Won't boot.

When my computer attempts to boot (Win 2K Pro), the boot attempt fails and I get c>. If I attempt to boot from Win 2K cd, I get the error message "unexpected error occurred at line 1562 in D:\nt\private\ntos\boot\setup\arcdisp.c" Also, my computer does not appear to see my hard drive during bootup. Any help would be appreciated. Can I reload Win 2K from the c prompt? Or should I consider loading XP? If neither of these are options, can I copy my data from the hard drive before I reformat? As you can see, I have lots of questions, but no answers. Thanks!
Rick

 

If your PC truly isn't seeing the hard drive, you may have a minor issue or a serious problem.

Amazing that a 2K system would take you to a C:> prompt unless it was trying to use the repair console and has taken you directly there.

Is your file system FAT32 or NTFS? Reason for the question: if FAT32, you can boot from a floppy (Win9x of any sort) and at least see if you have access to C: and if there is data stored there.

 

Thanks for your quick response. Before going to the c:> prompt, it attempts to boot from cd and fails. I can see files on the hard drive in DOS. I get a message "the volume on C is not labeled ". Let me give more history. I attempted to install a CD-RW and got an "NTLDR is missing" error message. I took some advise off a web site which said to boot off a Win98 boot disk and do a "sys c ". Since doing that, it appears the system attempts to boot in Win98 before going to the c:> prompt. Once when I attempted to boot from the Win2K cd, it initiated the hardware check and then said the system did not have a valid FAT or FAT32 partition. I performed a disk status check early in this process and it said the system was FAT32. I have also made the four emergency floppies from another Win2K machine, and they loaded onto my system without a hitch, but appeared to change nothing. I have also used my Western Digital disk checl software, and it said the hard drive did not have any errors. ny help is appreciated.
Rick

 

I have no idea if you can recover from the effects of doing a sys command from the 98 disk. Not sure what that will have done to NT but nothing nice I imagine.

If you have a working set of 2K boot floppies, take a look Here since one thing you should be able to do from the Recovery Console in 2K is re-point the system to the proper start-up files. Even maybe re-create some if needed.