Win2000 Pro won't start

[tminz]

hi all,
i have an old HP Pavilion 8650c which originally came with Win98 SE. i am trying to upgrade the OS to Win2000 Pro. i've learned that this model Pavilion does support Win2000 provided that the BIOS is updated(along with a few device drivers and software updates). i downloaded the latest BIOS from HP(merc_116) and performed the update. went ahead with the install with Win2000(clean with NTFS) and all seemed to go well until i had to reboot. the computer froze at the win2k splash screen and never started. thought i might have done something wrong and tried the whole process over again. same result. then i tried to install win2k as an update to win98( converting file system to NTFS) as apposed to a clean install, again, same result. in all instances i was able to boot to "safe mode" but nothing more. discovered that win2k doesnt have the "msconfig" command, however, i downloaded it from the internet( don't know if thats good or bad... lol ) and ran the command. using it, i was not able to boot selecting "diagnostic startup"...

any iideas or suggestions on how or if this problem can be resolved? i am not well equipped with dealing with root directories and registries and all those other scary things buried deep in the bowels of an OS unless guided by all the "wizards" who frequent this forum.(you have all bailed once or twice b4 and i thank you!

[tminz]

bailed me out

[GaryRouth]

Quick Fix try:

Try another clean install (either reformat, or zero-write & reformat), and at the point when Windows 2000 Setup asks the question "Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver", press F5 (and *not* F6 !!) -- at this point, a new screen should display "Setup could not determine the type of computer you have or you have chosen to manually specify the computer type". A menu should result next, from this menu, choose "Standard PC", and then press Enter.

See if Setup proceeds normally after that, and the system restarts successfully.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[tminz]

thanks for the response...
i'll give it a go...