My son's Windows 2000 system crashed.

Mboard: Aopen AX63; BIOS: r1.13, Processor: PIII 500mHz 512mb; 137gb HD (actually Seagate 160); Win2000 Pro sp4.

Bios runs and lists HD and CD, but I can't run Win2000 nor SafeMode (it allowed me to try safemode once but quit and restarted, now I can’t).
Seagate HD CD is all that will boot in CDROM, not win2000 (ntfs) CD, (have been able to see C: 137gb and "quick test" HD and "update" MBR, but Diskwizard's DDO (disk drive overlay) no longer loads at startup) and I don’t want to reformat HD if I can help it.
Bootdisk.com’s Win98 (fat32) floppy is all that will boot in floppy drive, not Win2000 disk 1.

THINGS WE DID RECENTLY:
1. Installed 2005 model Graphics Card: BFG GeForce MX 4000 AGP 128mb. Downloaded and installed Nvidia driver.
2. Installed Dawn of War game. Ran couple of times, and restarted okay.
3. Per GeForce cd’s readme made suggested setup: cmos-bios-chipset changes. ie. disable shadows, disable vga,,blah,blah, init=AGP, aperture=128mb, etc.
4. Per GeForce cd’s readme downloaded mob AX63 bios r1.31 (.bin and .exe) for bios flashing and system driver 4in1.exe update, but have not installed.
5. Downloaded and installed ZipGenius to uncompress the AX63 stuff. Note: errored unzipping AX6313.zip, froze, had to restart and do again.
6. Installed GameDrive from BFG cd (Virtual disk program storage) but did not use yet.
7. My son had AIM (trident) running and left computer on overnite. Next morning was froze up and windows would never start correctly???
8. Also, I had forgotten to turn Norton’s Antivirus back on… (had disabled “5 hrs”) Virus?

Now I’ve tried:
1. via win98 floppy have attempted to copy NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM to C: from another floppy.
2. With Seagate cd have been able to see C: 137gb and "quick test" HD and "update" MBR. But still can’t get Windows running.

What now? I’m not well experienced in DOS. Can I check for virus if cd not booting? Most often used by my son are AIM, msIE and Itunes.

Thanks,
geekdad

Generaly speaking and from my own expierience I would use Windows XP and look for the quality of the power supply unit. The one in my owm pIII sytem was totally sub standard with reagrd to vga upgrade.

Thanks.
Should I put old card back in and see if power is issue?
Or does it sound like things are too messed up now?
Also, revised:
7. My son had left computer on overnite. Next morning he shut down Limewr and launched AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and while it was "verifying" his screen went black. He restarted but Win2000 progress bar never completed before computer would auto restart and repeat.
Now I can't boot HD C: at all..? Win98 floppy is all that will boot in floppy, in dos I can see dir of win2000 CD but can't mount..? And the only CD I can boot (with my limited knowledge) is Seagate's..?
Is there a way to force boot Norton's and/or Win2000 CD? Something I can do in DOS?

Thanks.
Should I put old card back in and see if power is issue?
Or does it sound like things are too messed up now?
Also, revised:
7. My son had left computer on overnite. Next morning he shut down Limewr and launched AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and while it was "verifying" his screen went black. He restarted but Win2000 progress bar never completed before computer would auto restart and repeat.
Now I can't boot HD C: at all..? Win98 floppy is all that will boot in floppy, in dos I can see dir of win2000 CD but can't mount..? And the only CD I can boot (with my limited knowledge) is Seagate's..?
Is there a way to force boot Norton's and/or Win2000 CD? Something I can do in DOS?

Not sure if all your H/W and drivers are compliant with the game's requirements. If you swapped out an older video card for the newer, put back the old without running the game or AIM and leave for a while in 2000 (say over-night). Disable power management for now. Try to isolate a H/W issue first then a S/W issue if you can. If this card is under warrenty, get and exchange (if proven defective). Did you get the BSOD? (Blue screen error)? When 2000 is installed, it does a quick HDD integrity check as well for bad sectors.

Keep in mind that FAT32 cant recognise NTFS contents. You need an NTFS viewer if using legacy O/S. You shoudnt need the DDO from Disk Wizard. This is if the HDD specs dont match your BIOS. Compare the BIOS (write it down) reading with the physical specs of the HDD printed on its label.

In DOS, try the FDISK /MBR to repair the master boot record. Have you tried booting in LAST KNOWN GOOD? If able as well, boot in Safe Mode with Command prompt and do a "CHKDSK C: /R" to check o/s for errors and repair. (may take an hour or so). Good luck.

O' Krap!
After choosing default BIOS setup and then selecting Boot order- CDROM, C, A...
(From another cpu) I downloaded and created NTFS Viewer boot floppy with hopes to view and backup files (and maybe try MEMTest32). But could never see HD CIR, so I got out and restarted. NOW I can't even get into BIOS Setup via delete key and can't boot to anything.

Disconnect your HD.

Reset your CMOS, either by the jumper or by removing the CMOS battery for a few minutes.

See if you can get back into your BIOS now.

Using another computer, download SeaTools Desktop version and create a bootable floppy (or CD if you prefer).

Plug the HD back in on the problem system, put in your bootable floppy (or CD) and turn on your machine. Run the diagnostics on the HD in question. See what comes up.

I agree with Anoobis. There are 2 ways to reset your BIOS; either remove your dime-sized battery (and unplug PC as well for a couple minutes), or put jumper on CLEAR CMOS (sometimes pin 2-3), as per your manual. Then you have to reconfigure your previous settings (date, time, boot sequence, etc), then see if the HDD is detected properly (if "auto detect" ).

Thanks,
I removed CMOS battery for couple minutes.

Flashed 1.13 bios (1999) to most recent AX63 1.31 (2002). Can now boot CDs without Seagate's DDO.

Win 2000 SP3 cd won't repair - error 7..?

With Seagate cd, HD (which is jumpered as master and per Seagate's literature extra limit jumper to allow old machine to see large HD) tests passed; Seagate system test passed with inconsistencies.

Occassionally BIOS wouldn't recognize CDROM-RW or when mounting cd just freezes.
So I put in different CDROM (R only) for now (but my son needs writeable..?)

Try to reinstall win2000 but only sees 33 gb instead of 137 gb.

Reformatt HD using Seagate CD ntfs, but now DDO is installed.

Reinstall Win2000, sees 137gb; says it needs to reformatt. said ok. copies system files, and initializes, then after auto reboot, windows never loads. .? can't proceed with system driver update nor sp4 upgrade...

Help, Thanks,
geekdad

I knew DOS in those days, but remember the basics. If you have Norton's original disk, it should allow you to boot from it and check your HDD for viruses. Not sure if there may be a boot-sector virus. I know with versions of System Works, it allows you to do check (I think if you type HELP /? for commands). See, with Win2K, it does have a DOS shell (basic DOS commands), but not old DOS. If you boot your system, hit F8 key for boot menu, and select "Safe mode with Command prompt", there is limited functionality there. Seems puzzling that you cant even reinstall. Is your CDROM jumper on Slave or Cable-Select? This shouldnt matter, but your BIOS should still detect it either way. (and your HDD on Master). Have you tried to notify Seagate? Is the video card (or other hardware) in warrenty? Even if 2K still installs OK, sounds like there may be something else being overlooked. Good luck.