FAT32 to NTFS upgrade very very slow

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob

I am presently upgrading a friend's ME system to Windows 2000. I
rebooted with the CD in the drive and it asked me how I wanted to deal
with the drive. I chose to leave ME on the drive but to convert the
drive to NTFS. Windows 2000 rebooted and appeared to be installed. It
ran chkdsk on the FAT32 drive. Then it said it was converting to NTFS.
We ran through it a couple of times, but it seemed to take 20-30 minutes
and it seemed to be frozen at:

Converting drive

We're not really sure because the hard drive lights are messed up so
it's hard to tell if it is stalled or what. Right now, we are going to
give it overnight to do it, which seems stupid.

Is it normal to take this long?

Also, the drive is almost 20 GB (19.something) and I understand that raw
Win2K has problems with 20 GB drives without a service pack patch.

Any ideas what is going on?

And what do I do if it won't go on? I am thinking of choosing startup
options, deleting the Win2K install, and starting over and this time
either formatting the drive NTFS flatout or else leaving it FAT32.
 
Bob said:
I am presently upgrading a friend's ME system to Windows 2000. I
rebooted with the CD in the drive and it asked me how I wanted to deal
with the drive. I chose to leave ME on the drive but to convert the
drive to NTFS. Windows 2000 rebooted and appeared to be installed. It
ran chkdsk on the FAT32 drive. Then it said it was converting to NTFS.
We ran through it a couple of times, but it seemed to take 20-30 minutes
and it seemed to be frozen at:

Converting drive

We're not really sure because the hard drive lights are messed up so
it's hard to tell if it is stalled or what. Right now, we are going to
give it overnight to do it, which seems stupid.

Is it normal to take this long?

Also, the drive is almost 20 GB (19.something) and I understand that raw
Win2K has problems with 20 GB drives without a service pack patch.

Any ideas what is going on?

And what do I do if it won't go on? I am thinking of choosing startup
options, deleting the Win2K install, and starting over and this time
either formatting the drive NTFS flatout or else leaving it FAT32.
Click to expand...

There is no "upgrade" from WinME to Win2000, because WinME
was released ***after*** Win2000. What you're doing is an
unsupported operation. Sometimes it works, sometimes people
get weird and wonderful problems. If you want a rock-solid
installation then you should install Win2000 from scratch.

Native Win2000 has no problem with 20 GByte disks, only
with disks exceeding 130 GBytes - see here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305098
 
There is no supported upgrade path from WinME to Windows 2000.

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

Setup inspects your computer's hardware configuration and then begins to
install the Setup and driver files. When the Windows 2000 Professional
screen appears, press ENTER to set up Windows 2000 Professional.

Read the license agreement, and then press the F8 key to accept the terms of
the license agreement and continue the installation.

When the Windows 2000 Professional Setup screen appears, all the existing
partitions and the unpartitioned spaces are listed for each physical hard
disk. Use the ARROW keys to select the partitions Press D to delete an
existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must
then press L (or press ENTER, and then press L if it is the System
partition) to confirm that you want to delete the partition. Repeat this
step for each of the existing partitions When all the partitions are deleted
press F3 to exit setup, (to avoid unexpected drive letter assignments with
your new install) then restart the pc then when you get to this point in
setup again select the unpartitioned space, and then press C to create a new
partition and specify the size (if required). Windows will by default use
all available space.

Be sure to apply SP4 and these two below to your new install before
connecting to any network. Internet included. (sasser, msblast)
http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

Then

Rollup 1 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CF-8850-4531-B52B-BF28B324C662&displaylang=en

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
|I am presently upgrading a friend's ME system to Windows 2000. I
| rebooted with the CD in the drive and it asked me how I wanted to deal
| with the drive. I chose to leave ME on the drive but to convert the
| drive to NTFS. Windows 2000 rebooted and appeared to be installed. It
| ran chkdsk on the FAT32 drive. Then it said it was converting to NTFS.
| We ran through it a couple of times, but it seemed to take 20-30 minutes
| and it seemed to be frozen at:
|
| Converting drive
|
| We're not really sure because the hard drive lights are messed up so
| it's hard to tell if it is stalled or what. Right now, we are going to
| give it overnight to do it, which seems stupid.
|
| Is it normal to take this long?
|
| Also, the drive is almost 20 GB (19.something) and I understand that raw
| Win2K has problems with 20 GB drives without a service pack patch.
|
| Any ideas what is going on?
|
| And what do I do if it won't go on? I am thinking of choosing startup
| options, deleting the Win2K install, and starting over and this time
| either formatting the drive NTFS flatout or else leaving it FAT32.
 
Bob said:
I am presently upgrading a friend's ME system to Windows 2000. I
rebooted with the CD in the drive and it asked me how I wanted to deal
with the drive. I chose to leave ME on the drive but to convert the
drive to NTFS. Windows 2000 rebooted and appeared to be installed. It
ran chkdsk on the FAT32 drive. Then it said it was converting to NTFS.
We ran through it a couple of times, but it seemed to take 20-30 minutes
and it seemed to be frozen at:

Converting drive

We're not really sure because the hard drive lights are messed up so
it's hard to tell if it is stalled or what. Right now, we are going to
give it overnight to do it, which seems stupid.

Is it normal to take this long?

Also, the drive is almost 20 GB (19.something) and I understand that raw
Win2K has problems with 20 GB drives without a service pack patch.

Any ideas what is going on?

And what do I do if it won't go on? I am thinking of choosing startup
options, deleting the Win2K install, and starting over and this time
either formatting the drive NTFS flatout or else leaving it FAT32.
Click to expand...

Win2k has no problems with 20GB disks or even 10GB disk, which is the
size I originally used to install it.

ME will not work with an NTFS system. You should have backed up your
friend's data first,then proceeded to install Win2k from scratch,
reformatting the disk with NTFS (or FAT32) when given the option.
 
Frank said:
Win2k has no problems with 20GB disks or even 10GB disk, which is the
size I originally used to install it.

ME will not work with an NTFS system. You should have backed up your
friend's data first,then proceeded to install Win2k from scratch,
reformatting the disk with NTFS (or FAT32) when given the option.
Click to expand...

Ok, he doesn't care about his data at all. However, Windows 2000 is not
seeing the cable modem for some weird reason.
 
Pegasus said:
There is no "upgrade" from WinME to Win2000, because WinME
was released ***after*** Win2000. What you're doing is an
unsupported operation. Sometimes it works, sometimes people
get weird and wonderful problems. If you want a rock-solid
installation then you should install Win2000 from scratch.
Click to expand...

Ok, it eventually formatted the drive, but it took about an hour or so.
Now it won't see the cable modem at all though which is really weird.
 
Bob said:
Ok, it eventually formatted the drive, but it took about an hour or so.
Now it won't see the cable modem at all though which is really weird.
Click to expand...

I assume that your cable is connected to your PC via an
Ethernet cable. If so then you must make sure that the
PC is on the same subnet as the cable modem. If the cable
modem is a DHCP server then putting the PC on DHCP
will be sufficient to set the various IP addresses.
 
Ok, he doesn't care about his data at all. However, Windows 2000 is not
seeing the cable modem for some weird reason.
Click to expand...

The first thing to do when you have problems with a cable modem is to
power the modem down (which may require unplugging the power cord),
waiting about 60 seconds, and then powering it up again. That won't fix
every problem, but it does fix a large percentage of them.
 
Pegasus said:
I assume that your cable is connected to your PC via an
Ethernet cable.
Click to expand...

Yes it is.

If so then you must make sure that the
PC is on the same subnet as the cable modem. If the cable
modem is a DHCP server then putting the PC on DHCP
will be sufficient to set the various IP addresses.
Click to expand...

I'm not really understanding that but I assume that the cable net
provider can help him out over the phone. How come Win2K refuses to even
recognize cable modems as a possible device, and has no knowledge of any
Motorola cable modem at all?

Guy next door said I need to set up an Internet connection before
anything works. Is that true?

Is it correct that WinME will not boot now (it gives us the option
during bootup to boot ME or 2000) now that the drive is formatted NTFS?
So the ME install is now useless?
 
Gary said:
The first thing to do when you have problems with a cable modem is to
power the modem down (which may require unplugging the power cord),
waiting about 60 seconds, and then powering it up again. That won't fix
every problem, but it does fix a large percentage of them.
Click to expand...

Ok, I think that the cable provider help line may be able to walk him
through that.

Will IE, once started up on the new install, head straight for Windows
Update and try to grab all the new stuff?
 
See below.

Bob said:
Yes it is.

If so then you must make sure that the

I'm not really understanding that but I assume that the cable net
provider can help him out over the phone.
Click to expand...

This is not really an issue for a service provider to
resolve but some will assist regardless.
How come Win2K refuses to even
recognize cable modems as a possible device, and has no knowledge of any
Motorola cable modem at all?
Click to expand...

It does not matter what device this is. What matters is
your IP addresses. If the addresses are wrong then no
machine, not even Win98 or WinME, will talk to this
modem.
Guy next door said I need to set up an Internet connection before
anything works. Is that true?
No.

Is it correct that WinME will not boot now (it gives us the option
during bootup to boot ME or 2000) now that the drive is formatted NTFS?
So the ME install is now useless?
Click to expand...

Yes.

Do this:
1. Start / Settings / Control Panel / Network and Dial-up Connections.
2. Double-click Local Area Connection / Properties.
3. Double-click "Internet Protocol".
4. Click the upper and the lower radio button that lets you obtain
an IP address automatically, then click OK a few times until everything
is closed.
5. Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
6. Type these commands:
ipconfig /all > c:\test.txt {Enter}
notepad c:\test.txt {Enter}
7. Paste this text into your reply.
 
Bob said:
Ok, he doesn't care about his data at all. However, Windows 2000 is not
seeing the cable modem for some weird reason.
Click to expand...

That may be a driver issue. Your friend should have the drivers for the
modem on a CDRom. But first, he should check Device Manager to see
whether the modem is even listed there. If not it will need
re-installing at the very least.
 
That may be a driver issue. Your friend should have the drivers for the
modem on a CDRom. But first, he should check Device Manager to see
whether the modem is even listed there. If not it will need
re-installing at the very least.
Click to expand...

Windows doesn't know or care about Cable modems. The modem is connected
to an ethernet card, and it's the card that Windows knows about. Most
likely no special drivers are needed because they're already part of
Windows.

When I go into Device Manager on my system, there's no entry for my cable
modem, which is as it should be because the device involved is "3Com
EtherLink XL PCI TPO NIC (3C900B-TPO)", found under Network Adapters.
 
Gary said:
Windows doesn't know or care about Cable modems. The modem is connected
to an ethernet card, and it's the card that Windows knows about. Most
likely no special drivers are needed because they're already part of
Windows.

When I go into Device Manager on my system, there's no entry for my cable
modem, which is as it should be because the device involved is "3Com
EtherLink XL PCI TPO NIC (3C900B-TPO)", found under Network Adapters.
Click to expand...
How do you configure for TCP/IP? Is there a CDROM supplied which Windows
uses to automatically configure?
 
Frank Booth Snr said:
Gary Smith wrote:
How do you configure for TCP/IP? Is there a CDROM supplied which Windows
uses to automatically configure?
Click to expand...

In my experience, the drivers are supplied with Windows so no additional
install is needed. I suppeose that some newer NICs might not be fully
supported, in which case the manufacturer would supply a disk with
whatever drivers are needed. As I recall, when I installed the card in my
machine, I just powered the system up and it worked.
 
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