I downloaded the Windows 2000 installer through the Academic Alliance program my university is a part of, and proceeded to install it on a 20 GB HDD with Windows Me installed on it. The installation, as far as I could tell, went perfectly fine, and soon I was at the screen for starting Windows 2000. This screen will come up, and the progress bar will fill up, then the scrolling graphic eventually freezes. For about 30 seconds after this, the computer seems to check the CD-ROM drive and the A:\ drive (floppy disk). After that, the HDD light goes dark and the computer just sits there are the start-up screen. The keyboard lights still respond when I hit Numlock or Caps Lock. I tried starting in safe mode, which made it a little farther. It reached a black desktop with "Safe Mode" in each corner, and a small box with a scrolling graphic. The start up would hang here, although the mouse was still responsive, and the scrolling graphic did not freeze. Ctrl + Alt + Del does not work in either instance. Keep in mind that the installer I downloaded was an executable straight off of the HDD, so I have no CD or floppy disk from which to boot or install.

I've found that Windows only starts in "enable VGA" mode from the F8 menu. I've downloaded the latest drivers for my video card (Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 PCI), but to no avail. Based on hardware activity after the start up hang, I believe that Windows does indeed start regularly, but the splash screen does not go away, thus I am unable to do anything on the computer.