Ok most of you will find this boring as hell, im just going to tell you what I got upto in the last two days. So i\'d close this now if you aren\'t into fixing computers.
Anyway I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade to Windows 2k. I basically don\'t use my PC for games no more (got a PS2 for that), so I wanted some more stability and its ment to be good.
As with most computer things problems arrised, two days of them.
Day 1.
I started by finding all the files on my PC I wanted to keep, and burnt them to a CDr, thankfully this went OK as it was the last CDr I had. I then proceeded to format my 3 gig hard drive and start the Windows 2000 installer.
Thankfully all was going well. I mean I had no errors and although it took 1 hour to completly install I was pleased as some computer errors can take weeks to sort out.
However then my problems arrised.
I found that when selecting 800x600 resolution that my display went haywire, so of course I went onto the internet (in glorious 640x480) in search for both graphics card drivers and monitor drivers. Trying all combinations (some of which caused conflicts with my SCSI card) cured nothing, each attempt taking like 15 minutes. So I spent about 2 hours on this problem when all I needed to do was adjust the monitor. OK im not that dumb I did try it first time but it seemed that it was set so far out that the horizontal, pincushion values etc were like at 500 when the range is 0 - 100. So I literally had to hold the set left button for ages until the stuck 100 value finally started to go down. This is why I didn\'t spot this at first.
Ok so I had my display set up and proceeded to install all the programs, you know mIRC, Office, ICQ etc. I noticed that when doing this my computer at random intervals would just switch off. Seriously it was so strange. I checked the power supply leads, and I presumed that my power supply unit was ok. I tried to work with this problem but it was happening more often. Until it went, or so it seemed...
Day 2
Ok so I finished installing the rest of the applications. I must have been working on this machine for about 7 hours so I was pleased to have it sorted. I installed the last set of applications and rebooted...
The nightmare began.
Once I had rebooted each time I got back into Windows 2000 I would get a message saying that winmgmt.exe was causing errors constantly, I was getting blue screens and worse still the power problem was back alive as ever.
I couldn\'t even get into a normal background as it would shut off before I got anyway. Safe mode wasn\'t much better, the power shut off was reduced but this message would appear like every few seconds.
I spent the latter half of today basically trying different boot combinations, and checking my hard disk for errors. I even attempted to reinstall Windows 2000 as a last resort, however it asked if I wanted to repair so I tired all them options with no luck and finally I tired the reinstall again but when it asked if I wanted to try to repair it first I said no, yet it still seemed to attempted and still failed and therefore I couldnt even get to the install screen.
It seemed like it was format again or nothing.
I had one last chance in Windows and it for somereason was working. I was getting errors but it hadn\'t powered down. So presuming I was against the clock I raced onto the internet searching for solutions. I heard that deleting this folder (it gets recreated when you reboot) sorts the error messages, and flashing my VIA motherboard bios fixes the shut down. So I did. So far touch wood everything is fine.
So its took 2 whole days but I think I finally got a working installation.
Win2k does seem sweet like. So don\'t let my quibbles put you off. Just be prepared for a battle. I mean im not a novice at computers. I know what im doing and its took me 2 whole days!!!!
Hehe.
