Is there any hope?

[SvpialS]

I tried upgrading from Win2k pro to Win Xp pro. My XP
installation is failing over and over again--"Setup cannot
continue". The machine reboots, and procedes, to continue
the install. This is a never ending cycle of failure.

My problem is that I'm caught in the middle of an old,
updated OS (Win2K) and an incomplete OS (XP) which. My
computer now boots up with XP, but will not complete the
installation. Neither of the CD's are able to undo or
recover the previous status of my machine. I'm stuck in
between two worlds. Now I am able to get to the command
prompt. Is there any hope????

 

[JAX]

It sounds as if you got into a mess trying to upgrade. I think, and others
will disagree, it is best to give a new OS a fair shot and not bog it down
with old problems.

You don't say whether you have the Home or Pro edition, I think it makes no
difference for a clean install, I'm not sure, but you can go to the link
below and look on the left side to find information for a clean install
using your XP CD to boot and then just using your 2K disk to verify
eligilibility. You will lose all information that was on your disk, I hope
you have backups.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/index.htm

After you have your system up and running, go to Help and Support, on your
Start menu and download SP 1a and all then all the other critical updates.

Happy PC,
JAX

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Something is clearly blocking the update. If it's hardware you may get past
it if it's software you are dead in the water and will need to format and
start over. Remove external devices one by one to see if you can get setup
to complete. If after removing all external devices except the keyboard and
the mouse you still cannot complete the installation, remove all internal
card except the graphics card and see if you can complete setup.

Before you began, did you run the update wizard? Since this was an upgrade
it would have been on the first setup screen, "Check System Compatibility."

 

[CS]

I tried upgrading from Win2k pro to Win Xp pro. My XP
installation is failing over and over again--"Setup cannot
continue". The machine reboots, and procedes, to continue
the install. This is a never ending cycle of failure.

My problem is that I'm caught in the middle of an old,
updated OS (Win2K) and an incomplete OS (XP) which. My
computer now boots up with XP, but will not complete the
installation. Neither of the CD's are able to undo or
recover the previous status of my machine. I'm stuck in
between two worlds. Now I am able to get to the command
prompt. Is there any hope????

I know it's too late to suggest it, but next time make a complete
backup of everything before trying to update or upgrade. Especially
when upgrading the OS.

Since it looks like you're stuck, try booting your Win2000 CD and
create another installation of Win2000 either in a different partition
or drive. Then boot to the new installation of Win2000 and recover
all your data from the old Win2000 installation. From there you can
try a clean install of Win2000 or XP. You may even be able to repair
the old Win2000 so you can boot into it.

If that doesn't work, bite the bullet, format the drive, and try a
clean install of XP. Make sure your hardware is compatible with XP
first. Hardware that was OK for Win2000 may not be up to specs for
XP.

 

[SvpialS]

I have been down this road before. I have, in the past,
successfully upgraded from 2K pro->XP pro. I went back to
Win2K due to performance issues. The reason I am trying to
upgrade again, is the simple fact that I botched up my
network configuration, and I have no idea how to connect
to the internet again. Well, the internet problem is
obviously a thing of the past, and it looks as though I
will need to do a clean install. Is there really no way to
undo XP's partial setup? From the command prompt all of my
files appear to be intact.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

I don't know if this feature exists in Win2k but if it does, try doing a
repair install of Win2k. Not sure if it will work given where you are but
its worth a shot.