W2k installation problem

500mhz amd k6-2
768 mg ram
canopus tnt 16mg video
3 - 6.2g harddrives, cdrom, 3 1/2, 5 1/4 floppy
multiboot: dos 6.22, W95, NT4-sp6a, w2k-sp4

Installed w2000 on a partition which has some data on it.

During installation: on "finishing up" window; after "installing files" check mark appeared, the machine restarted, came back this window and created registry, etc. normally and rebooted.

While in the "starting" splash screen, the progress bar stayed at about half done for several minutes. Then it moved to about 3/4 done and the num lock, cap lock and scroll lock lights flashed and went out. A few seconds after the progress bar reached the end, at the point where windows is supposed to start, a black screen came up; no cursor, no mouse, no arrows, ....nothing.

Started in safe mode okay. Num lock did not go out.

Event viewer showed that the event viewer stopped at the moment that the screen went black. (Numerous other messages related to network, RAS, telephony not starting. Not going to start in safe mode anyway, especially if they haven't been set yet.)

What is awry here?

 

With that specific set of issues, I'd place a large wager on video drivers. Try getting the latest ones and then from safe mode, removing the vid from device manager and booting up normally to let the new stuff load. Or if you already have the latest, try the same thing just in case there was an install problem.

 

I went to nvidia site and downloaded latest set of drivers.

In safe mode, I deleted the display adapter,found it again, installed the new nvidia drivers and restarted machine.

The first start up:
Progress bar about 5/8 thru: screen blacked out for about 5 seconds and the num lock light went out. When the splash screen came back, the progress bar continued to its end and the machine just stopped. The hard drive light went off.

Started in safe mode, removed adapter, found it again, manually (have disk) selected nvidia inf. file, installed it and restarted.

The second start up:
Same as the first time except that the hard drive light stayed on until I punched the reset button. (Appoximately 2 hours.)

I can understand the vidio driver issue, but the flashing and loss of the "lock" lights puzzles me. I just don't comprehend the connection.

 

I'm not very good on video issues myself. I don't really understand what is going on at the system level.

You might want to try pretty much what you already did except that after you remove the vid, reboot without installing any drivers and then put them back after the system boots back up.

I'm moving this to the hardware section since there are some serious experts on here but not sure if they normally look in the W2K section.

 

progress? report

Removed display adapter from device manager and restarted. W2k started normally. Default display settings. Yuck. One minute and fifteen seconds (I timed it) after pressing enter button at password box, the screen went black for a few seconds, then came back on. Finding and testing the display driver???

The driver is a Microcrap nv4.dll.

Changing anything about the display, from number of colors, resolution, refresh rate, appearance, drivers, etc. causes immediate black screen.

Reboot get a black screen at the finish of the splash screen or hangs at that point.

Remove the display adapter while in safe mode and get a normal boot.

Evidentally w2k doesn't like the ol' Canopus 2500.
Time for a new video card? This thing has worked flawlessly for 5 years in NT set at True Color, 1024 x 768, at 95hz.

Anybody have any magic solutions??

 

More progress (HA!) report

Well, there has not been any real improvement.

I finally found some Canopus w2k drivers for the Spectra 2500 at the Canopus/Japan site. Kind of hard to read the info in Japanese. Fortunately the readme's are in English.

With the Canopus drivers I seem to be able to boot okay (Windows default); just don't try to change ANY of the display settings. Immediate "black screen ".

One thing I didn't mention earlier is that I am trying to install w2k professional, if that might make any difference.

I have bootlogging enabled and I can see no differences in the log between a successful start and a start that goes to "black screen" after the first splash screen.

I am ready to apply a ten pound sledgehammer to this whole mess unless some one has any ideas.

I have about concluded that the Canopus card is just flat incompatable with w2k even though it has run (5 years) and continues to run flawlessly in NT4.

Please help.

 

You shouldn't be installing video drivers from safe mode and you should have gotten a warning about doing so.

 

At this point I would try another video card.

 

"With the Canopus drivers I seem to be able to boot okay (Windows default); just don't try to change ANY of the display settings. Immediate "black screen ". "

I misspoke, will not start with Canopus drivers.
Or any of 14 other nvidia/w2k drivers that I located this morning at Video-drivers.com.

I am becoming more convinced that this card just won't work with w2k.


Pricewatch, here I come.

 

WOW, I have the same exact problem with an ATI 7000 Raedon and an ATI 7200 Raedon cards. I have removed the cards through safe mode, rebooted, reinstalled and get the same result when trying to adjust the settings, I get the black screen.

After all my troubleshooting, I have finally tried to switch from an AGP card to a PCI card. I get the same result. I have also removed and reinstalled the current drivers from the ATI site as well. All with the same end result along with a few blue screens pointing to the video drivers. I am now persuing a possibility that the users (manufacturing plant) can perform their work in an "upgraded" video mode that will allow them to work with just the very basic video drivers until a permanent resolution can be found.

Systems:

Plll 1ghz with 500+ mg memory 40g hdd's

Any suggestions?