Windows 2000 Server Installation Encounters Error When Attempting to Specify Drivers on Floppy Disk

Affected Products: Servers
Affected Operating Systems: Windows® 2000 Server

ISSUE: During the installation of Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server, the server may encounter the following error:

An unexpected zero “0” occured at line 962
in “d:\nt\private\ntos\boot\setup\oemdisk.c”

Note: The drive letter (d) in the path may vary depending on the drive configuration.

This error occurs without actually checking the floppy disk drive (illuminating the LED). This behavior can occur on any system that does not recognize the floppy disk.

RESOLUTION: Use one of the following resolutions to fix the issue.

  • Boot to the Server Companion CD (SCCD) and choose the automated Windows operating system installation option. Using the SCCD, all Gateway hardware drivers are copied to the hard drive and installed without the need to read from a floppy disk.
  • If the CD-ROM and floppy disk drive module is removed to make room for a hard drive:

    1. Temporarily fail the hard drive.
    2. Replace the hard drive with the CD-ROM and floppy disk drive module.
    3. Complete the Windows 2000 Server installation.
    4. Reinstall the hard drive and conduct a rebuild of the array.

  • If using a USB floppy disk drive, creating a boot floppy disk Windows 2000 installation set may work around the problem. This assumes the USB drive is a bootable version.

Note: The 955/975-series servers are capable of booting to USB devices.