Subj : installing Linux on Win2000 HD, boot order mixed up, nothing working
To   : microsoft.public.win2000.setup,comp.os.linux
From : John
Date : Fri Jul 30 2004 02:26 pm

We have a computer with Windows 2000 on it, on which we have forgotten 
all passwords to all accounts (including BIOS setup), effectively 
rendering this machine useless. However, there is not anything on this 
computer which we want/need to keep. Therefore, we have decided to try 
to install Fedora Core 2, as the Windows 2000 install CD has gone 
missing. Sounds simple enough, BUT:

The password resetting tool from 
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html failed to detect 
the partition it needed to reset the password on, so that was no help on 
getting into win2000.

The boot device order prevents booting from the CD drive as long as 
there is a bootable hard drive there...and being locked out of the BIOS 
prevents any alteration to this configuration. (unplugging the hard 
drive lets us boot the FC2 CD fine...but then there's no HD to install 
onto...) I've considered flashing BIOS to gain access to the boot device 
order, but I'm not sure of the manufacturer or any other necessary 
information for that.

We have tried using a Windows 98 boot disk from one of our other 
computers to reformat the drive (format c:) so as to enable booting from 
the CD, but to no avail. ("boot failed" is the informative error message 
it gives.)

Does ANYBODY have ANY ideas on how to accomplish this task? Would 
something like swiping a magnet over the drive work and just require 
that it be formatted again, or would it be ruined then?

Thanks for any suggestions!

John

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