WIN2000 recovery steps:

1. Ensure NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI exist on drive.  If one or more are missing, you can copy NTLDR & NTDETECT.COM from the I386 folder on the recovery CD.  If the BOOT.INI is corrupt, you may need to recreate it or copy it from the BOOT.BAK file on the system.  (BOOT.BAK is a hidden file;

you may need to use the attrib command to allow you to copy this file to BOOT.INI.)

2. Parallel install operating system to HDD.  To do this, start a reinstall by booting to the WIN2000 CD.  Do not change any partition information. You will be prompted to indicate where to install windows, change this folder name to WINNT2.  This prevents the operating system files from being overwritten & will create a 2nd Windows 2000 option on the boot menu.

3. Copy NTDETECT.COM from parallel install to failed install.  Reboot, & see if the original WIN2000 install will boot.

4. Copy NTOSKRNL.EXE from parallel install to failed install.  Reboot, & see if the original WIN2000 install will boot.

5. Copy backup of registry Hive files from X:\WINDOWS\REPAIR to X:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG one file at a time retrying boot original WIN2000

install after copying each file.  The Hive file names are:  SYSTEM, SOFTWARE, SECURITY, SAM & DEFAULT.