Windows 2000 Troubles...

[Jammrock]

Win2k gurus will love this one. I have been searching for a solution to this one for 3 months to no avail. Let's see if anyone else has had this trouble, or knows the answer:

Hardware:
Dell Optiplex GX1 (work machine)
Windows 2000
2 x Maxtor HDD. Both on Primary IDE chain
CD-ROM drive
128 MB RAM
etc...

The Primary Master has Win2k on an NTFS volume, the Primary Slave has FAT32 and is data storage.

How the Problem Occurs:

On occasion, a Windows NT 4.0 computers like to self-destruct and not load. Most of the time they cannot be repaired and it's easier for me to backup the data and Ghost the drive than play with it. So I take the NT 4 drive from the fried computer and put it in mine as the Pri. Slave in my computer. Once Win2k loads up it tells me I have a new device installed (the hard drive) and it needs to reboot to finish installing the device.

Whether I reboot or not the following happens. After I remove the hard drive and add back my storage drive (and this has happened even when there was no second drive), Win2k will not log in. I get the log-in screen, type in my user name and password, Windows begins to load, but right before the desktop loads, I get the log in screen again. Everytime you try to log in, the same thing happens.

Repairing the Win2k install does no good. Even if you replace the Win2k files you cannot get back into Win2k until you re-install the OS.

Originally I thought it was because Win2k tried to put the swap file on the second drive, but even after I started using a second drive all the time, it still happens. This has also happened when adding the drive as the Secondary Master or Slave. Now for the kicker...

If I add a Toshiba laptop hard drive (via an adaptor) as Secondary Master, I have no troubles. It only seems to happen when I install a Maxtor hard drive from another Dell Optiplex, but not necessarily a GX1.

So today I spent 2 hours re-installing Win2k and all my apps. JOY!

So, any ideas?

Jammrock

PS - All NT 4 volumes are Ghost'ed and autochk'ed, so the NTFS volumes are intact. My Win2k computer uses a freshly installed load.

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Athlon 650, Biostar board, 128 MB PC133 (Crucial), G400 32 MB DH, SB Live! w/ Digital I/O, 10/100 NIC, lots of case fans, etc...

[Technoid]

Had a similar problem when i tried to make my secondary master the primary and vice versa!
W2K had marked the hdd's in some way so that it still incisted on that they where D: and C: insted off C: and D:!
Had to Fdisk, Format, Install to fix that!

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INTEL PIII550 MSI 6163
G400Mill 32MB SGRAM + RRG
SBlive
256 MB RAM CAS2
43GB HDD Space!(Actual 40GB) (13+30 Quantum drives)
Pioneer 104S DVD 10x CD 40x SLOT IN
SONY CRX100E 4/2/24 CDRW

[dZeus]

in computer management you can change the driveletters of all the drives... no need to fdisk

[Technoid]

I'm not at home right now so i cant check, but are you shure you can change drivletters on Harddrives?
I know that you can change them on CD drivers, but i wasnt' aware that w2k alowed hdd's to be changed i the same manner!

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INTEL PIII550 MSI 6163
G400Mill 32MB SGRAM + RRG
SBlive
256 MB RAM CAS2
43GB HDD Space!(Actual 40GB) (13+30 Quantum drives)
Pioneer 104S DVD 10x CD 40x SLOT IN
SONY CRX100E 4/2/24 CDRW

[SteveC]

I had a problem after I got my BE6-II with the extra hdd controllers - The install of win2k decided my two hard drives were going to be E: and F: with my CD Drive at D:... this was a clean install! Go figure... I fdisked, formatted, started again, and all was OK.

The drive manager thing in computer management wouldn't let me change the HDDs to C: or D:

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Jammrock]

I've noticed that the Disk Admin for win2k is a lot pickier about stuff than the NT 4 disk admin.

I understand that Win2k marks the drives for lettering and security reasons, but it still doesn't explain why Win2k bombs if I remove a hard drive. You'd hope that M$ was smart enought to program Win2k to say, hey, a hard drive is missing, remove it from the disk admin and get on with it. Instead it's saying, I'm missing a drive, what the hell do I do now???

Damn Microtrash.

Jammrock

[spoogenet]

Have you thought about calling Dell's tech support? Just a thought.

NT4 used to mark disks, and all disks had to be marked for NT4 to use them. I'm sure Win2k does the same.

In Win2k you CAN change drive letters. You may not be able to change the C: drive, I haven't tried, but I've got A, C-0 in my system, and I've changed almost all of them around except A and C.

When you did your little switch-a-roo, it sounds to me like you booted with the new drive in, then when you decided to switch back to your storage drive you simply shut down, popped out one drive and put in the other, then booted?

If this is the case, then I would recommend when you remove the drive to boot Win2k BEFORE you add the other drive. This way Win2k will boot and recognize that you removed the drive, then and only then would I shut down and add the other drive. I would expect Win2k to work fine in this case. I've never had problems changing drives in Win2k boxes, however I always boot the system between steps.

It really isn't a good idea to make a lot of changes to a system and then boot it and expect it to work, especially Win2k. I would always reboot in the middle.

This is just a thought, because I don't know exactly what you did, and I also personally believe that even if you did what I said I wouldn't do, it SHOULD still work. Should != does, will, has, etc.

b

[Brian R.]

I had a similar problem surface when I placed my swap file on D: drive. W2K Didn't like it. Kept giving me error messages. Ended up reinstalling W2K and formating D: