won't boot

[greg chapman]

After a shutdown, my computer with Windows 2000 Pro won't
boot. I tried the emergency discs, but I get to a point
where a message tells me that if I proceed I will lose all
data on my hard drive. I have partitioned the drive into
two partitions, a C and a D. THe data is on D, the
programs and operating system are on C. I get the Gateway
logo page when I turn on the power, but after that, I get
the "insert disk in Drive A" message. Is there a way to
get my system to boot up, or am I facing a loss of all my
data?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

After a shutdown, my computer with Windows 2000 Pro won't
boot. I tried the emergency discs, but I get to a point
where a message tells me that if I proceed I will lose all
data on my hard drive. I have partitioned the drive into
two partitions, a C and a D. THe data is on D, the
programs and operating system are on C. I get the Gateway
logo page when I turn on the power, but after that, I get
the "insert disk in Drive A" message. Is there a way to
get my system to boot up, or am I facing a loss of all my
data?

You did not state how far in the normal boot process you
get, and what error message you see, so the following is
just an initial guess. It is a safe way to boot your system
in case it will not boot by itself.

- Format a floppy disk on some other Win2000 PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your Win2000 CD
to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy

If successful, post again for further instructions.

You may wish to consider this event as a stark reminder
that all important files must be backed up every week to
an independent medium. If you don't do it then sooner or
later you will lose the lot.