Replacement laptop HD Won't Work

[KilgoreT]

I just replaced the 12 GB hard drive (which had been
running W98) in my Inspiron with the old hard drive that I
had been using in my Latitude (20GB, W2000). I get the
Inspiron screen when I turn on the computer, the first
usual screen, then it goes black--nothing, zip, nada. The
initial screen says the RAMs passed, the BIOs are shadowed
and that the amount of memory has changed or suspend-to-
disk file is absent. Can't enter Set Up or anything else.
It was suggested to me that I install W2K from scratch,
but I can't get the computer to read the CD-Rom drive. I
made (from another computer) a Dell 'Boot Disk with CD-Rom
Support, but that doesn't work either.I do get an A>
prompt, but it doesn't seem to recognize anything. I did
a drive Fitness Test, just to see if the hard drive was
installed correctly and there doesn't seem to be a
problem. When I try to go to set-up I get a blank screen,
except with a little prompter in the upper left corner.
Question: is there a way I can install Windows 2K from
the disk drive?

 

[Dave Patrick]

Try the setup disks. Assuming the CD-Rom doesn't need any proprietary driver
it should work. 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.

--
Regards,

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

:
|I just replaced the 12 GB hard drive (which had been
| running W98) in my Inspiron with the old hard drive that I
| had been using in my Latitude (20GB, W2000). I get the
| Inspiron screen when I turn on the computer, the first
| usual screen, then it goes black--nothing, zip, nada. The
| initial screen says the RAMs passed, the BIOs are shadowed
| and that the amount of memory has changed or suspend-to-
| disk file is absent. Can't enter Set Up or anything else.
| It was suggested to me that I install W2K from scratch,
| but I can't get the computer to read the CD-Rom drive. I
| made (from another computer) a Dell 'Boot Disk with CD-Rom
| Support, but that doesn't work either.I do get an A>
| prompt, but it doesn't seem to recognize anything. I did
| a drive Fitness Test, just to see if the hard drive was
| installed correctly and there doesn't seem to be a
| problem. When I try to go to set-up I get a blank screen,
| except with a little prompter in the upper left corner.
| Question: is there a way I can install Windows 2K from
| the disk drive?

 

[Guest]

That seems to have done the job. I was reluctant to do a
clean reinstall, but fortunately I had backed up
everything onto DVDs and am now doing a complete system
restore. Thanks for the solution!

 

[Dave Patrick]

You're welcome. Glad to hear of your success.

--
Regards,

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

| That seems to have done the job. I was reluctant to do a
| clean reinstall, but fortunately I had backed up
| everything onto DVDs and am now doing a complete system
| restore. Thanks for the solution!

 

[Guest]

Actually, I spoke too soon. At the end of the system
restore I got a message saying the registry size needs to
be expanded. When I booted up the computer, all the icons
were big and I got several error messages, such as 'user
environment - windows cannot load the user's
profile...Insufficient system resources exist to complete
the requested service.' Any ideas?

 

[Dave Patrick]

| Actually, I spoke too soon. At the end of the system
| restore
* Restore? I thought you were doing a clean install.

I got a message saying the registry size needs to
| be expanded.
* To increase registry quota Control Panel|System|Advanced|Performance
Options|Change, then under "Registry Size" you can set the value to a higher
number.

When I booted up the computer, all the icons
| were big and I got several error messages, such as 'user
| environment - windows cannot load the user's
| profile...
* The profile may be corrupt. What happens if you logon as a new user?
(create a new account in 'Users and Passwords').

Insufficient system resources exist to complete
| the requested service.' Any ideas?
* Check Event Viewer and Device Manager for errors and or non-starting
devices.

--
Regards,

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

 

[KIlgoreT]

What a mess...I did do a clean install (assuming that
means I repartitioned the HD, then I tried to reinstall
all my files. The DVDs were created from a backup program
that included their own setup disks--maybe I should have
used them? Anyway, i can't do a thing now because the
mouse doesn't work and I can't get beyond that user
environment window. I'm thinking of reinstalling Windows
with the backup software disks I mentioned, then backing
up everything. Does that seem to be the way to go?
Thanks for a response.

 

[Dave Patrick]

:
| What a mess...I did do a clean install (assuming that
| means I repartitioned the HD,
* This would be my definition of a clean 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.

then I tried to reinstall
| all my files.
* I'm not sure what this means. Data files or what?

The DVDs were created from a backup program
| that included their own setup disks--maybe I should have
| used them? Anyway, i can't do a thing now because the
| mouse doesn't work and I can't get beyond that user
| environment window. I'm thinking of reinstalling Windows
| with the backup software disks I mentioned, then backing
| up everything.
* I'm afraid I don't really know what this means.


--
Regards,

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

 

[Guest]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I did the clean install exactly
as you described. My DVD writer came with some software
(Sonic DVD) that can be used to create a 'complete system
backup.' It first has you create 6 Windows 2000 setup
boot floppy discs. You then backup all the computer's
files onto media (I chose DVDs). After I did the clean
install on my replacement HD, I then tried to install all
the files, programs, applications, drivers, etc. from the
DVDs. Everything seemed to have worked fine until I
rebooted the computer. Hope that's clearer this time!

 

[Dave Patrick]

Ok, in that case you'll probably need to get in touch with the application
developer on how their stuff should work.

--
Regards,

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

| Sorry if I wasn't clear. I did the clean install exactly
| as you described. My DVD writer came with some software
| (Sonic DVD) that can be used to create a 'complete system
| backup.' It first has you create 6 Windows 2000 setup
| boot floppy discs. You then backup all the computer's
| files onto media (I chose DVDs). After I did the clean
| install on my replacement HD, I then tried to install all
| the files, programs, applications, drivers, etc. from the
| DVDs. Everything seemed to have worked fine until I
| rebooted the computer. Hope that's clearer this time!

 

[Guest]

Sorry to bother you again, but one more question, since I
usually don't get anywhere with the Sonic DVD people. I
tried to reinstall the Windows 2K Setup boot disks to
start over again. At the end of the 4th disk, the message
on the bottom of the screen says 'Starting Windows
2000...', then I get an error message saying 'Cannot find
keyboard layout file KBDUS.DLL.' Same thing happened with
Sonic's floppy W2K setup boot disks. Any idea how to
resolve this? Now I'm totally stuck.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Try recreating the setup disks.

--
Regards,

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

| Sorry to bother you again, but one more question, since I
| usually don't get anywhere with the Sonic DVD people. I
| tried to reinstall the Windows 2K Setup boot disks to
| start over again. At the end of the 4th disk, the message
| on the bottom of the screen says 'Starting Windows
| 2000...', then I get an error message saying 'Cannot find
| keyboard layout file KBDUS.DLL.' Same thing happened with
| Sonic's floppy W2K setup boot disks. Any idea how to
| resolve this? Now I'm totally stuck.

 

[Guest]

Sure enough, that worked. I was able to install Windows
and then I tried to restore all the files, applications,
etc. that I had saved on the DVDs I mentioned. Same
problem. Apparently the restore is taking up too much
space, so I'm wondering if I did the formatting and
partitioning stuff correctly--I'm a novice, no question.
Anyway, after I deleted the existing NTFS partition, as
per your instructions, if I remember correctly, I created
a partition for C and formatted it. Was this correct?
Anything that might be useful to know in partitioning and
formatting a hard drive? I intend to try again--my
alternative will be to install Windows and then add the
programs one at a time.

 

[Dave Patrick]

| Sure enough, that worked. I was able to install Windows
| and then I tried to restore all the files, applications,
| etc. that I had saved on the DVDs I mentioned. Same
| problem. Apparently the restore is taking up too much
| space, so I'm wondering if I did the formatting and
| partitioning stuff correctly--I'm a novice, no question.
| Anyway, after I deleted the existing NTFS partition, as
| per your instructions, if I remember correctly, I created
| a partition for C and formatted it. Was this correct?
* Yes, that is correct. You can also take note of the partition size to see
that you're using all of it. The partition would be something like (drive
size - 8 mB) give or take.


| Anything that might be useful to know in partitioning and
| formatting a hard drive? I intend to try again--my
| alternative will be to install Windows and then add the
| programs one at a time.

--
Regards,

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