Can't reboot after installing SP4 - please help!

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I'm trying to be a good person and help my sister with her computer which is
running Windows 2000 Professional. Her computer was a mess so I reformatted
her hard drive. I reinstalled programs, drivers, and so forth, and
everything was going smoothly. That is until I installed SP4 and tried to
reboot. I realize now, after reading some postings, that I may have made a
few mistakes. I did not shut down her anti-virus software, and was logged on
as administrator, during the installation of SP4. It seems the only thing I
did right, was to save the installation files. I understand the SP4 can be
removed through "Add & Remove Programs", but how do I get her computer to
boot up again? Thanks in advance for any help before I pull my hair out!
Kathy (who normally runs XP)
 
Kathy said:
I'm trying to be a good person and help my sister with her computer which is
running Windows 2000 Professional. Her computer was a mess so I reformatted
her hard drive. I reinstalled programs, drivers, and so forth, and
everything was going smoothly. That is until I installed SP4 and tried to
reboot. I realize now, after reading some postings, that I may have made a
few mistakes. I did not shut down her anti-virus software, and was logged on
as administrator, during the installation of SP4. It seems the only thing I
did right, was to save the installation files. I understand the SP4 can be
removed through "Add & Remove Programs", but how do I get her computer to
boot up again? Thanks in advance for any help before I pull my hair out!
Kathy (who normally runs XP)
Click to expand...

A good starting point would be to write exactly what happens during
the boot process, what messages you see and how far you get.
 
I always install service pack 4 directly after doing a complete clean
install of Windows 2000. Then I do all the other things like drivers/virus
software & I NEVER have any problems. maybe you should try this approach
instead.
 
Can you get into safe mode? Try hitting the F8 key on bootup. If that works
you'll be able to remove SP4.
 
I'm sorry, I should have included more information. When trying to reboot,
the computer gets as far as a black screen with "Starting Windows..." and
"For troubleshooting and advanced startup options for Windows 2000, press
F8". However when I press F8, nothing happens. I have tried booting from a
Windows 98 emergency boot disk, which takes me the "A" prompt. I did create
the 4 Win2000 setup disks, if that helps any. Thanks to all who replied,
especially if I have to start over AGAIN, I will know what NOT to do. I'm
still looking for help and appreciate any suggestions. Thanks. Kathy
 
Additional information - I tried rebooting and pressing F8, which did bring
up a screen with many options such as booting in safe mode, booting in safe
mode with networking, booting in safe mode with command prompt and so forth.
I tried booting in safe mode, and the computer hangs up. I tried booting in
safe mode with networking and got as far as a black screen with:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT\System32\ntoskrnl.exe
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT\System32\hal.dll
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT\System32\Bootvid.dll
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT\System32\config\system

I wish I knew more about computers but I'm 50 years old and self-taught. I
keep learning more all the time, but I could really use some help with this
problem. Thanks. Kathy
 
Press F8, then try booting into "Last known good configuration".
Post again if unsuccessful.
 
Ok...I tried booting into "Last known good configuration". I get as far as
the black screen with "Starting Windows" and "For troubleshooting and
advanced startup options for Windows 2000, press F8". I press F8, nothing
happens. What can I try next? Thanks. Kathy
 
Your system is obviously damaged. The next step is to repair it by using the
inbuilt repair facility:

1. Boot the machine with your Win2000 CD. You must instruct the BIOS to boot
from your CD drive.
2. Select "Repair" when prompted.
3. Select "Emergency Repair" when promptd.
4. Select "Perform all repair options".

Additional options are available if this does not fix your problem.
 
I'm back.....Bios is set to boot from CD first. I put her win2k cd in and
end up at the black screen with "Starting Windows......For troubleshooting
and advanced startup options for Windows 2000, press F8". Of course nothing
happens when I press F8 as before. Previously I did make a Win2K Emergency
Repair floppy, and also made the 4 Win2k setup floppies. Can these help?
Thanks. Kathy
 
This is getting a little dicey. You're basically reporting that your
PC does not boot from the CD, even though you have set the
BIOS to do so. We're now on a different track: Trying to figure
out what's going on with your CD drive. I would do this:

1. Make doubly sure that the BIOS is set to boot from the CD drive.

2. Watch the BIOS boot messages. When it reports the size of your
hard disk, does it report the CD drive? You can pause the boot process
by pressing the Pause key on the keyboard so that you have time to
read the messages. Any other key will cause the process to resume.

3. When you boot the machine with the Win2000 CD, you're supposed
to see a message for about two seconds. It says "Press any key to boot
from the CD" or words to this effect. The message is easily overlooked!

4. To test your CD drive, download a Win98 boot diskette from
www.bootdisk.com. When you boot the machine with this diskette
then it loads a CD driver that lets you examine the contents of your
Win2000 CD. Does this work on your machine.

5. If item 4. above fails, replace the CD drive. They are cheap.
 
Well, everything checked out OK, including the CD, so I had no choice but to
start over AGAIN! This time, after getting win2k reinstalled, I created a
new profile for my sister with administrator rights. Then I logged on as my
sister and proceded to do the windows updates first thing. So far, so good.
At least I made it through SP4 this time. I'm learning more and more all the
time. Thanks for all the help - it helps me learn! Kathy
 
This thread is getting rather puzzling. Four hours ago you reported
that you were unable to go through a repair process, because the
machine would not boot from a CD. Now you say that you
re-installed Win2000. How could you do this with a machine
that refuses to boot from the CD drive? Did you wave your
magic wand?
 
I'm sorry for not giving enough details. I'm totally frustrated and afraid
of my posts being too long. Here are some more details. After trying
several solutions and not having any success, I used a Norton Ghost Boot Disk
to reinstall a Norton Ghost Image. I did not need the CD drive for that.
Now for some more bad news - I had the computer running really nice, probably
the best since my sister bought it second-hand. I was showing my sister
several things about her computer, when I forgot to remove a game disk from
the CD drive and rebooted. The bios was still set to reboot from CD
first. Now I'm back to not being able to reboot and can get as far as the
black screen with:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT\System32\ntoskrnl.exe
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT\System32\hal.dll
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT\System32\Bootvid.dll
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT\System32\config\system

I still can't boot to safe mode either. What in the world is going on?
Could it be a problem with the CD player? I don't have any conflicts in the
hardware devices, and systems doesn't show any troubled hardware. It seems
I'm the only one troubled! Or is this how computers die a slow death? Do you
have anything else I could try? Much appreciation for all your help. Kathy
 
From your post I gather that you have discovered how to boot
from a CD (to your regret . . .). I recall that this was a problem
much earlier in the thread.

There are two types of CDs:

a) Ordinary ones, and
b) Boot CDs

It seems your games CD is a boot CD, either with careless code
on it or with malicious code. In either case it's anybody's guess
what that code might have done. I suspect it's damaged your
registry. Did you try rebooting in "Last known good configuration"
mode?
 
I tried rebooting last known configuration and it doesn't work. Just before
I returned her computer, I made an emergency disk using the backup program on
Win2000. If I remember correctly, I was also asked if I want to copy the
registry to the disk, and I believe I did. Can I try restoring the registry?
Would you walk me through it, if this is what I should do? Thanks so much
for all your time and help, and not giving up on me. Kathy
 
This gets us back to an ealier element in this thread:
- Boot your PC with your Win2000 CD.
- Select Repair when prompted.
- Insert your backup floppy disk when prompted, then
follow the prompts.
 
Solution - I discovered the BIOS isn't recognizing the whole hard drive (only
something like 54G instead of 120G) though it appeared the hard drive did.
So I took the computer to a trusted computer guru, and he's transferring
parts (120G hard drive, CD drives & etc.) to a new computer. Problem solved
- I hope! Anyway, I hope this posting might help others who are having
problems - CHECK the BIOS. Thanks for the help. Kathy
 
You must instruct the BIOS to boot
from your CD drive

What is the process?

I have 3 computers. Two have floppy disc capabiltiy and I possess emergency
reboot discs.

However the one I was experiencing a problem before complete recovery does
not have floppy disc capability.

I need to prepare a reboot from the CD-ROM.

Robert
 
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