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My lovely computer with Microsoft 2000 pro (256 Ram, pentium 3, 80 gig) has gone ill and won't start up (any takers?). It's missing a file but I can't figure out which. It'll come up to the main page and restart itself. I'd love to get this computer back up and running because it has some really important stuff on it.
I'm now working on a Dell GX110 with windows 98 on it. The only trouble I'm having is finding a program that I can run on this computer for creating 3d images and such. I create games and little videos for a small local company but no programs seem to work on this computer. I used to use Studio Max 6.0 but it's a no go on this one. I was just wondering which program I should be purchasing.
Have you some reason to think a file is missing?
By "main page" do you mean desktop?
Does it boot up in Safe Mode?
DerekW
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For your 2000 pro system pop in the windows 2kpro disk, reboot and do a repair.
As for 3D program i have no idea, try asking in the digital/video section or programming.
ASUS A7V8X
Athlon XP 2700+ @ 2.17ghz
1GB DDR 2700
nVidia 128mb FX 5200
WD 80gb SE
NEC ND-3500AG DVD R/RW
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It won't boot up in any mode which is why I've got the feeling it's missing a file. I don't have the disk (2kpro) you mentioned.
I meant desktop instead of main page.
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if you are getting to the desktop and then it reboots could be a hardware problem. I quess the 1st easiest thing you can try is remvoing the case and blowing all the dust out. Get a can of compressed air at a place like radioshack.Make sure it has the skinny straw-like attachment taped to the side of the can. Use this to blow out the dust especially around the processor and inside the power supply. Use a penscil to hold the fans while you do this to keep them from spinning, and be careful not to knock anything loose while your inside the case. Also the info at the top header of the post should be the machine you are having trouble with, not the one you are posting with.
larry
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Tried the dust removal option and it's still not acting any different.
This is a major plea for help to anyone. I should've had my work on a disk but I neglect to from time to time. I generally transfer my files via email. As hard as it is, I've got a feeling I just lost 8 months worth of work. I've went to a couple local repair shops and nobody wants to deal with it (they don't even look at it). To get the data off of it after it's sent away would be approximately $500. If I need to do such a thing I'm willing to but they still can't assure me that they can actually get it.
Sorry about my heading, I'm a little new to this site.
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Kinda tricky, especially as you can't even get into Safe Mode to attempt any sort of fix. I assume there are no error messages which would help give a clue.
Windows overlay is a possibility but you would need a Win 2000 CD for that.
This is the W95/98 forum, so I suppose you could try posting your problem on the correct forum (Win 2000), although I'm not sure what they will be able to add.
DerekW
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There isn't any error messages to work with at all. I've played with the computer for hours on end to no avail. It basically runs until it comes to "starting windows..." the bar at the bottom of the screen fills itself out and then the computer restarts itself.
I guess I should be looking into that CD although I don't know anyone that has it. The information on this computer definitely outweighs the cost of the CD though.
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You might find a cheap CD on eBay, although W98 is more commonly found there. If you find one make sure it has a Product Key.
DerekW
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Did a bit of Googling and most hits seemed to be suggesting a hardware problem as most likely, particularly overheating as already discussed.
A couple of long shots:
1. Check that all your fans are running (including the one in the PS).
2. Remove your RAM sticks and clean their edge connectors with a pencil eraser. If that doesn't help, put just one RAM stick at a time in first position to see if there is a bad stick there.
DerekW
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Right before the "Windows 2000 Built on NT Technology" splash screen appears, push F8, then select Last Good Configuration. See if it does the same thing.
If it does, then try removing all expansion cards (modem, network card, tv capture, etc.) except the graphics card, then try again.
IMO, I rule out any overheating issues, because it happens at the same place at startup. But to rule it out for sure, leave the computer off for a few hours and try again.
It sounds strange that you can't boot into even Safe Mode.
If you're concerned about the stuff on the hard drive, you can put the hard drive into another working computer if you have one, and put the hard drive into Slave mode and be able to recover your stuff and be able to take the appropriate measures to back it up.
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Try blender not sure if you can make games with it but you can make 3d images with it and it's freeware. do a google search for it.
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Thanks to RWD1996, Derek, and Lupin3rd for your quality info. There's a few things I can rule out like overheating and dust but I'll be sure to check into transferring the drive after I've attempted to start it after removing the expansion cards. I'm going to be away for a couple days but I'll post back with my results. I've tried starting it with the "last known good config." before. Didn't work.
This may sound silly but could I transfer the drive into this computer that I'm on now? I'm guessing likely not but I do know a couple guys with Windows 2000 pro on their computers that would be willing to let me try that.
Until I'm back, anyone that has anything else to add would surely be appreciated.
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"This may sound silly but could I transfer the drive into this computer that I'm on now?"
Yep! If your drive is the NTFS file system, make sure the OS of the computer you're going to put it in can read NTFS partitions, like Windows 2000, XP, or NT4. But the OS can be Windows 98 if the drive is FAT32.
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Or you could make the Win2000 hard drive the master on the jumper select and the 98 hard drive as a slave and transfer the files over.
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Yeah, but you still won't be able to boot it because it would still be the 2000 hard drive that would be booting.
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I'm still not at home. I will be friday. I've managed a borrowed copy of 2kpro.
*does huge a**ed happy dance*
Is there anything I should adjust while doing an overlay that I wouldn't normally do? I know it's pretty straight forward but I'm keeping in mind what I'm dealing with. Any lost info would bring me to tears. I'll be posting back on saturday (8th) to let you know how things went. Till then I'll be checking in from time to time to sort anything out. If possible (if there is anything that would seem unfamiliar to me) I'd very much appreciate someone running through it with me over messenger. My only issue would be the one monitor, otherwise I have two keyboards.
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I'm a W95/98 type and have never done this on W2k. The guides on the right hand side of the page here should see you OK:
DerekW
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That's a good site, I've been there from time to time. What you'll want to do, bloodhound, would be a Repair Install.
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Ok, I'll give this a go and see how things work out. I'll post once I'm done to let you all know how things worked out. Once I'm done I'd like to get some tricky spyware and other garbage out of it that likely caused this problem in the first place. Thanks to everyones excellent advice with this.
Here goes nothin.....
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Tears and sadness guys. The computer has bit the bullet. I decided to see what was exactly wrong with it so I went into the BMOS setup and switched it to "halt on all errors". I AM NOW KICKING MYSELF!!! It won't do anything besides show me a black screen. Absolutely nothing shows up. I don't know if a virus deleted something to start this but I guess I can officially say that I finished it off. I've never seen that happen before on any computer I've dealt with over the years. Figured I'd get some sort of error I could work with but alas.
Thanks to everyone for your valuable input. I guess I should've got some more valuable input before I did that. The interface between the chair and the keyboard made a boo-boo.
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I take it that you can't even see BIOS now?
If there is a removeable button battery on the motherboard take it out for a while and it should reset BIOS to defaults. With some there is a jumper you shift which does the same thing. On the latter you should be able to find the procedure using Google and your mobo number.
If we can get BIOS back to defaults it should put you back where you were before you killed it.
Of-course I am assuming that it isn't something entirely unrelated, such as video card/monitor connections.
DerekW
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I'll give it a shot tomorrow. I'm in the mood for a movie and some hot apple cider to calm my nerves. I'm not in the mood to mess anything else up right now.
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Removed and put the battery back in. This time the results were a little mixed. It keeps on restarting itself as it did before BUT with the error message:
CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck - CPU Soft Menu
First couple times I hit F1 to continue its process, nothing changed (rolls itself back to that). Hit Delete and went to the CPU Soft Menu
In there it had this:
CPU Name Is: Intel Celeron MMX
CPU Operating Speed: 233(66)
CPU Power Supply: CPU Default
-Core Voltage: 1.70vPersonally, I don't see how any of this could affect it but if you think I could change any of that to help with this issue I'd certainly apprecite it. I'm surprised that with the default settings in place it won't correct itself.
Tried Safe Mode and Last Known Good Configuration to no avail. It'll just roll itself back to that error message.
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It's getting messy. I would go into BIOS and set it the whole thing to Defaults and see what happens after that.
I'm assuming you've not changed the CPU at any time.
DerekW
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I haven't touched anything at any time. Since I took the battery out, wouldn't everything set itself back to its standard defaults or would it still be where I had it yesterday? My next step depends on you Derek.
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Yes, taking the battery out "should" set it to standard defaults. It can depend on how much time the battery is out of the machine, which is why I thought it worth setting it to Defaults from within BIOS itself.
I just wanted be "absolutely sure" it had reset properly - belt & braces LOL.
DerekW
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It appears to be completely defaulted to me. The battery was out for a couple hours. How would you go about making this happen? I'm not interested in a repeat of what I did last night.
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You said "How would you go about making this happen?". Not sure if I'm reading you right, do you mean going into BIOS and setting defaults?
Did you try the RAM suggestions in my #9?
It still sounds more like hardware than anything to me but I suppose you could try posting it on W2k forum to see if they have any other ideas.
DerekW
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I tried your suggestion in #9. I even tried using a RAM stick I borrowed from a fried to have the same result. I went into BIOS and hit F7 to be sure that everything was defaulted (nothing changed). I removed all expansion cards as suggested by RWD in #10 (same again). I have a post in the W2k forum but nobody seems to be jumping at it.
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Yeah, it's slow on there (not enough W2k types around) but maybe someone will jump in eventually.
I'm about out of ideas, other than removing every card in sight except video (which probably only leaves modem and sound).
DerekW
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Bloodhound, you said in reply #16 that you managed to borrow a copy of 2k Pro. This is a totally blind shot, but if you still have it, put it into the computer's CD Drive, and see if it'll boot. It should say something like "Press any key to boot from CD." Push a letter or something if you see this. Then try to do a repair install. If you don't see the message, then try looking for Boot Sequence in the BIOS, and make sure your CD Drive is before the hard drive. My guess is that the OS sensed a setting change in the BIOS, and caused the CPU error. But I really don't know as like I said, it's a blind shot.
I believe in the Big Bang. God said it, and BANG it happened!
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From Resp. #24:
Hit Delete and went to the CPU Soft Menu
In there it had this:
CPU Name Is: Intel Celeron MMX
CPU Operating Speed: 233(66)I thought you said in Resp. #1 that the CPU was a Pentium 3. Was I wrong?
I believe in the Big Bang. God said it, and BANG it happened!
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Sorry, i was mistaken about the CPU.
I've tried a few times to boot it with the CD but nothing happened other than the same old problem (restarting).
I'll pull the info off of it with your slave method and call the computer a loss unless I get a new idea. Thanks to everyone for your valuable input. If I end up with any problems in the future I'll be back here for advice. I'll be sure to help anyone out when I can too.
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