Random Rebooting

[Ninju]

Well, it can take a while but I'm not really sure what a while is. Give me an idea, is 30 seconds a long time, 1 minute, how long should it take from after I click Shut down?

Also, I think I'm going to do a Format and install Windows. I've very almost downloaded the Windows XP Pro Corporate Edition, wreckon I should give that a try?

[degrub]

Mine takes about 15-20 seconds when everything is happy. i have had it hang for a minute or more (overnight!) when i have had hardware issues. i had a bad internal SCSI3 cable a while back that did that. Saw lots of controller errors on the event viewer.

XP probably won't make any difference. W2k is just as good usually. The format may make the difference. Either way enable the PNP OS option in the Bios

[Ninju]

I think I'll do the format tomorrow, I just need to back up a little more data, also, I have no time tonight. I'm getting off for tonight so I'll let you know the PNP OS option tomorrow. If it's disabled, I'll enable it.

Thanks for your help today.

[degrub]

Good luck ! Been there many times.

Remember the PDP-8 !

;-O

[Ninju]

Good luck ! Been there many times.

Remember the PDP-8 !

;-O

I don't know why everyone else likes doing it, I hate it

Anyways, I looked under PNP/PCI configuration, it says this:

PCI/VGA Pallette Snoop [disabled]


Should I enable that?

[Technoid]

I don't know why everyone else likes doing it, I hate it

Anyways, I looked under PNP/PCI configuration, it says this:

PCI/VGA Pallette Snoop [disabled]


Should I enable that?

Nope

[Ninju]

I can't find a bootdisk for Win2k. I tried 2 of them at www.bootdisk.com but neither worked, I tried extracting the IMG file from the zip file and I tried leaving it as the zip file. Neither method worked.

I thought there was somewhere you could just click "Make Bootdisk" but I can't find it :-/

Please help, I feel like an idiot because this is a complete n00b question

[Nowhere]

Windows 2000 desn't generally need a bootdisk. You must change the setting in the bios of your computer, so CDROM will be its boot device (before HDD), in "standard settings" probably... (something about it should in manul for your motherboard)

[degrub]

you have to make the boot disk yourself - floppies or maybe a cd. 4 floppies. i think you can make them from the upgrade cd when you run it. MS might call it recovery or something like that.

[Ninju]

Ok, I've rebooted, I think it may have fixed the problem, but that's not a 100% has fixed the problem because, I sometimes used to have long periods where my computer would not randomly reboot, up to about a week.

I have another question, as I might have told you, I downloaded Windows XP Pro, however, after re-formatting I inserted the disk on which I had copied Windows XP Pro to and nothing happened, I got this message:

NTLDR missing
Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to restart

This infact happened whenever I tried to use the Windows 2000 Update disk or the Windows 98SE disk. I remember simply inserting the Windows 98SE disk at previous occasions. Anyway, here's what my question is mainly based around not that the part above isn't relevant. To install any Win OS I had to insert the Setup/Startup disks for that OS, so, I tried the Win 98SE startup disks, it was then that I was able to install Win 98, same for Win2k (by the way, I did a clean install on Win2k).

The Question: I was wondering, would/do I of needed/need some Win XP startup disks to install Windows XP Pro or, is it because of the folders. The disk I have Win XP on is like this:

Drive:\WinXPPro\

WinXPPro.iso
ReadMe.[can't remember file extension]

If I had put the files directly on the disk (if you know what I mean by this), so:

Drive:\

WinXP.iso
ReadMe

Would it of worked, or do I need the Start-up disks as I did with Win2k and Win98? I need to know this sooner than later because it means I'm going to have to format again. :-/

EDIT: Random rebooting has NOT stopped :'(

[degrub]

Have no idea on XP. i stopped at W2k.Make sure you have the most recent bios version as well. If your random rebooting has not stopped AND all of the drivers are the most recent, check the event monitor for warnings or errors AND check device manager for yellow or red flags. If nothing under DM and you are getting error messages in event monitor == hardware problem. If no error messages, could be hardware, could be driver conflict. Given that you had this before the new video card, i would look for a mem module to borrow, an ide cable to borrow, etc. If your system uses 2 mem modules, then swap the locations and see if the problem changes or goes away. IF you have just one mem module, change it's location. Otherwise, You may just have a bad motherboard. :-((

[degrub]

on the first question about ntldr - see my previous post. IF i remember correctly, you can just create an empty file with the name ntldr.bat and the installer will be happy. after you installed w98, look in the root directory for ntldr.* and that will tell you the file type it needs to be.

[The PIT]

Doesn't sound like you CD is bootable. Why not just download the setup disks off the web???