My system get about 2/3 of the way through installing Windows 2000 and then I get the following stop error: Stop 0x00000050 Page Fault in Nonpaged Area. I can't get it to boot in safe mode, last known good configuration, or from the 4 boot disks. I even tried installing a new drive (which boots fine) and making this a slave by changing the jumper settings. Even with this drive set up as the slave the system won't boot and returns the above stop error. Anybody have any ideas how I can get this drive to boot, or at least get my data off of it? Thanks,

Try reformatting the drive before installing the OS. If you need to, use the manufacturer's low level format tools available in the support section of their website. This will clear any anomolies that may exist in your drive and reset the sectors and tracks on the drive itself. Then try isntalling the Os again.

Either: 1) Reformat the C: Hard Drive (HD) and install clean, or 2) remove the old C: drive and change the setting on your new HD to Master (from Slave) and install that new one as the C: drive (Leave the old one disconnected for now). Boot from a floppy Win98 diskette with CD support, FDISK the C: drive and FORMAT it, and do a clean install of W2k on this new C: drive from the CD. Then reconnect the old drive (as a Slave) and backup your personal files to the new drive (now you have two copies). Then you have a choice: 2a) Reformat the old drive and use it as the slave, or 2b) Reformat the old drive and swap the two drives as Master and slave and do a clean install of W2k on the old drive, copy your files back from the new drive ( to the old drive that is now C: again) and install all your software, and use the new drive as you see fit.

#1 is out of the question since I need the data on the old drive. I tried #2, but with the old drive connected, the system won't boot (I get the stop error referenced above even though the new drive is listed as the primary master in the BIOS). I have the new drive configured as the master with the jumper setting and the old (corrupted) drive jumpered as the slave. Any other suggestions?

Just ot be sure that you are doing this correctly: in option #2 you must leave the old C: drive disconnected while you FDISK and FORMAT the new drive and install the O/S on the new drive, otherwise Windows can see the other primary boot drive (old C) and gets confused. Only reconnect the old HD after the new one is running W2k and the system works fine, then SHUTDN reconnect the old C: drive and start up again. In the BIOS (press DELETE while the system first starts up to get there) you might check to make sure that the drives are recognized in their proper places before Windows gets to them, this assures that there is no hardware problem, only a software problem.

I've done just that. The new 60 GB drive is formatted and Win2K is installed and this drive boots fine when installed alone. When I install the old drive, they are properly recognized in BIOS; however, the system will not boot if the old drive is connected, even though it is set up as the slave and the BIOS shows the new drive to be the primary master and first boot device.

Most likely your old drive's controller is hammered in some way. Even though the BIOS reports the drive exists, it doesn't mean the drive is functioning properly. You could also have a bad head that cannot read the track information to verify the drive is functioning when booting. At this point your information on the drive could be considered toast. Sorry for the bad news, but sometimes this happens. I've had this happen to me, and that's why ALL my data files are kept on a separate spindle/drive from my program files. If the program will not allow that, I copy the data files with a batch program for security. You can try to low level format the drive with tools from the drive manufacturer to save the drive, but in my professional opinion, by what you describe, your data is R.I.P.