asked on

STOP 0x000000B4

Win2KSP4

A user accidentally started the install of a new video driver then rebooted the system in the middle of the process, thus corrupting the VGA video drivers for Win2K.

Upon restart the receive the error:
stop 0x000000B4

Cannot start in Safe Mode, VGA Mode and Last Known Good does nothing.

None of the following support documents address the problem.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=250271
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=240369
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319120

Of course reinstalling Windows would fix the problem but completely wipe out all the My Documents and every installed program. This would result in a several hour job to reinstall everything and is NOT a viable option until there is absolutely no hope of anthing else working.

I have been able to install a 2nd copy of Win2K and can now access all the files on the system.

QUESTION: Is there *any* way to copy, move, merge, etc the video files, drivers, settings, etc. from the new installation of Win2K into the old one?

--
Regards,

David G. Wilson

dgwilson

ASKER

BTW I've also tried the Repair option after booting on the Win2K CD.
Both methods: 1st through the Repair Console and 2nd the option to repair is given when the Setup finds an existing install of Win2K.
Neither worked.

Also I've run the CHKDSK /R without success.

HELP!!!!

Thanks for any ideas you can provide.
--
Regards,

David G. Wilson

dgwilson

ASKER

I just copied the C:\WINNT2\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM file into the C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG folder using the Repair Console (ask if you need the specific procedure) and the system went further before rebooting. It got to the graphics mode (mouse pointer but no Desktop yet) and then rebooted without displaying any error message (or a least not long enough that a human could see it! :\ )

Is there any other file(s) that I could copy from the new installation that might help?

THX!
--
Regards,

David G. Wilson

cpc2004

What display card are you using?
Can you boot into Safe mode?
If yes, download the display card patch at any PC. Burn the patch into CD-R and install the display card patch at safe mode.

dgwilson

ASKER

ATI Rage 128 Pro Ultra

from orig post:
Cannot start in Safe Mode, VGA Mode and Last Known Good does nothing.

None of the following support documents address the problem.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=250271
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=240369
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319120

Thx for your help!

cpc2004

As you cannot start in Safe Mode, it is a hardware error such as faulty ram, CPU, mother board, PSU or Video Card.

If you have two memory stick, takes out a memory stick and reboot. If you still get the same problem, swap with memory stick. If it does not work, it is ram problem.

If your mother borad has builit in video, take out the ATI display card. Change bios option to use the on-borard video. Or can you borrow a display card from your friend.

It is very hard to diagnostic CPU, mother borard and PSU. Otherwise you have to take your PC to computer hardware shop.

dgwilson

ASKER

It is NOT hardware.

from orig post:
I have been able to install a 2nd copy of Win2K and can now access all the files on the system.

Hardware works fine.

Any more ideas?
--
Regards,

David G. Wilson

MystikIncarnate

cpc doesn't appear to know what he's doing...

anyways, what archetecture are you using? if intel, you wont need AGP driver, if AMD, try and find the agp driver for the mobo on the cracked install, and delete them... this puts you at sq.1 for the video portion of the OS, but still, you weren't much further than that to begin with... else, you'd have to change the associations... i think the best way to do that, is find out what drivers windows is TRYING to run (i'm guessing them FAILING to run is crashing it), and delete them (it not running them at all because it cant find them shouldn't be so bad)...

UNLESS, you can revert to your old install (the new one has now taken over completely), in which case, just migrate the "My Documents" folder, and reapply all your security and system settings, user profiles etc. and reinstall the apps.

if the "new" os is only temp... and you're going to uninstall it and revert, simply find the drivers... since its ATI, look for drivers in the range of ATI*.dll, ATI*.sys and ATI*.inf

if you've installed these drivers on the new install, see if you can find which ones it's loading... then find them on the old install, and delete them...

not being able to find the file is better than it finding the file, running it, and having it crash the system.

Zak_McKracken

If you have started in "Last Known Good" mode, you may have overwritten the registry anyway, and installed programs may not work correctly when you finally restore this machine. Potentially replacing the current video card with a ISA (assuming you have an AGP card) may assist you here, as it will not attempt to enable the video driver for the old card.

dgwilson

ASKER

Nevermind, I finally gave up and reinstalled Windows and the 42 BAZILLION other programs this user needs! sheesh! :p

Thanks anyway!

BTW, the original question was NEVER addressed.
QUESTION: Is there *any* way to copy, move, merge, etc the video files, drivers, settings, etc. from the new installation of Win2K into the old one?

Question Closed - Withdrawn - Unanswered

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Zak_McKracken

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dgwilson

ASKER

rofl!!!

No, but you can have the 500pts for being soo funny! lol

Zak_McKracken

I object - I want the 500 points ;)

dgwilson