Question Hard drive dying in really old Windows 2000 pro PC.

[silversmithy]

I got an old PC, (AMD Thunderbird CPU I believe), running Windows 2000 from a friend of mine. It was stored on the hard concrete floor of a damp garage, (I know, I know very sad). Anyway they wanted me to transfer any family photos, etc.,, onto a thumb drive for them, and then told me to keep it if I wanted it, or whatever. I really enjoy the older machines, and thought that this might be a great machine for older games, i.e. old flights sims, etc.

I fired it up, and after a few error messages, (one being a checksum error), it did boot to Windows, and it goes to the desktop. I was able to transfer most if not all of their photos, and I left it sitting out in my place giving it the nice climate controlled environment it deserves, at least I think so... I decided to set it back up again and try out an old flight sim, Red Baron 3D, ( it works by the way, that is when the PC actually successfully boots). The PC does the normal one beep POST and seems to boot up fine, except now I notice a loud clicking noise that at first I thought was the PSU, but now I see it's one of the 3.5 HDD's. Sometimes the PC will boot, and sometimes it starts to load Windows with the little black and white squares loading at the bottom, but then states Windows 2000could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: (Windows 2000 root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please reinstall a copy of the above file. Unfortunately I do not have a Windows 2000 professional CD, but I could probably try to pick one up used maybe? Anyway that won't resolve the dying HDD, but I guess if I can get it to load Windows 2000 one more time and then proceed from there.

The PC is set up with a Clone drive, (I honestly have never used this), and I believe it shows as drive G:. When I click on it I directed to insert a CD. Again I do not know anything really about cloning, etc., but if I understand it somewhat a person could burn an image of their system to a DVD or USB drive? Anyway I am sure that they did not do this themselves, but if someone else did that DVD is long gone. Anyway again I know next to nothing about this, but want to learn.

I want to tackle this, but need guidance which is glaringly obvious.

Thanks in advance for help/advice.

 

[TerryLaze]

If the G: drive has a file of a few Gb on it then copy that file to an USB or any other save place as long as the drive still works, if you give us the name with the extension we might figure out what cloning program was used to make it and you will be able to clone it back onto a new hdd getting rid of the failing one.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

The PC is set up with a Clone drive, (I honestly have never used this), and I believe it shows as drive G:. When I click on it I directed to insert a CD

back then this type of software was mostly used to create and to run cloned images of software installation CD/DVDs.
what it would be asking for("insert a CD") is to mount one of these cloned images to read or a new disc to clone.

if you find any available disc image from this system you can read it and see what it contains.

I do not have a Windows 2000 professional CD, but I could probably try to pick one up used maybe? Anyway that won't resolve the dying HDD

i haven't worked with Win2K for many years now but you should be able to still clone this "dying" HDD and copy it to a new healthy drive and go from there with the same installation you had previously.


your best option though would be to just setup a modern system and run your older software in compatibility modes within modern versions of Windows.

 

[silversmithy]

If the G: drive has a file of a few Gb on it then copy that file to an USB or any other save place as long as the drive still works, if you give us the name with the extension we might figure out what cloning program was used to make it and you will be able to clone it back onto a new hdd getting rid of the failing one.

I don't think it does, but I honestly don't remember for sure. I will check when I get a chance provided the PC will boot to Windows at all. Thank you.

 

[stonecarver]

provided the PC will boot to Windows at all.

If you do get her to boot make a back up of the system 32 folder. If you ever plan on reusing windows 2000 there is where all it's drivers are sitting right now. Just an FYI

 

[artk2219]

I got an old PC, (AMD Thunderbird CPU I believe), running Windows 2000 from a friend of mine. It was stored on the hard concrete floor of a damp garage, (I know, I know very sad). Anyway they wanted me to transfer any family photos, etc.,, onto a thumb drive for them, and then told me to keep it if I wanted it, or whatever. I really enjoy the older machines, and thought that this might be a great machine for older games, i.e. old flights sims, etc.

I fired it up, and after a few error messages, (one being a checksum error), it did boot to Windows, and it goes to the desktop. I was able to transfer most if not all of their photos, and I left it sitting out in my place giving it the nice climate controlled environment it deserves, at least I think so... I decided to set it back up again and try out an old flight sim, Red Baron 3D, ( it works by the way, that is when the PC actually successfully boots). The PC does the normal one beep POST and seems to boot up fine, except now I notice a loud clicking noise that at first I thought was the PSU, but now I see it's one of the 3.5 HDD's. Sometimes the PC will boot, and sometimes it starts to load Windows with the little black and white squares loading at the bottom, but then states Windows 2000could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: (Windows 2000 root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe. Please reinstall a copy of the above file. Unfortunately I do not have a Windows 2000 professional CD, but I could probably try to pick one up used maybe? Anyway that won't resolve the dying HDD, but I guess if I can get it to load Windows 2000 one more time and then proceed from there.

The PC is set up with a Clone drive, (I honestly have never used this), and I believe it shows as drive G:. When I click on it I directed to insert a CD. Again I do not know anything really about cloning, etc., but if I understand it somewhat a person could burn an image of their system to a DVD or USB drive? Anyway I am sure that they did not do this themselves, but if someone else did that DVD is long gone. Anyway again I know next to nothing about this, but want to learn.

I want to tackle this, but need guidance which is glaringly obvious.

Thanks in advance for help/advice.

You can download Windows 2000 Professional, and pretty much all older windows versions from archive.org. Do you really care about preserving data on the original disk or were you just looking to start with a fresh copy of Windows 2000 or XP? That motherboard may or may not have SATA ports so its worth checking it out, do you have any information on what components are inside of it?If it does have sata you could replace the old hard drive with a modern SSD relatively easily. If not, they make PATA to SATA adapters which are pretty cheap, some motherboards work fine with them and others are picky, so your mileage may vary on that one.

Windows 2000 Professional : Microsoft : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

This ISO comes from a real Windows 2000 Installation Disk that I made into a ISO file. The Product Key is RM233 - 2PRQQ - FR4RH - JP89H - 46QYB

archive.org

PATA to SATA Adapter

 

[silversmithy]

You can download Windows 2000 Professional, and pretty much all older windows versions from archive.org. Do you really care about preserving data on the original disk or were you just looking to start with a fresh copy of Windows 2000 or XP? That motherboard may or may not have SATA ports so its worth checking it out, do you have any information on what components are inside of it?If it does have sata you could replace the old hard drive with a modern SSD relatively easily. If not, they make PATA to SATA adapters which are pretty cheap, some motherboards work fine with them and others are picky, so your mileage may vary on that one.

Windows 2000 Professional : Microsoft : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

This ISO comes from a real Windows 2000 Installation Disk that I made into a ISO file. The Product Key is RM233 - 2PRQQ - FR4RH - JP89H - 46QYB

archive.org

PATA to SATA Adapter

Okay, thank you very much. I actually would like to keep as much of what is on the HDD if possible. I know this is a strange question, but there are actually (2) 3.5 HDD's inside the PC, and in the BIOS I can choose one or the other to boot from, (if I choose the Maxtor and not the WD it does not boot, so I know that the OS is on the WD), but going to my computer at the desktop the only HDD that shows up is C:, and no other options. I guess I just don't understand how this PC is set up.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I guess I just don't understand how this PC is set up.

Can you show screenshot from Disk Management?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[artk2219]

Do you know if that machine can boot to a USB disk, or how much memory it has?

 

[silversmithy]

First off I wanted to thank everyone for the help/advice.

Update:

I went to boot up a little bit ago to try to get an image of the diskmgmt.msc for you to take a look at, and after the single beep at post it beeps a couple of times and then a single long beep I guess some would call it. The sound stops in between times when it runs through checking memory but when it starts doing anything the tone resumes. If you press a button, etc., the tone lessens, but comes back full force after releasing a key, etc.

I tried disconnecting each drive and try separately, but same thing. I then tried just booting up pc with both HDD's completely disconnected and same thing. I just wanted to see if HDD's were the cause. It sounds like a hardware issue, maybe ram? I tried switching slots, and no change. Also at initial boot it runs a quick ram check and it says ok. The other thing I noticed was a light which e coming from I believe the PSU when power it connected, but even before I switch the PSU to on.

The ram is pc-100 256mb. I know, I know.. but this was going to be for having fun with really old games, etc. I don't know much of this PC'S history, but it was stored in a damp garage for quite a while so issues are most likely many.

I have another stick of pc-100 somewhere I think, and another PSU with molex connections I can try. It's odd that the issue occurred even after the HDD' were removed from the equation as I was sure they were the primary culprits. The current PSU that is in it did show voltages within I believe normal specs on 12,5, and 3 volts but again not sure how thorough that is. Plus I was getting a surging throughout post and even later on when PC would actually boot. I guess now they may have just been accomplices... Rough.

 

[silversmithy]

Do you know if that machine can boot to a USB disk, or how much memory it has?

I'm not sure about being able to boot from usb, but I believe it can. Currently has 1 stick of 256mb pc-100 ram. Please see my current post update.

 

[silversmithy]

Latest update. I removed CMOS battery and disconnected everything else, and held power button in for approx 20 seconds or more, (I know I'm really reaching now). I reseated the 1 stick of pc-100 256mb ram into a different slot. I need to find a different stick to try as well.

I also decided to install a different PSU. Same problem occurs. At first it seems to power up fine, but right after the single beep to signal PC post, it beeps a couple of times,(sorry I should have paid attention), and then just a long steady signal that only goes away briefly when you reboot, etc. By the way I forgot to mention it's AwardBios. Anyway, unfortunately it's not the PSU, and it looks like even though the HDD's are probably dying I don't think that is what this whole long steady signal is. I'm guessing at best bad ram or maybe graphics card, or at worst the CPU is bad, short in MB, or just plain total 25lb paperweight now. I also wanted to mention that I thought it might be alerting me to CPU overheating, but the fan is spinning on heatsink, and in BIOS it shows temp at around 89.5 F. Anyway if anyone else has any thoughts before I give up please let me know. Thanks.