J
Jon Dogin
Hi All,
I recently started having problems with one of the two computers in my home
network. The computer in question is running Windows 2000 and began having
problems after I installed Service Pack 4. Before that installation, I had
been running relatively trouble free for about a year.
Here are the specs on the system:
OS: Win2K
Motherboard: Asus P4B-533
P4 2.4 GHZ
512 MB RAM
80 GB IBM Deskstar HD
The purpose of this message, however, is not to get help with the Service
Pack problems. Instead, I need help with a hard drive installation.
Rather than try to backup all of the files from the 80 GB hard drive, I
decided to try and use an old 20 GB Western Digital Drive which I had been
using as a slave drive on another computer which was running Windows 98SE;
this drive was functioning just fine less than two weeks ago and I was able
to view it as a slave drive on one of my other computers which runs Win2K.
I planned on using the smaller drive as the boot drive and to set the
larger drive as the new slave drive.
I checked the jumper setting on the 20 GB drive and made sure that I had it
set as the Master, disconnected the 80 GB drive, set it on the side, and
installed the 20 GB drive.
I went into the BIOS and set the CD-ROM as the first item in the boot
sequence so that I could run the Win2K Pro install CD. I put in the cd and
started up the computer again. The BIOS did not detect the 20 GB drive and
gave the following message "Couldn't open the boot partition to check for a
signature." That is the exact message.
I tried formatting the 20 GB drive using the Win2K install program.
Surprisingly, I was able to format the drive as NTSF and begin the
installation process. The cd copies files to the install folder and then
begins a shutdown sequence so that it can go to the next step in the
installation process. However, after the system boots, I still get the
"couldn't open the boot partition to check for a signature" message at the
end of the POST and the cd returns to the beginning of the "Welcome to
Setup" feature.
At this point, I'm guessing that somehow the hard drive installation
software that I used to first setup my 20 GB hard drive when I first bought
it has done something to cause this problem. However, I do not know very
much about boot files or master boot records. I do know that a friend ran
into a similar problem trying to use a small hard drive (4 GB) which was
also running Windows 98SE originally. He was also trying to do a clean wipe
of the drive and then install Win2K.
Is there something "special" that you have to do if you are dealing with a
drive that previously had Win98SE if you are trying to do a clean install
into Win2K without running the Win2K cd first from Win98SE?
I've looked over previous messages in this group, but have not been able to
find a situation identical to the one that I am dealing with.
If anyone can provide me with some assistance, I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
Jon
I recently started having problems with one of the two computers in my home
network. The computer in question is running Windows 2000 and began having
problems after I installed Service Pack 4. Before that installation, I had
been running relatively trouble free for about a year.
Here are the specs on the system:
OS: Win2K
Motherboard: Asus P4B-533
P4 2.4 GHZ
512 MB RAM
80 GB IBM Deskstar HD
The purpose of this message, however, is not to get help with the Service
Pack problems. Instead, I need help with a hard drive installation.
Rather than try to backup all of the files from the 80 GB hard drive, I
decided to try and use an old 20 GB Western Digital Drive which I had been
using as a slave drive on another computer which was running Windows 98SE;
this drive was functioning just fine less than two weeks ago and I was able
to view it as a slave drive on one of my other computers which runs Win2K.
I planned on using the smaller drive as the boot drive and to set the
larger drive as the new slave drive.
I checked the jumper setting on the 20 GB drive and made sure that I had it
set as the Master, disconnected the 80 GB drive, set it on the side, and
installed the 20 GB drive.
I went into the BIOS and set the CD-ROM as the first item in the boot
sequence so that I could run the Win2K Pro install CD. I put in the cd and
started up the computer again. The BIOS did not detect the 20 GB drive and
gave the following message "Couldn't open the boot partition to check for a
signature." That is the exact message.
I tried formatting the 20 GB drive using the Win2K install program.
Surprisingly, I was able to format the drive as NTSF and begin the
installation process. The cd copies files to the install folder and then
begins a shutdown sequence so that it can go to the next step in the
installation process. However, after the system boots, I still get the
"couldn't open the boot partition to check for a signature" message at the
end of the POST and the cd returns to the beginning of the "Welcome to
Setup" feature.
At this point, I'm guessing that somehow the hard drive installation
software that I used to first setup my 20 GB hard drive when I first bought
it has done something to cause this problem. However, I do not know very
much about boot files or master boot records. I do know that a friend ran
into a similar problem trying to use a small hard drive (4 GB) which was
also running Windows 98SE originally. He was also trying to do a clean wipe
of the drive and then install Win2K.
Is there something "special" that you have to do if you are dealing with a
drive that previously had Win98SE if you are trying to do a clean install
into Win2K without running the Win2K cd first from Win98SE?
I've looked over previous messages in this group, but have not been able to
find a situation identical to the one that I am dealing with.
If anyone can provide me with some assistance, I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
Jon