Alfie - you've discovered that upgrades are a bit iffy. Welcome to the
club. I have 3 suggestions, and #2 & #3 below may be your best bets:
(1):
You could try, on any other W2k machine, formatting a diskette and
copying these 3 files to it:
ntldr
ntdetect.com
boot.ini
Then make sure boot.ini resembles the following, assuming your W2k
directory is as shown and the correct partition is #1 on HDD0:
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=5
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
This is a 5-line text file; watch the wrap. Edit it with any simple text
editor, including notepad.
The timeout will be inoperative with only one system.
The rdisk(0) means drive 0, the master drive on the IDE1 controller.
The partition(1) means the first partition on that drive.
These parameters tell the ntldr (the actual load program) where to
look for ntoskrnl.exe. Assuming your problem rests with incorrect
number(s) for the rdisk and/or the partition, you can fiddle with
these values. The diskette you've created is bootable and will
launch W2k if the values are correct and ntoskrnl.exe is actually
present. If ntoskrnl is nowhere, then a reinstall is probably your
best bet.
W2k, unlike Win98, does not include DOS, only a DOS simulator. You can't
boot to DOS in W2k. However, you can download a bootable DOS diskette
from
www.bootdisk.com, if you wish.
If you put your laptop near a working machine, editing that boot.ini
diskette will be a lot easier.
(2):
It may ultimately save you time and trouble to simply blow away the
upgrade you did, do a clean install of W2k, and grit your teeth and
reinstall your apps.
(3):
You should also be aware that device drivers, including mainboard and
peripherals, must be written specifically for W2k. Drivers for other
systems WON'T work, and that might be your real problem.
