So it will not even start in safe mode? I also assume you didn't
install the recovery console? That's a little more advanced....
If you can start W2K in safe mode, and you opted to archive replaced
files when you installed SP4, have toy tried a safe-mode start-up and
uninstall SP4?
There is one more option you can try. Perform an W2K in place
upgrade.
Install Windows 2000 as if you was upgrading the present operaitng
operating system and choose the W2K partition. Check this as I've
never done a W2K in-place upgrade on a dual boot system. Done it on a
pure W2K system. You will need to boot off the W2K CD or the W2K boot
diskettes.
What happens is that the W2K setup program will strip out the current
W2K and then re-install W2K as found on the CD, fixing up the registry
as it goes along.
The only issue you'll have then is installing all the updates again.
You may also find out that you will need to install other programs
like CD Creator, Nero, some AntiVirus programs....
Doing an inplace upgrade is not 100% guaranteed to work though. A
Friend's computer was locking up. Some progess was failing. Don't
remember which, but that process (unknown to me at the time) was
working perfectly. I performed an inplace upgrade and the problem wa
still there, but the computer did boot in safe mode. It all ended up
being Trend PC-Cillin. The AntiVirus program was working fine, but
somehow was causing an unrelated service to fail that caused W2K to
blue-screen on a normal boot.
What I do know is that an in-place upgrade, many moons ago, helped me
recover what seemed to be a totally trasked W2K server installation.
DocA said:
I installed via Windows Update. Maybe downloading the SP4 installer to the
hard drive and running it from there would have avoided the original
problem, but I cannot do this now asI cannot start W2K at all, only W98 from
my second hard drive. I don't think I can install the W2K service pack while
running W98 as it will surely need to write to the W2K registry.
Adrian
Myron said:
This may seem odd, also I don't know where you are installing the
service pack from. Unpack the entire service pack on the hard disk
and run the update from the hard disk.
I've had instances where Windows 2000 will not read a file from an
original CD, saying there is a problem reading the disk, but copying
the lot from the CD to the hard disk and then runninf the installation
from the hard disk works. Wierd issue. NEver got round to
discovering why.
Might cure message stating the `.SIF` file is corrupt.
DocA said:
Hi,
The same happened to me. After trying safe mode and last known good menu, I
tried using my Emergency Repair Disk, but it didn't work. Then I tried
repairing from the CD in the same way that Paul suggested, but that didn't
work either. In both cases, I got the following error message:
""The following value in the .SIF file used by Setup is corrupt or missing:
Value 0 on the line in the section [SourceDiskFiles] with key "sp3.cab".
Setup cannot continue."
Now I've no idea what to try next. I have a dual boot system, which
fortunately allows me to boot in W98 and access user data on the drive where
W2K is installed. I could also add/remove W2K files if this would solve the
problem, but I don't know which ones.
Actually, I wondered if the problem arose due to having a dual boot
system...is this your case too?
If you get any private replies, please post them to the group...and I'll do
the same!
Adrian
wrote:
Hi,
I've done a silent install of service pack 4 for win2k via login script
for
a few users. Unfortunately, a couple of machines
constantly boot in a loop. they get as far as the splash screen and just
restart, over and over again. I have tried booting in safe mode, vga
mode,
last known good menu - no luck.
Command prompt only?
Try doing a repair from the CD. Make like you're gonna reinstall, but then
select Repair instead.
