Endless loop in Windows 2000 install

[kimC]

Help!!

I am upgrading a Win 98 machine to Win 2k for a friend, and it is stuck in an endless loop of installing.

It goes through the process and then restarts!

What can I do? I've upgraded lots of machines and never had this problem.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Today is Friday, and he wants to pick up the machine on Sunday

Ahhhhhhhh!

 

[IBMan]

did u do an upgrade? is it a legit disk? if u answered yes to both of the following, do a reformat then install, if u answered no to upgrade, then im guessing its the disk, if its not a legit disk, get a legit disk.

 

[kimC]

I did an upgrade, and it is a legitimate disk.

I really can't reformat, as he has photos on this disk that he wants to save.

What now???

 

[IBMan]

do u have acess to a cd burner or dvd burner? or even a hard drive? if u have any cd burner or dvd bunrer just put it in his comp as a slave or if u dont have enough room take the cd drive thats already in there and back it up, or set up another hard drive as a slave and put the stuff on there, then format and restore the images and stuff. or if its small enough for u have a fast enough internet connection upload the stuff to a free webspace site somewhere.

 

[kimC]

I would do that, but I can't get past this install business. I guess I could put his harddrive into my machine and copy his pics, but oh man!

There has go to be a better way.

What caused this? Do you know??

 

[IBMan]

uh...i dunno, its hard to say without anyone else giving suggestions, but yea right now it seems thats the only main option is to put his drive in ur box or another box, just make sure if the hdd thats already in there if its set to cable select, set the 2nd hard drive to cable select and if its set to master set the 2nd to slave.

 

[kimC]

Have you ever heard of this before?

I googled this problem and found a thread about the same thing on eggheadcafe or something, but the thread link is dead.

I think I'll go shoot myself.

 

[IBMan]

lol, dont go shoot yourself, i cant really say what caused the problem, im pretty sure 98 supports upgrading to 2000, do u have any idea whether its 98 second edition or first edition? what security packs are installed, any info u can give on the system would be great. also, does it give any error before restarting? and do u get to the graphical install or does it stay in text mode?

 

[kimC]

I know it supports it ... I've done it tons of times before.

It was second edition, and the system is fairly new.

It does go to graphic install - looks completely normal. Just does it over and over and over ......

 

[IBMan]

when it restarts, does the computer give a half text have graphical looking screen that says setup being restarted........................? also, so u by chance use msn messenger? or something where u can talk to someone using msn messenger so we can actually chat?