Are notebook installs 'different' for W2K setups? (like Del Latitude)

P

pgtr

Are notebook installs 'different' for W2K setups? Lots of problems w/
installing on Dell Latitude

I've got a Latitude C600 that has always worked fine w/ it's original
W2K.


It had gotten so junked up over the years decided to WIPE it and start
fresh. Now it has been nothing but problems trying to get W2K to run
stable on it.

I can usually get the basic install to work w/ no special options for
a while seemingly flawlessly. But the problem always starts with
applying patches, updates or SP4 or with undocking or redocking it.

W/ SP4 it seems to 'lose' files - during install it will say some file
say 'foo.dll' doesn't exist and I hit retry. Still not there. But in
the install the 'foo.dl_' always exists. THis is an unrecoverable
error and occurs randomly every time I try to apply SP4 (either via
online or via a downloaded SP4).

On the other hand if I leave just the basic W2K w/o ANY patches or SPs
applied it seems pretty stable. For a while... but sooner or later,
often right after a dock or undock - it goes into an infinite loop
when booting. As soon as the OS boots and before the login screen
appears it puts up an error and says 'system is shotting down, save
data' and counts off 60 seconds (I can do nothing - I'm not even
logged in). It will do this boot up and shot down over and over
infinitely. It will not boot into safe mode or simply command prompt
and again I'm stuck having to do a re-install.

I've installed lots of W2Ks on various desktops and they've always
gone relatively smoothly. This is the first time I've ever set up a
notebook. I've downloaded the various Dell drivers and tried applying
them right after the basic W2K install (some won't catch 22 says they
can only be installed AFTER SP has been applied!).


So are there any 'best practices' or 'tricks' or 'strategies' or
'gotchas' someone might suggest when trying to setup W2K on a notebook
like the Dell Latitude C600?

thanks,
 
D

Dave Patrick

Sounds like it is already infected with one of the blaster/sasser variants.
You might want to try another new install.

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.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

You'll want to download ahead of time and install these before connecting to
any network with your new install.

http://www.microsoft.com/Windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/sp4/download.asp#network
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-012.mspx

--
Regards,

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

:
| Are notebook installs 'different' for W2K setups? Lots of problems w/
| installing on Dell Latitude
|
| I've got a Latitude C600 that has always worked fine w/ it's original
| W2K.
|
|
| It had gotten so junked up over the years decided to WIPE it and start
| fresh. Now it has been nothing but problems trying to get W2K to run
| stable on it.
|
| I can usually get the basic install to work w/ no special options for
| a while seemingly flawlessly. But the problem always starts with
| applying patches, updates or SP4 or with undocking or redocking it.
|
| W/ SP4 it seems to 'lose' files - during install it will say some file
| say 'foo.dll' doesn't exist and I hit retry. Still not there. But in
| the install the 'foo.dl_' always exists. THis is an unrecoverable
| error and occurs randomly every time I try to apply SP4 (either via
| online or via a downloaded SP4).
|
| On the other hand if I leave just the basic W2K w/o ANY patches or SPs
| applied it seems pretty stable. For a while... but sooner or later,
| often right after a dock or undock - it goes into an infinite loop
| when booting. As soon as the OS boots and before the login screen
| appears it puts up an error and says 'system is shotting down, save
| data' and counts off 60 seconds (I can do nothing - I'm not even
| logged in). It will do this boot up and shot down over and over
| infinitely. It will not boot into safe mode or simply command prompt
| and again I'm stuck having to do a re-install.
|
| I've installed lots of W2Ks on various desktops and they've always
| gone relatively smoothly. This is the first time I've ever set up a
| notebook. I've downloaded the various Dell drivers and tried applying
| them right after the basic W2K install (some won't catch 22 says they
| can only be installed AFTER SP has been applied!).
|
|
| So are there any 'best practices' or 'tricks' or 'strategies' or
| 'gotchas' someone might suggest when trying to setup W2K on a notebook
| like the Dell Latitude C600?
|
| thanks,
 
P

pgtr

Sounds like it is already infected with one of the blaster/sasser variants.
You might want to try another new install.

Thanks. AFAIK there was no virus prior to the fresh install. I
re-formatted the partition - that wouldn't have been enough? I need to
actually go in w/ FDISK and delete the partition and recreate NTFS?
When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

You'll want to download ahead of time and install these before connecting to
any network with your new install.

Problem is that the internet access is via my LAN so I HAVE to connect
to the LAN to get out. However now I have the full SP4 on CDROM so now
I can install it directly with NO connection via the LAN prior to SP4.
 
D

Dave Patrick

| Thanks. AFAIK there was no virus prior to the fresh install. I
| re-formatted the partition - that wouldn't have been enough?
* Correct initially. After the install and connecting to you LAN you were
probably almost immediately reinfected.

I need to
| actually go in w/ FDISK and delete the partition and recreate NTFS?
* No. 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.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

| Problem is that the internet access is via my LAN so I HAVE to connect
| to the LAN to get out.
* That's fine, just don't make that connection until you have installed
service pack four and these;

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms04-012.mspx
However now I have the full SP4 on CDROM so now

--
Regards,

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

pgtr

Thanks - followed your steps to a T and it 'seems' to be working OK so
far (knock on wood). W2K, SP4 AND the 3 patches you recommended all
installed 'cleanly' - since it never lasted long before under Win2K
and the SP4 install always failed - this is promising.

Apparently I already installed those patches on the other PCs on my
LAN. However on this Latitude - there were 2 partitions and I didn't
do anything to D partition (which may have originally have been C???)
so a virus could have lived on there...? I noticed it had it's own
(old?) WinNT install dir etc...

Anyway I deleted completely both partitions and created a new (C)
partition.

Dumb question: I divided the HD in half like it was before and have
reinstalled on C. But I didn't do ANYTHING to the 2nd half of the HD -
how do I go back and also partition it to be NTFS and format it for
more usable (empty) space from Win2K?

Or do I have to reboot from floppy to partition the remaining space to
be usable by Win2K?

thanks,
 
D

Dave Patrick

:
|
| Thanks - followed your steps to a T and it 'seems' to be working OK so
| far (knock on wood). W2K, SP4 AND the 3 patches you recommended all
| installed 'cleanly' - since it never lasted long before under Win2K
| and the SP4 install always failed - this is promising.
* Glad to hear this.


| Apparently I already installed those patches on the other PCs on my
| LAN. However on this Latitude - there were 2 partitions and I didn't
| do anything to D partition (which may have originally have been C???)
| so a virus could have lived on there...? I noticed it had it's own
| (old?) WinNT install dir etc...
* An operating system installed here might have been infected with msblast
or sasser, but it wouldn't have been able to execute and infect another
while it wasn't running.


| Anyway I deleted completely both partitions and created a new (C)
| partition.
|
| Dumb question: I divided the HD in half like it was before and have
| reinstalled on C. But I didn't do ANYTHING to the 2nd half of the HD -
| how do I go back and also partition it to be NTFS and format it for
| more usable (empty) space from Win2K?
* You can use the Disk Management snap-in to create partitions, format them
and assign drive letters.
Start|Run|diskmgmt.msc

--
Regards,

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

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