Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.setup (More info?)
One of our "workstations" running W2K has suddenly
developed a problem that I can't seem to overcome, no
matter what I do....
Late this past week, suddenly the CD-ROM installed in this
system "disappeared" from the Windows Explorer, so I
checked in the Device Manager for any "issues". The
Device Manger shows a yellow "!" over the drive and the
details sections reflects a problem in loading the drivers
for the drive. My initial reaction was that the old CD-
ROM had finally "died" (it was almost four years old and
NOT a particularly "good" one anyway...), so I replaced it
with a new CD-R/W ...
The problem is that even with the new CD, I still have a
problem with the drive which still reflects an issue with
loading the drivers.
I tried to re-install Windows by doing a "repair" of the
existing installation after "booting" from the SP4 CD
(naturally, the "ERD" disk for this PC is "toast" and
cannot be read anymore so I had to do the "automatic"
repair after the installation process "found" the existing
W2K install).
After deleting all the 'normal' files to accomplish this
repair, I then got an error message after it had begun to
copy files to the hard disk that the file "nt5inf.cat"
could not be found and the prompt was to enter the 'path'
to locate this file. Apparently, the installation process
had somehow "lost" the CD-ROM drive and could no longer
access it...
After examining ANOTHER W2K computer, I 'manually' entered
the path statement of the requested file and
it "incremented" to another file it could not find (since
it no longer had access to the CD-ROM) - which I manually
searched out on the ohter PC and entered THAT path
statement...
This whole process then continued and I had to manually
enter a path for approximately 70 some files that the
installation process required and could not "find"...
and I STILL have no CD-ROM available in this installation.
As a test, I took a brand new hard disk right outta the
box and installed it into this PC and loaded a fresh,
clean installation of W2K without a single "hitch" -
flawless installation from start to finish. From this, I
have to suspect that the hardware in this PC is fully
functional and the "error" in the other installation is a
problem with the registry somewhere.
I CANNOT simply format this drive and start from scratch
yet (on the old 30 Gb disk) as there is a phenomenal
amount of data that we NEED to have acccessible NOW for
others on our P2P network. Then there's the unenviable
task of re-installing all the apps that the operator of
this PC needs.
The last time something "ugly" happened to a similar PC's
Windows installation and we had to "format and start from
scratch", it took us something in the neighborhood of
eleven hours just to re-load all the software, configure
user accounts, file "sharing", Internet access, printers,
scanners, and all the rest of the "necessary" software and
hardware needed.....
Somehow there's GOT to be a way to alleviate this problem
WITHOUT having to "blow it all away" and start again from
scratch .....
HELP!
One of our "workstations" running W2K has suddenly
developed a problem that I can't seem to overcome, no
matter what I do....
Late this past week, suddenly the CD-ROM installed in this
system "disappeared" from the Windows Explorer, so I
checked in the Device Manager for any "issues". The
Device Manger shows a yellow "!" over the drive and the
details sections reflects a problem in loading the drivers
for the drive. My initial reaction was that the old CD-
ROM had finally "died" (it was almost four years old and
NOT a particularly "good" one anyway...), so I replaced it
with a new CD-R/W ...
The problem is that even with the new CD, I still have a
problem with the drive which still reflects an issue with
loading the drivers.
I tried to re-install Windows by doing a "repair" of the
existing installation after "booting" from the SP4 CD
(naturally, the "ERD" disk for this PC is "toast" and
cannot be read anymore so I had to do the "automatic"
repair after the installation process "found" the existing
W2K install).
After deleting all the 'normal' files to accomplish this
repair, I then got an error message after it had begun to
copy files to the hard disk that the file "nt5inf.cat"
could not be found and the prompt was to enter the 'path'
to locate this file. Apparently, the installation process
had somehow "lost" the CD-ROM drive and could no longer
access it...
After examining ANOTHER W2K computer, I 'manually' entered
the path statement of the requested file and
it "incremented" to another file it could not find (since
it no longer had access to the CD-ROM) - which I manually
searched out on the ohter PC and entered THAT path
statement...
This whole process then continued and I had to manually
enter a path for approximately 70 some files that the
installation process required and could not "find"...
and I STILL have no CD-ROM available in this installation.
As a test, I took a brand new hard disk right outta the
box and installed it into this PC and loaded a fresh,
clean installation of W2K without a single "hitch" -
flawless installation from start to finish. From this, I
have to suspect that the hardware in this PC is fully
functional and the "error" in the other installation is a
problem with the registry somewhere.
I CANNOT simply format this drive and start from scratch
yet (on the old 30 Gb disk) as there is a phenomenal
amount of data that we NEED to have acccessible NOW for
others on our P2P network. Then there's the unenviable
task of re-installing all the apps that the operator of
this PC needs.
The last time something "ugly" happened to a similar PC's
Windows installation and we had to "format and start from
scratch", it took us something in the neighborhood of
eleven hours just to re-load all the software, configure
user accounts, file "sharing", Internet access, printers,
scanners, and all the rest of the "necessary" software and
hardware needed.....
Somehow there's GOT to be a way to alleviate this problem
WITHOUT having to "blow it all away" and start again from
scratch .....
HELP!
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