Windows 2000 to Windows 98

Hi, I am having a computer problem. I tried using a Windows 98 boot disk to repair something on my Windows 2000 Professional Built On NT Technology. My C: and D: drives were not accessible and a Virutual Limited Memory error message came up telling me "The system has no paging files or paging file is too small" and it tells me how to fix it but it's not fixable because my C: and D: drives are not accessible, and it shows no hard drive space on it. It's all at "zero". I then tried fixing it with Windows 98 boot up disk using FDISK but now when I reboot it gives me a C: prompt and says Windows 98. It will not let me go pass the Windows logo part. I don't know what to type in this to make it work. I tried using the boot up disks for Windows 2000 and used Emergency Repair Disk but I still get the prompt of C:/ using Windows 98. I am not able to go to safe mode. Please let me know what I can do. Thanks!

Camila

 

Depending on which FDISK function that you used, and whether or not Windows 2000 was formatted with NTFS system, there is the possibility that you have corrupted or deleted the Windows 2000 installation. From reading the problem that you described, it seems as if the Win98 system files have been transferred to your hard drive. The reason that it hangs at the Win98 startup screen is because the rest of the OS hasn't been installed.
Before I suggest a format and reinstallation, wait and see if any of the more knowledgeable members suggest any fixes or alternatives.

 

Hi, if I do have to format and re-install Windows 2000, could I just upgrade to Windows XP instead of re-installing Windows 2000 or is the extent of the problem so severe that I have to re-install Windows 2000? Let me know. Thanks!

Camila

 

You shouldn't have to reinstall anything if you are wanting to upgrade to XP. I was concerned that you had corrupted the MBR on your current installation and had files that you needed recovered.
With the Win98 boot disk, you have all the tools necessary to do the job, but I favor a clean install on any system that I work on. I would suggest going to your hard drive manufactures web site and downloading their drive utilities, or downloading the Ultimate Boot CD from MajorGeeks. You will need a CD burning program capable of burning ISO/image files to disk. The option to choose will be burning backup files/images to disk and locating where the the downloaded file is. After doing either of the two options, do a low level format of your hard drive which will write 0's to all sectors, and the drive will be in a factory shipped condition.
Depending on your XP cd, if it is an upgrade, then you will need a previous OS CD ( Win98 or 2000 ) as it will ask for verification of a previous OS, just put the CD in and follow the on screen prompts.