after my last shut down, my win2k box won't boot. i've tried repairing the installation, but to no avail. the utility can't seem to find the directory & says that my hdd is new or does not have a compatible os. i do have raid configured over 2 drives...do i have to break this, then run the util?? my fastcheck controller reports the 2 drives, but win2k doesn't see any hdd's. oh yeah....no E.R.D....ugh!! please help a 2k newbie out. Supermicro's Super 370DDE motherboard (2) 1ghz PIII's 512 mb RAM 40 gb wd hdd (system) 100 gb wd hdd (data) raid striped over both hdd's yamaha 20x10x40 cdrw sony 40x cdrom win2k pro radeon 7500 soundblaster audigy platinum linksys 10/100 - broadband

U should not stripe / raid or mirror a system partition, Bad idea. have you tried fixmbr at the recovery console

actually, i don't believe that the partition that win2k is is on is involved in the raid....my 1st disk has 2 partitions. when i used the r.c., i wasn't able to see any partitions on ANY of my drives. the fixmbr command did nothing.

did you by chance install a service pack for w2k recently? If you have you may need to change your pin setting on the hdd. I have w98 & w2k on a western digital 40 gig... 98 loaded fine. w2k had same issue you have after service pack 2 install. changed my pin settings. Just a thought.. Good Luck. You might find some info with this link http://www.tek-tips.com/gthreadminder.cfm/lev2/67/lev3/70/pid/616

.....um.....i've been up and running for something like 3-4 months with no problems. i recently detected a virus using command anti-virus(don't remember which though). after the detection everything seemed to be working ok. i shut her down for the weekend & when i fired it up today, i received a message that the \winnt\system32\config\system file was corrupt & that i should reboot & use the repair command. guess what though.....no ERD!!...doh. anyhow, i tried to use the fast repair, but it hangs when it is looking for the win2k installation. the same thing has been happening for the recovery console as well as an install. i've been stfw all day, but to no avail, so i just thought i try to give this a try. i don't like to beg, but i'm at the end of my road.....i need some guidance on this one. .....this is the kinda thing that it takes to realize the importance of frequent backups.

YOU NEED TO LOOK INTO THAT VIRUS ISSUE. FREE ONLINE TEST : http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/avload.asp YOU REALY SHOULD CHECK ON A DOS BASED BOOT VIRUS TESTER THAT BOOTS AND LOADS FROM A FLOPPY DISK.I USE NORTON A/V & FIREWALL. http://www.symantec.com/nav/nav_9xnt/ THIS IS WEB INFO AD LINK TO A/V THAT I YOU.(PS I'M A HOME USER) MOST A/V WILL COME WITH A EMERGENCY BOOT DISK FOR TESTING. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS YOU HAVE TO DOWN LOAD LASTEST VIRUS DEFINITIONS FOR SOFTWARE. IE INSTALL ON A COMPUTER THEN DOWN LOAD. IN NORTON OPTION WINDOW YOU CAN CREATE A EMERGANCY REPAIR DISK. THIS IS CUSTOM TO THE COMPUTER IT WAS MADE ON BUT CAN TEST ANY COMPUTER FOR BOOT VIRUS. GOOD LUCK ALSO MANY A/V MAKERS HAVE FREE VIRUS REMOVING PROGRAMS IF YOU KNOW THE VIRUS NAME.