Windows SP4 Service Pack - now near dead pc

[n cook]

Win2k installed SP4 fine but on reboot it gets to the flying window pane
and then shuts down the power supply just like pressing the machine reset
button.
Then just cycles through this route and never opens windows.
Same trying "Safe Mode" or other f8 options,
also "repair" from original CD or from the 4 floppy start up / boot disks
does the same.
Can only put old DOS on a: drive but cannot access c:
in any way.

Assuming the file structure is still there, is there some sort of utility to
grab a few small files by the a: route or hyperterminal type serial link ?
Or anyone know the secret to cure the rogue switch off ?

Before I reformat c: and start again as not enough free space otherwise.

 

[Dave Patrick]

You can start Recovery Console and from a command prompt change to the;
%SystemRoot%\$NtServicePackuninstall$\spuninst
directory. Then issue the command;
batch SPuninst.bat

The next step is to start in 'Safe Mode' and uninstall the SP again from
Control Panel|Add/Remove to finish the uninstall.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks. At
the "Welcome to Setup" screen. Press F10 or R to repair a Windows 2000
installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The Recovery
Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do not have
the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer: drive
root, %systemroot% or %windir%

--

Regards,

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

:
| Win2k installed SP4 fine but on reboot it gets to the flying window pane
| and then shuts down the power supply just like pressing the machine reset
| button.
| Then just cycles through this route and never opens windows.
| Same trying "Safe Mode" or other f8 options,
| also "repair" from original CD or from the 4 floppy start up / boot disks
| does the same.
| Can only put old DOS on a: drive but cannot access c:
| in any way.
|
| Assuming the file structure is still there, is there some sort of utility
to
| grab a few small files by the a: route or hyperterminal type serial link ?
| Or anyone know the secret to cure the rogue switch off ?
|
| Before I reformat c: and start again as not enough free space otherwise.
|
|
|

 

[n cook]

You can start Recovery Console and from a command prompt change to the;
%SystemRoot%\$NtServicePackuninstall$\spuninst
directory. Then issue the command;
batch SPuninst.bat

The next step is to start in 'Safe Mode' and uninstall the SP again from
Control Panel|Add/Remove to finish the uninstall.

To start the Recovery Console, start the computer from the Windows 2000
Setup CD or the Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks. If you do not have Setup
floppy disks and your computer cannot start from the Windows 2000 Setup CD,
use another Windows 2000-based computer to create the Setup floppy disks. At
the "Welcome to Setup" screen. Press F10 or R to repair a Windows 2000
installation, and then press C to use the Recovery Console. The Recovery
Console then prompts you for the administrator password. If you do not have
the correct password, Recovery Console does not allow access to the
computer. If an incorrect password is entered three times, the Recovery
Console quits and restarts the computer. Note If the registry is corrupted
or missing or no valid installations are found, the Recovery Console starts
in the root of the startup volume without requiring a password. You cannot
access any folders, but you can carry out commands such as chkdsk, fixboot,
and fixmbr for limited disk repairs. Once the password has been validated,
you have full access to the Recovery Console, but limited access to the hard
disk. You can only access the following folders on your computer: drive
root, %systemroot% or %windir%

--

Regards,

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

:
| Win2k installed SP4 fine but on reboot it gets to the flying window pane
| and then shuts down the power supply just like pressing the machine reset
| button.
| Then just cycles through this route and never opens windows.
| Same trying "Safe Mode" or other f8 options,
| also "repair" from original CD or from the 4 floppy start up / boot disks
| does the same.
| Can only put old DOS on a: drive but cannot access c:
| in any way.
|
| Assuming the file structure is still there, is there some sort of utility
to
| grab a few small files by the a: route or hyperterminal type serial link ?
| Or anyone know the secret to cure the rogue switch off ?
|
| Before I reformat c: and start again as not enough free space otherwise.
|
|
|

Sorry about delay , only today could I get around to looking at it.
Iy Accepted my password and opened recovery console.
Accepted comand systemroot but I could not get it accepting
anything else re your uninstall command,

The c: file structure looks ok
Tried fixboot , fixmbr from the CD but still no windows access in safe mode.
I've removed the HD and given to a friend with XP and he
reckons he could salvage the odd files by plugging in his pc
as a secondary drive.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Seems you may have passed on the option to backup at the time you installed
SP4

--

Regards,

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

:
| Sorry about delay , only today could I get around to looking at it.
| Iy Accepted my password and opened recovery console.
| Accepted comand systemroot but I could not get it accepting
| anything else re your uninstall command,
|
| The c: file structure looks ok
| Tried fixboot , fixmbr from the CD but still no windows access in safe
mode.
| I've removed the HD and given to a friend with XP and he
| reckons he could salvage the odd files by plugging in his pc
| as a secondary drive.
|
|

 

[n cook]

Seems you may have passed on the option to backup at the time you installed
SP4

--

Regards,

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

:
| Sorry about delay , only today could I get around to looking at it.
| Iy Accepted my password and opened recovery console.
| Accepted comand systemroot but I could not get it accepting
| anything else re your uninstall command,
|
| The c: file structure looks ok
| Tried fixboot , fixmbr from the CD but still no windows access in safe
mode.
| I've removed the HD and given to a friend with XP and he
| reckons he could salvage the odd files by plugging in his pc
| as a secondary drive.
|
|

yes quite possible because first attempt it advised me not enough
HD space so I deleted some junk first plus 7 or 8 meg.
Would it be possible despite the self check for available
disk space that there was in fact insufficient space even without
back up option on the second , apparently successful SP4 instal. ?

 

[Dave Patrick]

Probably not. Check for the existence of the directory.

%SystemRoot%\$NtServicePackuninstall$\spuninst

If not found then this option won't be possible.

--

Regards,

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

:
| yes quite possible because first attempt it advised me not enough
| HD space so I deleted some junk first plus 7 or 8 meg.
| Would it be possible despite the self check for available
| disk space that there was in fact insufficient space even without
| back up option on the second , apparently successful SP4 instal. ?
|
|

 

[n cook]

Probably not. Check for the existence of the directory.

%SystemRoot%\$NtServicePackuninstall$\spuninst

If not found then this option won't be possible.

--

Regards,

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

:
| yes quite possible because first attempt it advised me not enough
| HD space so I deleted some junk first plus 7 or 8 meg.
| Would it be possible despite the self check for available
| disk space that there was in fact insufficient space even without
| back up option on the second , apparently successful SP4 instal. ?
|
|

I didn't realise there should have been a file uninst* or Nt* or spuninst*
in dir of c:
When I checked the DIR the contents there was only the stuff I'd put there
and
the expected sub-directories and I didn't notice anything unexpected/new
When I get the drive back I may try deleting the odd files of mine put
directly into c: to clear some space and have another go.
Would DELETE of subdirectories delete them and contents to release space?

 

[Dave Patrick]

You lost me with that one. %SystemRoot% is a variable that always resolves
to the "windows" directory. So if you installed the operating system to the
default "windows" directory on drive letter "C:\" then the path would be;

C:\winnt\$NtServicePackuninstall$\spuninst\

In that directory is a file named spuninst.bat

So from the recovery console command line you could;

chdir C:\winnt\$NtServicePackuninstall$\spuninst

and then;

batch spuninst.bat

to start the uninstall process.

--

Regards,

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

:
| I didn't realise there should have been a file uninst* or Nt* or spuninst*
| in dir of c:
| When I checked the DIR the contents there was only the stuff I'd put there
| and
| the expected sub-directories and I didn't notice anything unexpected/new
| When I get the drive back I may try deleting the odd files of mine put
| directly into c: to clear some space and have another go.
| Would DELETE of subdirectories delete them and contents to release space?

 

[n cook]

You lost me with that one. %SystemRoot% is a variable that always resolves
to the "windows" directory. So if you installed the operating system to the
default "windows" directory on drive letter "C:\" then the path would be;

C:\winnt\$NtServicePackuninstall$\spuninst\

In that directory is a file named spuninst.bat

So from the recovery console command line you could;

chdir C:\winnt\$NtServicePackuninstall$\spuninst

and then;

batch spuninst.bat

to start the uninstall process.

--

Regards,

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

:
| I didn't realise there should have been a file uninst* or Nt* or spuninst*
| in dir of c:
| When I checked the DIR the contents there was only the stuff I'd put there
| and
| the expected sub-directories and I didn't notice anything unexpected/new
| When I get the drive back I may try deleting the odd files of mine put
| directly into c: to clear some space and have another go.
| Would DELETE of subdirectories delete them and contents to release space?

HD plugged in as D: on a friend's pc with XP.
Didn't have to change BIOS setting or anything other than a virus scan.
Pulled files off with no problem. 280M of free space on the drive and no
obvious problems with the drive.
Can go ahead and re-format and start again

 

[Dave Patrick]

Sounds good.

--

Regards,

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

:
| HD plugged in as D: on a friend's pc with XP.
| Didn't have to change BIOS setting or anything other than a virus scan.
| Pulled files off with no problem. 280M of free space on the drive and no
| obvious problems with the drive.
| Can go ahead and re-format and start again