T21, unpartitoined 20 gb, W2K hangs at W2K Pro splash?

[findrivr]

I have a T21, 850mhz, 512 ram, unpartitioned 20 GB C:; it crashed during an DSL session. Attempts to restart = hang up at W2K Pro splash screen [about 3/4 of the bars show up] and zip.

I've run in safemode and Norton Sys Util. says the system couldn't find or access the file 'mscoree.dll'; I've looked into this and I'm not running any 'Frames' s/w or developer s/w.

I took the system to a technician who says the problem is that C: is unpartitioned. I guess the only thing to do, if he is correct, is to back up all personal data [less than 1 gb] to another notebook I have and re-install
W2K from CD. I guess this would essentially be a re-format?

My question is, in safe mode, can I send to another notebook by IR?
Otherwise, I'll be copying chunks of data via a 256mb pen drive into the other drive of notebook 2 or 3 [one is W98SE, the other is WinXPHome].
The one with WinXPhome has a program called 'Drive Image'. Not sure if this is ghost s/w, but along that line, my 2nd question is,
Can I install and run a ghost or imaging s/w into the T21 in safemode, then write the image [viaIR or other?] to one of the other notebooks?

I'm expecting that the re-install of W2K Pro [bootleg copy, but my T21 has legit license for it on bottom] will necessitate loss of all data.
Any help or comments will be welcome [even if they're sarcastic humor at this point].

Thanks,
live long and prosper.
Patrick

[MadeInJapan]

I think you're right with your last statement...you'll lose all data, but for the life of me, I can't believe that you have been running, or should I say, you were able to run Win2K on an unpartitioned HDD. I'm not sure if the partition issue is your problem. Don't see how any Windows would load on an unpartitioned drive....In other words, to load Windows, my understanding is that you first have to have a partitioned and properly formatted HDD.

Hope someone with more knowledge can help you with this one.

[jdhurst]

If the data is really important, consider getting an UltraBay adapter for the other laptops and mounting the drive in there.

No version of Windows will run in an unpartioned drive. Nor will any version of Linux that I am familiar with. So I think that assessment may be incorrect. Your windows probably got corrupted.

One other method may be to get a Bart PE Boot Disk (you need a valid Windows XP Pro SP1 CD to do this) and start the Bart PE CD directly, network to the other laptop and copy the data from the bad drive to the other system (if you can read it). A Knoppix bootable CD may be able to do the same thing.

BTW, the key on the bottom of the T may not work with a different Windows 2000 CD, so you may have to acquire a valid license. However you land, your licensing should be valid and registerable with Microsoft. You don't want to end up with a bootleg system.
... JD Hurst

[findrivr]

Jd & MIJ:

Odd, but true.
Here it is Easter Morning, and the last thing I was focusing on was to re-address the 'T21-W2K-hanging at splash screen issue', eventhough I took a peak look back at this forums' comments/suggestions to see what info might have resulted from posting my query.

As it happens, I there are 2 other nb's in the house: a Fujitsu S6010D [very slick stuff I gave to my wife 2 Xmas' back] running WXPhome and my old Dell CPx500GT running W98SE. Well, I decided to fire off a couple of Easter morning emails and borrowed the Fujitsu to edit a few messages; upon XP loading, the first thing that popped up was a pallete message from the system tray indicating that I had a file waiting to be written to a CD. I thought: "I don't remember having anything pending to write to a CD? What's this about?".
So I clicked on the icon and the dialogue opened revealing a single file in que to be written to CD. It was a trial version of 'Registry Mechanic' that I had downloaded back on Mar. 3, 2005 to begin to see if I could solve the 'T21-W2K-hanging at splash screen issue'.
Well, I thought to myself, 'this would be a good time to copy the download to a CD to give it a try'. So, having burned the file to a CD and attempting to boot the T21 simultaneously, I forgot to hit the F8 key at the IBM BIOS screen and the T21 was again on it's way to another 'T21-W2K-hanging at splash screen issue' and that meant I was going to have to do a hard boot-sys restart and go to F8 to invoke 'safemode' in order to try to install or run the CD of Registry Mechanic. I looked over at the T21 and was going to sit there a while and watch it run through its W2K splash screen and watch the 'load bars' again hang up at about 3/4 of the way through, but then I thought: 'no, I'm gonna put the CD in the tray while it hangs, then I'll restart in safemode and see if Registry Mechanic will automatically invoke an Install S/W dialogue on its own in Safemode.'
Well, upon opening the CD tray, I noticed that the screen had gone to the background color I had set for my theme in 'Display, Appearnace etc' of config preferences, so it had just booted W2k.....I backed off from the T21 as though it had just become possessed. It completely booted W2K.
My desktop wallpaper, icons, the functional Hotkey Windows key, boom...it's all there.
The only thing I can imagine defeating the full system boot, based on the events I just described, was the CD tray needed to be opened? That's hard to believe. Needless to say, the CD with the trial version of Registry Mechanic is still sitting on my desk and I'm not sure at this point if that would be a valid corrective action to ensure a stable W2K system. I'm actually afraid to 'shut-down' before attempting some other corrective action with either Nortons' WinDoctor or some other analytic s/w.
Also, now that the system is operational [or at least displaying indications that it is] what should I do to address the HD partition issue [if any?]. I'm looking at a Norton Utilities Drive profile as it stands now:
C: is the entire HD, 18.63 of which 4.66 is currently used
Drive details= [according to Norton Sys Info]

Volume info
File system: NTFS
Partition information:
Partition 0 Type: IFS
Boot Indicator: Bootable
Patrition Size: 18.63 gb
Starting Sector: 63
Starting Head: 1
Starting cylinder: 0
" sector: 1
Ending Head: 239
" cylinder:1,023
" Sector: 63
Reported Physical Info
# of cylinders: 2584
Sectors per Track: 63
Total heads: 240
I guess I am partitioned, into 1 - 18.63 gb. The whole HD? Well, it seems that that would be equivalent to no partitioning..no?

Background clues:
I bought this system on Ebay about last summer, and it came to me as is[W2K is on a generic CD, so yeah, eventhough I have the MS Certificate label still on the bottom of the T21, I guess it could well be a bootleg copy running] and which seemed to run fine and do DSL internet sessions, some digital camera downloads well enough [never did much else with it] The last s/w or h/w loaded was a DLink wireless PCM card and its wireless utility, which went faulty, died and was replaced by DLink [very promptly and fairly too], however, about when that card went dead and about the time I loaded an SBC/Yahoo DSL recommended Antispam-Antivirus called 'Zone Alarm' [which came up as an add-on from SBC's '2Wire' wirelss card/modem-router setup']; thats also when I replaced the 2Wire card with the DLink card' and all of this was about the time this whole mess started. Now it seems the CD tray open and reshut booted the thing...although I do remember several attempts to run the generic W2K cd that came with it, only to back off since it seemed the only thing I was going to accomplish there was another format/install.
I dont get it.

I'm really lost as to the real source of this whole 'T21-W2K-hanging at splash screen issue', but the system is up and operational at this time and I won't shut it down yet until I hear from you guys as to the best corrective actions to take.

Again, I don't know where to really start; HD partiton s/w, another system analysis s/w run-report or 1st create an image [Norton Ghost?] and save externally to restore next time the system goes down or [which I'm really embarrased to say] create a Boot CD and a good system Restore/Recover CD [if that is possible or even the way to go?]

Lots of unknowns- thanks for listening and your comments, advice, etc.
Patrick

[jdhurst]

Your post says conclusively you have a partition on that drive. There may be some unpartioned space, but you have a partition. Best bet, given you have another machine is to put them on the same network (routers are cheap, even if you need to buy one).

If the problem machine is still running, try networking directly and copy files. Otherwise, download Knoppix (free) and burn to a CD as a bootable disk. Ask a friend to create one if you don't have the resources. Boot the Knoppix CD in the "dead" T, network it to the other laptop, copy the files you need from the "dead" T to the other machine. Then rebuild the T (kill all the partions and start over).

I have built dozens of "machines" since 1999 with VMware including Windows and Linux systems. You simply must have a partion to get going, so I assume what you have got corrupted. You can try Registry Mechanic (I prefer Registry First Aid), but you need to accept the risks first, and that means backing up your data.

... JD Hurst

[MadeInJapan]

I agree 100% with JdHurst...Use Koppix to network and backup before killing your machine and losing everything. It could just be a glitch from some time ago and you will consistantly keep rebooting into windows, but you might not...why risk it? At least be prepared for the worst, and so if that happens, format and reload windows with a clean copy.

[findrivr]

To MIJ or jd or any others w/knowledgebase:
Is that Koppix or Knoppix?
I looked at both and they seem to be Linux programs. How will that work for me and the W2K sys in my T21?

BTW: I am running an SBC- '2Wire' Homeportal 1000HG; I beleive its a wireless modem/router/gateway and has a firewall. As I have it installed, for DSL service, its running in infrastructure mode? Meaning it is sharing the same access point with all computers that have the same encryption key code [all the ones we own], but they cannot see or access each others' drives [or do I have it backwards?].
I presume we would need to change to adhoc [or infrstructure] mode to 'see' each others' drives in our wireless LAN?

I would like to be able to back-up to the 'Fujitsu-XP' or the 'Dell-W98SE', or, better yet, even purchase a stand alone external drive that can interface wirelessly.
Wouldn't that be the 'best' network structure for SOHO-wireless environment?
I know, it's a few questions in one...
Please clarify or send me to a good schematic that can illustrate by flow diagram or other symbolic logic what's achieveable.

[MadeInJapan]

Sorry, it's Knoppix. You'll have to use a wired network in order to use this. Knoppix will not be using any of your present OS, but instead will be able to access all of your files on your HDD (Knoppix is a CDrom based OS), therefore you don't have to worry about taking your firewall down. You'll also have to unplug your computer from the wireless router or accesspoint and hardwire it to a hub as well as your Thinkpad. If you don't want to use a hub and either of the computers cannot auto-negotiate a network connection, then you'll have to use a crossover cable between the computers.

Good luck!

[findrivr]

MIJ & others whom may have observations, comments or any other help:

I ran Norton WinDoctor and it pointed out 14 problems:
either invalid application paths, invalid application identifiers, invalid ActiveX/Com entries and a few others. I let Norton fix the problems. I guess it essentially deletes the problems as invalid registry entries.

Not sure what all of that means, but to get a second opinion, I ran the trial version of Registry Mechanic. It identified 5 medium priority problems and 41 high priority problems from a deep scan.

As you might expect, it will only delete the problems; but if you want to see optional fixes, you have to pay for the full version. I'm not sure the 46 problems disclosed represent legitamite concerns of O/S stability. Nonetheless, I thought I'd ask your opinions on this.

As far as my W2K boot problem, I did no fixes before just trying a Restart. Succesful restart, so after the Norton WinDoctor fixes, I'm guessing things are OK in the short term.
Regarding the outlined instructions for 'Knoppix', I understand that as long as the 'Host' and 'Client computers are disconnected from the network and directly wired or use an 'auto-negotiated' connection, I can make a backup image to the other HDD. Is the IRdA connection capable of this; I know it's not very fast, but I've used it succesfully on both nb's with cell phone to Outlook synchs.

Ultimately I do need to make the boot disk [or CD, if possible] and locate a good restore/recovery CD. Then I'd like to mirror my HDD's to the other notebooks HDD's [or ultimately a stand alone drive].
I know I've raised a lot of issues here, but I'm very thankful for your time and again, this site is exemplary of the good that comes form the web, despite what internet detractors may say.

Patrick

[MadeInJapan]

You are about 95% correct with Knoppix. It does not have software for imaging a drive, but through networking with it, you can copy off file that you need and don't want to lose onto another computer for later retrieval. Infra Red is very very slow, but it should work. On a separate note, maybe WinDoctor and System Mechanic fixed your problems and you will continue to boot, but I would still copy over (back up) essential files...then keep your fingers crossed. Good luck!

[Nolonemo]

Just a comment. One thing that I didn't see mentioned anywhere was the option to boot from the Win2k CD and do a repair install. That would not wipe out any of your settings or data.

Also, since you have a network available, and having had the %^$#@ scared out of you, I highly recommend that you spring for Acronis TrueImage. That will let you back up and restore drive images over a network. Burn both a regular and "safe mode" Acronis boot CD (sometimes the regular Acronis boot cd will hang, but the safe mode still supports wired networks). That way, if you end up with a machine that won't boot, you can boot to the TP using Acronis and copy an image over a wired network connection to a working machine.

Alternatively, you could find a 2.5" tp 3.5" ide adaptor on ebay for around $10, and connect the TP drive to a desktop and use TrueImage to image that way.

The great thing about TrueImage is that it lets you mount the image as a virtual drive that you can then roam around in using Windows Explorer to retrieve any particular file that you want. I belive you can to this over a network also.

Also, Acronis doesn't care (unlike at least some versions of Ghost) where or on what media you originally created the image.

I wouldn't do any computing without a copy on my machine. I gave up on Norton Ghost back around v.8.

BTW, Acronis Drive Manager beats the crap out of Partition Magic, also. I used PM for years, now it's Acronis all the way.

[findrivr]

Nolo & MIJ,
Thanks for the advice and comments; I'm glad I tend to dig a little, rather than just go "Pavlovs' Dog' for the brand that gets qouted so often.
I'm looking at both Knoppix and TrueImage.

BTW, as a sort of poll within this thread, what's the most prevalent cavaet about external HD's for backup [as far as TP's go]? Any specification preferences and [here we go agian] 'well founded' brand biases.
Apologies in advance if my last query should have been posted in 'TP hardware'.
Thanks for your time.
Patrick