Windows 2000 Update / Installation problem

chorus techy

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas - I have an 8 year old gateway with Win 98 on it and I am trying to load Windows 2000 onto it. Whenever I insert the disk, it enters into the installation program through DOS (when CD Is put in and PC is restarted). It goes through a few setup procedures and then says "Setup is detecting your hardware configuration" and then just hangs - nothing happens.

I've tried many times to reload, reformatting the disk, repartitioning etc. but to of no avail.

Anyone any ideas on what could be wrong?
Any suggestions appreciated!

Mossess

Check your hardware against the Hardware Compatability List on the MS site. What is the Spec of the PC?

hostyle

chorus techy wrote:

It goes through a few setup procedures and then says "Setup is detecting your hardware configuration" and then just hangs - nothing happens.

How long did you wait? I've seen this take 10 minutes on old machines.

Cryos

Mossess wrote:

Check your hardware against the Hardware Compatability List on the MS site. What is the Spec of the PC?

once the pc has the space and mb ram its fine, you could get xp onto it if it had 128 and 1.5gb drive space (and i have proof of that)

formatman

what type of gateway is it , does it have a promise IDE controller in there ?

chorus techy

Specs, well its 8 years old

166MHz pentium MMX (yeah not even p2)
40gb hard disk
128mb RAM

Not too sure about the IDE controller tbh - will check later.

In answer to how long I've waited, I left the PC on overnight at one stage and it still had that message the following morning...

I will also check the Hardware compatibility on the MS website - thanks for all the suggestions.

formatman

it doesn't have a promise controller in it , sounds like the aladin motherboard although how you are getting a 40gb hdd to work needs answering first before futher discussion , did a pc shop fit this at some stage for you ?

formatman

actually more like a mailman or mailman II board

chorus techy

formatman wrote:

it doesn't have a promise controller in it , sounds like the aladin motherboard although how you are getting a 40gb hdd to work needs answering first before futher discussion , did a pc shop fit this at some stage for you ?

No its actually a "G-Man" Gateway board - I got the 40GB HDD to work because I updated the BIOS. Everything I did with the PC in terms of upgrading was done myself - no shop or computer store or anything ever touched it.

formatman

there was something odd about the GMAN board , I think a few of them had dodgy components which restricted you to use cerain types of SDRAM timing , it could be this that the installation is picking up and falling over on ...

chorus techy

Well I'm going to try install the Win 2000 temporarily on a mates Compaq computer, see if it will install or is it just a dodgy CD.

TBH, I think the PC has seen better days anyway and it has got a lot of abuse over the years.

Thanks for all the suggestions - much appreciated.
Pain in the arse that its not working though.