device
is incompatible with Win2K. After seeing the event log failure message,
I got a hunch and moved the HDD to another computer. Surprise it started
in Normal mode. So I put back the HDD to the original computer and
started in Safe Mode. In Device Manager this Ethernet device is listed
normally except that No drivers installed. But thinking that the
presence of this device could be the culprit of the problem, I
uninstalled it and restarted. Bingo! it started in Normal mode except it
later asked for the driver CD for the device.
So I can now start computer normally but without Internet. Perhaps
adding a PCI ethernet card will do.
Thanks for giving me the useful suggestion.

Dave Patrick wrote:<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> Recovery console may not recognize the third-party disk controller but
> running a repair is likely to do nothing. Most likely some hardware
> failure or driver corruption is to blame. Start again in safe mode and
> check the event log and device manager for clues.
>
> <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

Good to hear. Also to display hidden devices, non-Plug and Play devices, and
devices not attached to the computer (commonly known as "ghosted" or
"phantom" devices) Save the following two lines as a file then execute.

--------------------------setdev.bat---------------------
set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc
---------------------------------------------------------

Then, View|Show Hidden Devices to remove or reconfigure these devices. Do
not edit the registry.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]



"Beyond X" wrote:<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> Dave,
> Thanks for the reply.
> I checked event log through Administrator's tool/Event Viewer in Safe
> mode. One thing I noticed was a message that failure of Frame work 2.0.
> In the beginning I attempted to install drivers for the onboard Ethernet.
> It required to first install Frame work (I do not know anything about it.)
> So I downloaded dotnetfx.exe from Microsoft and stalled in the computer.
> Later I found out the onboard Ethernet device is incompatible with Win2K.
> After seeing the event log failure message, I got a hunch and moved the
> HDD to another computer. Surprise it started in Normal mode. So I put back
> the HDD to the original computer and started in Safe Mode. In Device
> Manager this Ethernet device is listed normally except that No drivers
> installed. But thinking that the presence of this device could be the
> culprit of the problem, I uninstalled it and restarted. Bingo! it started
> in Normal mode except it later asked for the driver CD for the device.
> So I can now start computer normally but without Internet. Perhaps adding
> a PCI ethernet card will do.
> Thanks for giving me the useful suggestion. <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->