im getting this error during bootup
i am not booting from a scsi HDD
...although i do have one on my system
with an adaptec 2940 controller card.

.....nor do i have an ATA UDMA/66 HDD.
i DO have an ABIT BX6 rev2.0 mobo tho
.....if that makes any diff.

A number of things can cause this error, but its most likely a file system error.

Boot from your Windows 2000 CD. Choose not to install but to repair. Choose recovery console. Enter your root password when prompted.

Then issue this command:

chkdsk c: /p

where c: is your system partition with Windows 2000 on it.

.....did that
it finished..& rebooted....
& unfortunately i had started a
new install....& a dialog box comes
up titled "files needed"....asking for
NT5INF.CAT from the Windows 2000
setup CD-ROM........soooooo
since on the intall CD its NT5INF.CA_
i expanded it to NT5INF.CAT & burnt
it onto a CD.....along with the next file
it asks for ..NT5.CAT.....but it wont
accept that file.......wahhhhhhh!!!!!!

.......anybody......????

Are you saying that you started a fresh install over the top of an existing one my accident??? Or was this your first attempt at getting Windows 2000 to run??

Check the KB228852 article in the Microsoft support web site

It's seem to be a error from Windows trying to access the CD ROM.