ok with formatting 1 of my partitions and installing w2k is the following correct ;

1) boot to dos prompt with F3 option

2) type format c:

3) have w2k pro cd in the drive and hit the setup.exe


Questions:

1) will i still be able to use the cdrom drive or will i have to install drivers for it first from a floppy?

2) can i install w2k pro from dos prompt or is it only an upgrade o/s which has to be run from windows ?

Depends on the disk I believe (it may require a 'previous' Windows disk or something)

You should be able to boot directly from you Windows 2000 CD - give that a go before you go formatting.

If that doesn't work, and you need to launch setup from DOS, you will need CD-ROM drivers; the easiest way is to get a Windows98 boot disk.

If you don't have Windows98 lying around, you can get a copy (of the boot disk) from www.bootdisk.com

wait a min am i meant to use

format /s

??

the way i had to install win2k from a clean hard drive was to format c: normally then use the win2k boot disks (it wouldnt boot from the cdrom for some reason) to get the win2k install going. if you dont have the win2k boot disks (it should come with them) then you can make them by running an .exe on the win2k cd (cant remember clearly) but for that you'd need a win98 boot disk or somesuch to get everything going.

winnt.exe /OX

to make boot disks

ok i got a win98 boot disk and thats all good, but when i tried to run setup.exe off the w2k cd it said "this program cannot be run in dos mode"

wtf is that s***? how do they expect people to install it ffs

also, with the w2k startup disks u mentioned is it the same ones as this? (cut from w2k help file):

To create setup disks

Insert a blank, formatted, 3.5-inch, 1.44-MB disk into the floppy disk drive.
Insert the Windows 2000 CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type d:\bootdisk\makeboot a: (where d: is the drive letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive), and then click OK.
Follow the screen prompts.
Important

You will need four blank, formatted, 3.5-inch, 1.44-MB floppy disks. Label them Setup Disk One, Setup Disk Two, Setup Disk Three, and Setup Disk Four.
Note

You can create the setup disks from a computer running any version of Windows or MS-DOS.

lain i dont understand why i'd need a 98 boot disk to make w2k boot disks? cant i just make them from windows and then boot with them?

When I install win2k all i do is stick in win 98 boot disk, get to dos then do format /u After this is done i go to cd directory of win2k then go to subdirectory /i386 (your might not have this) then run winnt.exe and it installs from dos no prob.

sif u would format unless u did something really f***ed up to it...and I hardly see that it could be classified as a "fun" activity, it's just a pain in the arse...

formatting is an essential tool of any one that runs win 95/98/ME (specially 98 and ME) cause windows every so often goes f*** YOU

Even Win2k gets flakey after a while - my machine could do with a format but can I be f***ed? I think not....

sounds very familiar
the only reason i formatted last time is my 2 network cards decided to play games with each other

Yeah having 2 network cards running in Windows would be damn dicey....

I've seen Win2K with 4 Network Cards (all 3Coms) in one box - not at all dicey.

Stereo- there should be an option in ur BIOS to boot from CD. Activate that, and then u should b able to boot from your Windows 2000 CD. If this is the case, just let Windows setup format your partition for you (use FAT32 is saves a lot of hassles if something goes wrong). And the rest is pretty much automatic :) .

Yes it is ridiculous that no one has mentioned that before... it is the simplest thing but is most likely the problem....

How do you go about setting up multiple cards in one machine? Just gimme a general idea nothing to in depth please :)

well i put them both in
mark one cause they look the same so i know which one is BPA and which one is LAN
then for the LAN one i enter a manual ip of 192.168.0.1
then the other is on auto cause its for BPA
simple
just make sure not to click the share internet connection button or by some weird accident people can use your connection from your network

Haha we wouldn't want that now would we..... :P

ok i did everything and now i'm back online :D

for some reason i had to make a 3rd partitiont ho which is homo cause now i got 2 small partitions :/

no thats a BAD thing
telstra says norti person
i am still waiting for my email to say YOU DOWNLOAD TOO MUCH in the past month i have done about 15 to 20gb

Hehe yes this I am aware of....
I want cable :*(

ring the nice telstra ppl (COUGH) and ask

doesnt BPA allow a personal LAN to be used for sharing internet? OMG how gh3y...

not on unlimited plan
on business yes

bah.. they allow it on any plan..

they even have FAQ's about it

read the AUP it says DON'T DO IT in big letters