vicous circle

[neil_2]

hi , i am fairly useless with regards to computers and need help, please

i've changed the os from windows 98 ( first edition ) to windows 2000 professional

using a CD .

It seemed to go ok. But now i cannot log on , when u try to it just goes back to the log on screen , help !!!!

i only did this so i could use a solid state USB thingy to transfer files to a new PC i've got , as it wouldn't work with windows 98 , now i can't do anything :( :(

[homecomputeraid]

Do you remember whether you were asked to create a new account during the upgrade process? If so, please use that name and password.

If you don't know , or you weren't asked, please hit Control, Alternate, Delete (Ctrl-Alt-Del), (press and hold Ctrl, then press and hold Alt, then press Del) then put in Administrator for a username, and leave the password blank (empty).

Let me know if this helps! :)

[Scarecrow Man]

If I remember correctly, Windows 2000 Professional requires an administrator password when installing.

[neil_2]

i probably didn't explain well enough what's happening

i know the password etc , at the login stage

windows says " loading network connections...

then the screen goes black for a second

then windows says closing network connections

and i'm back at the login stage again

i've tried it in safe mode still same thing

don't know what else to do

if i re-installed windows 98 would i at least be able to access my files ?

[homecomputeraid]

It's hard to say the status of your files at this point. Do you remember whether you changed the file system to NTFS? If not, it's probably still File Allocation Table (FAT) 32. In which case, you could put the hard drive into another computer, save your files to its hard drive, them do a clean build of the original PC. Even if you converted the drive to NTFS, you could access it by putting it into a Windows 2000 or XP machine.

It sounds like that may not be your best choice unless you have access to someone who can help you.

If you are going to try to repair the OS, I strongly recommend trying to run the repair option with the Windows 2000 CD, instead of trying to go back to 98. Bear in mind, that your data's at risk if you try to fix the OS.

Do you have any data that would be difficult to replace?

[neil_2]

hello

i've installed windows 2000 professional from CD over windows 98 (1st edition)

it seemed to go fine

at the very end it prompted me for a password for administrator and so i put something in .

when logging in the computer says: " loading personal settings "

but then the screen goes black for about 2 secs , then says" closing network connections " and then " saving your settings" and then i'm back at the login screen again.

help , is there anyway to rescue this.it does the same in safe mode.

i really need to get access to the files on the hard drive

would it help if i tried to put windows 98 back on the computer? hope anyone can help .... :(

[homecomputeraid]

Hi Neil_2,

I think you already have a post on this? http://www.windowsforum.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=14881

I strongly recommend against going back to 98. If anything I suggest you try to do a Windows 2000 Repair.

First though, do you have irreplaceable data on the computer? If so, you might want to ensure its safety before doing to much to try and repair the OS.

Sincerley,

[neil_2]

thanks for the reply,

if all else fails , could i transfer the hard drive to a functional computer and access the files that way , i suppose it would have to be running windows 2000 professional , appreciate any info , cheers neil

[Michelle]

You could try this:

With the cdrom booting up you select 'install', then you will be prompted to enter the repair console in the next screen. Do not enter the repair console here but continue on by selecting 'install' again. Then you should be presented with the listed operating systems on your pc . This should give you the option to repair those installations. This way it will rewrite over the entire operating system but will leave your installed programs intact. (It wipes out every windows update.)

You could also install w2k on another partition. I've got it on 3 partitions - just in case.

[djohn]

Merged same topic from MC related board to keep the post together. :) dj