Troubleshooting Windows 2000 Professional Setup
Windows 2000 provides valuable troubleshooting tools that can be used to resolve problems that might occur during Setup. This section discusses how to create Setup and startup disks as well as some frequently asked questions about common Setup problems.
To prepare for a system failure on a computer that you cannot start from the operating system CD, you need to create floppy disks that can start the computer.
NOTEBefore starting a computer by using the Windows 2000 operating system CD or the floppy disks, try starting the computer in safe mode. For more information, see "Troubleshooting Tools and Strategies" in this book.
After you start the computer by using the floppy disks, you can then use the Recovery Console or an Emergency Repair Disk (if you have prepared one).
NOTEYou can create floppy disks for starting a disabled system by using the Windows 2000 operating system CD on any computer running a version of Windows or MS-DOS. You need four blank, formatted, 3.5-inch, 1.44-MB floppy disks. Label them Startup Disk One, Startup Disk Two, Startup Disk Three, and Startup Disk Four.
Disks created from the Windows 2000 Server operating system CD cannot be used with Windows 2000 Professional.
To create floppy disks for starting the system
Insert a blank, formatted, 1.44-MB disk into the floppy disk drive on a computer that is running any version of Windows or MS-DOS.
Insert the Windows 2000 Professional operating system CD into the CD-ROM drive.
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type
d:bootdiskmakeboot.exe a:
where d: is the drive letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive.
Click OK.
Follow the screen prompts to finish the installation.
If the CD-ROM drive does not work, replace it. For a list of drives that are supported for use with Windows 2000 Professional, see the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) link on the Web Resources page at http://Windows.microsoft.com/Windows2000/reskit/webresources.
Try another installation method, such as copying the source files from the CD-ROM to the hard drive or installing over the network.
If you are unable to copy from the CD-ROM, test the CD-ROM on another computer. If possible, use the CD-ROM on the other computer, use a different CD, or copy the installation folder i386 to the hard drive of the computer that works, and then copy the folder to the computer that had the media errors. To request a replacement CD, contact the vendor.
If you receive the error Not enough disk space for installation, use the Setup program to create a partition by using the existing free space on the hard disk or, if you do not have enough space, you may have to delete files on the target partition to make room for the installation. You can delete and create partitions as needed to obtain a partition that has enough disk space to install Windows 2000 Professional.
If Windows 2000 does not start, make sure that all the hardware that is installed on the computer is being detected. Check that all hardware is listed on the HCL. Only devices that are listed on the HCL have passed testing for compatibility with Windows 2000 Professional.
Stop messages
If you are installing Windows 2000 and you encounter a Stop message, check the HCL to determine if the computer and its components are supported with Windows 2000 Professional. Reduce the number of hardware components by removing nonessential devices. For more information, see "Windows 2000 Stop Messages" in this book.
Setup stops during text mode
Although text-mode Setup does not execute any code, it does rely on access to the devices on the system. It is important on both ACPI and non-ACPI systems to verify that any legacy device IRQ requirements have been set in the BIOS to Reserved for ISA. If possible, avoid legacy boot devices on ACPI systems because these settings cannot be reliably determined by the ACPI system. This can make the building of the device tree inaccurate, causing problems that are very hard to track.
For non-ACPI systems, verify that the Plug and Play operating system option has been disabled in the BIOS. If it has not been disabled, your operating system might read and write to the hardware registers.
Setup stops during GUI mode
During GUI-mode Setup, the computer might stop responding; if this happens, restart the computer and Setup attempts to resume from where it stopped responding. You can usually isolate these failures to one of the following locations:
Device detection. At the beginning of the GUI-mode phase of Setup, Plug and Play runs to detect all the devices on the system. This involves external code called class installers. These class installers check the hardware settings on the computer to determine which devices are present. The system can sometimes stop responding during this phase.
OC Manager. The OC Manager (OCM) is a Setup component that allows the integration of external components, such as server applications, into the Setup process. As with device detection, this phase can cause the system to stop responding.
Computer configuration. this is one of the last phases of Setup and involves the registration of OLE control dynamic-link libraries (DLLs). It is possible for setup to stop responding during this phase as well.
For more information about the Setup process see "Phases of Setup" earlier in this chapter.
For more information about Troubleshooting Windows 2000 Professional, see "Troubleshooting Tools and Strategies" in this book.