[newwebsite]

Hi there, ive just installed a copy of windows server 2000 so i can complete some college work (old i know but all i could get my hands on!)
Since i already have xp installed i created a partition and formatted the new partition and installed server on it. Setup completed as it shoukd then rebooted at the end, however it wont load up server.
The computer boots and gets to the dual boot menu, if i select xp it says its corrupt and needs repairing (was expected this to happen anyway i can do that no problem) and if i select server the screen just goes black, ive tried it in safe mode too but nothing happens, just goes black.
I tried to run the repair utility for server from the dissc, but it said no versions of win 2000 server found, i tried to run the setup from scratch again, and it completed fine again, but still the same problem.

Now i did install server on a partition which comes up as e: in the windows setup, but apat from that i cant think of any problems at all (and realistically that shouldnt be a problem either)

Was wondering if anyone had any ideas at all, it installs fine but just goes black straight after the dual boot screen, dont even get the windows loading image or anything?????????

thanks for any help

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I would put your windows xp disk in, load the recovery console by hitting R and run the command "FIX MBR".

It sounds like the installation may have gone wrong or the way you partitioned it. In doing so perhaps the master boot record has been changed...

At most you want your xp system back up since it probably contains your files. When you get the warning message from the FIX MBR command, its ok to continue.

Give that a shot.

[AitrusSkyy]

I would put your windows xp disk in, load the recovery console by hitting R and run the command "FIX MBR".

It sounds like the installation may have gone wrong or the way you partitioned it. In doing so perhaps the master boot record has been changed...

At most you want your xp system back up since it probably contains your files. When you get the warning message from the FIX MBR command, its ok to continue.

Give that a shot.

[newwebsite]

Uh oh! I put the xp disc in, it says 'Setup is inspecting your computers hardware configuration', then goes black, and all the drives go silent. Tried 2 separate xp discs and does the same!

Windows 2000 setup will boot from disc still but xp just goes black. I tried the recovery console from windows 2000 and typed fixmbr, which did something, but still the same.

The message im getting from xp is 'Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \windows\system32\config\systemd'
and 2000 still just goes blank

[newwebsite]

Ok i remembered i also have vista installed on a partition that never gets used as i installed xp after it then never bothered to get it to boot up again!
So i out in the vista disk, repaired the vista boot loader and now i can get into vista, and im getting the vista boot manager come up letting me choose xp or vista. Vista works fine, but im getting an error from xp. However if i boot from the xp disc it now loads and doesnt just go black, its all loading up now so im going to repair that, so the only question now is now im back where i started (well hopefully will be soon) how do i get 2000 server on without screwing up the other 2 OS's??? (well i dont mind screwing up vista because i never use it, but i want xp and server to work!)

Edited by newwebsite, 02 October 2008 - 09:53 AM.

[AitrusSkyy]

The problem is each time you install an os that os wants to write it's own boot record which can screw up the other ones...

If I were going to do it, i'd have created 3 partitions, installed server 2003, xp, then vista lastly... that way you are working upwards in backwards compatible mode as opposed to trying to work backwards...

It appears you can also have an issue with doing a multi boot if all of your partitions are not the same file system (NTFS or FAT32)

Check out this bit here

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306559

On that link it talks about how you cannot multi boot win 95, 98 and ME because they all have or use the same boot file. I am unsure if server 2003 uses the same as xp but if it doesn't you wont be able to do both.

The article also mentions what I said above, start with installing the oldest OS first because installing the newest OS last insures that that NEW OS knows how to better correctly set up the multi boot and look for backward operating systems (backward meaning older).

Ill post more as I find out more...

Edited by AitrusSkyy, 02 October 2008 - 10:27 AM.

[newwebsite]

Yes thats what i feared! Ideally i would also like to install them oldest first and work up, but that means getting rid of my old xp which i dont reay want to do! (And plus when i installed server it just went black and wouldnt even boot into that.

Well ive got xp back now, but and server at least doesnt go black anymore.

Heres what i've done:
I previously had vista and xp installed on separate partitions
On a new partition i installed server 2000, which went black trying to boot and screwed up xp as well
I repaired the vista boot manager, which allowed me to load the xp boot disk (previously wouldnt boot from this)
I repaired xp, which then got rid of vista(!) from the boot loader, i dont care about this as i never use vista
At the dual boot screen i now have XP pro and server 2000 to choose from. If i choose xp it loads fine, if i choose server 2000 i get 'Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: <windows root>\system32\hal.dll. Please re-install a copy of the above file'

So now all i need to do is fix that, then repair vista once again and add in server into the boot manager (which i already know how to do) but how do i get server to boot without re-running its setup from the cd, which i know is only going to screw up xp again and very possibly not even let me into server either, since the last 2 installs have just resulted in a black screen!!!!!

[AitrusSkyy]

Depending on the specs of your computer (if good) you might want to look into microsoft virtual pc which allows you to create virtual hard drives inside of windows and allows you to install os's on them... This is better because #1 You can save your state and open a windows OS to do what you need to do without restarting to choose another OS, #2 Your virtual os's can't fail in terms of the disk because they are virtual and if they fail you'll still be in the main operating system, and many other good reasons...

Just an idea if you'd not already considered it. Here's a screen shot of mine.

http://img375.images...mage=vpcyi9.jpg

You need at least 1GB of RAM to run Vista, 256 for XP, and 64-128 for Win 2000

So make sure you have at least 1.5GB of ram...

It is free to...

http://www.microsoft...pc/default.mspx

Edited by AitrusSkyy, 02 October 2008 - 10:38 AM.

[newwebsite]

That sounds good, i only have 1 gb of ram, but if i run it through xp would that be enough to run the virtual machine and server?
Thanks for all your help so far by the way!

The only thing is i want windows server running, then i need to be able to network my laptop to it and log in through active directory, i also need IIS running with a domain to replicate an internet site, ie i can go to www.hello.com and display what i want, im thinking running through virtual machine may cause me problems with IP addresses etc...

If you think there's no way to get windows server 2000 and xp working on the same machine what about server 2003 with xp, if i try and get a copy do you think that would work?
Buying a separate machine isnt really an option as its only for college work and i cant really afford it!

[AitrusSkyy]

I am thinking Win2k or Win Server 2k would work with XP...

It's a matter of finding out if they use the same boot file... I think they do not. Your issue probably just spawned from not installing the OS's in the proper order.

I think you should be fine with server 2k and xp.

[newwebsite]

The thing is that when I installed server 2000 i just got a black screen and couldnt get it to boot, im not fussed about messing up the other versions of windows as i can get them sorted eventually, i cant get server 2000 to work at all, yes it messed up the other windows installs but i was expecting that anyway but i couldnt get server to boot at all, and was just wondering whether that was because xp was installed on previously and that conflicted

perhaps the only way of knowing for sure would be to format all three partitions, then install server on one of the blank ones, but thats a bit extreme if server still isnt going to boot, as if thats the case its going to take a while to get it back to how it was only to be back where i started!!!

[AitrusSkyy]

Well just next time install 2000 first, xp second, and vista third... If you have an issue in between the 2000 and xp install or after, then you know they don't go together.

If you do it in that order though you should not have any issues.

[newwebsite]

Thats the order i would have anyway though, i already had xp installed, but all other times I've installed a previous OS after a newer, its just loaded the older version up and in effect 'ignored' or corrupted the others which is what i was expecting here, server 2000 would work and xp would stop working, but where xp did stop working, server 2000 never worked to begin with! so im not sure how i could install 2000 then xp as i cant get 2000 to work and when that happens i cant get xp to install either! it was only that i could recovere vista that i managed to get the xp boot cd to load. tis a strange one!

Edited by newwebsite, 02 October 2008 - 12:02 PM.

[newwebsite]

just had a thought, im using a sata hard drive which i know you need drivers for older versions of windows, i installed the drivers when i installed xp (that was the first OS i installed on the fresh new hard drive)

do i need to install those drivers on the new partition as well, and if i didnt would that cause the installation to complete successfully but for it to 'die' on the final reboot?

just i thought, unlikely i know but if youve got any ideas on this that would be great! (saves me reinstalling server, breaking it, repairing vista, repairing xp then repairing vista again!)

[newwebsite]

ok a slight error in what i was saying above before, i was installing it but not really paying attention to what i was doing! it didnt complete all of setup, it got to the point where it says copying instalation files then rebooted, this is where it usually reboots, loads windows setup and tells you how great windows is while it loads for an hour or so.
but it rebooted, went to the dual boot screen with a choice of windows 2000 or xp, then went black, so it never installed properly.

it seems the problem is definately caused with having xp and 2000 on the same dual lboot menu, which i realise is what you were trying to tell me all along so sorry!
so i just need to remove xp from the boot file temporarily, so it only sees sever 2000 then i think it will work, but how do i do that short of installing server 2000 over the top of xp? i want to keep both OSs on different partitions, and i dont really want to lose the xp ive got there at the moment, any ideas?

[AitrusSkyy]

Usually with xp or before (installations which don't support or automatically include sata support) when you actually insert the xp cd or 2k cd you will get as far as the Hit Enter to Install windows, but with sata there will be no drive listed to install to. Thus sata wont let you install, then at install end fail to boot properly. If you don't have the sata drivers, you wont even see the drive you want to install windows on.


To your latest post, usually when you install the os (it formats, copies some base files then reboots and continues install) it will reboot, load the OS then continue installing...

Perhaps your issue is not because xp and 2000 are on the same drive, but more so because after you formatted and it copied base files and said rebooting, you didnt select the 2000 partition to continue installation of windows...

That make sense?

If you have win xp and 2k on same hard drive, it may not boot by default to win2k, so to get it to continue the install process you may have to choose the 2k boot...

Edited by AitrusSkyy, 02 October 2008 - 12:37 PM.