Another NTLDR is missing thread **FIXED-UPDATE**

[KeithTalent]

Ok, so here is the background. This is a brand new, first-time build, with the following components:

A64 X2 3800+ AM2 2.0GHZ
Seagate 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB
Sapphire X1900XT 625MHZ
ASUS M2N-E AM2 NFORCE570 DDR2 SATA2
Corsair 2X1GB DDR2-667
LIAN-LI V Cool PC-V1200 Silver
Seasonic 500W

Now, before I went on vacation I put everything together and was poking around in the BIOS and everything...seemed fine. I did not get a chance to install the OS (XP Pro) until I got back on Sunday night, and low and behold after XP does the drive format and starts copying all of the files, it goes BSOD and tells me to restart.

After I restart I get the wonderful "NTLDR is missing"...blah blah blah.

So here is everything I have done so far:

1. checked all connections and switched cords on the HDD

2. cleared the CMOS

3. did chkdsk /p (multiple errors) then chkdsk /r (fixed) chkdsk /p again (no errors)

4. fixboot and fixmbr

5. fixNTLDR from this site: Site

6. ran Memtest (3 passes - no errors)

7. ran Seagate HDD utility (no errors)

8. tried installing an old copy of XP Home (fromm Dell) I had laying around, same deal

9. used Seagate utility to format drive first (split it into 2 partitions) then reinstalled - no dice

10. repeatedly banged my head against the wall

Now at this point I have re-installed the OS about 6 or 7 times and I keep getting this problem. I am at my wit's end and am not sure what to do at this point.

Is it possible the drive is faulty? FYI I have no other parts around that I can swap in to test things, unless I go out and buy something.

Please everyone, I am begging for your help. I have spent so many hours working on this already. I am bleary eyed and exhausted and have no idea what to do now.

Thank you to everyone who spent their time reading this.

Cheers, KT

UPDATE (for anyone who runs into this issue): So it looks like all I needed was an updated BIOS. We took out one stick of memory and everything started working fine (tested both sticks this way), so for some reason the old BIOS was not working with both sticks. Flashed the 0203 BIOS and, low-and-behold, everything started working fine.

I have been reading a lot of issues with this board and memory compatibility, but I thought I had picked RAM that worked fine. Oh Well, live and learn.

Thanks to everyone who tried to help!

Cheers, KT

 

[Mindflux]

I had that crop up a week ago at the office here. I just rebooted a machine after an update.. bam!

Kept fiddling with it and the drive went belly up.

This may not be the case with you, but be careful.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Mindflux
I had that crop up a week ago at the office here. I just rebooted a machine after an update.. bam!

Kept fiddling with it and the drive went belly up.

This may not be the case with you, but be careful.

Yeah, I was wondering if I was just making things worse after the 6th install and all the fiddling...hope not.

This seems to be a relatively common error, I am surprised that it is not easier to fix.

 

[SoulAssassin]

take the floppy out

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: SoulAssassin
take the floppy out

Heh, if only it were that easy. I do not even have a floppy drive on this machine.

 

[KeithTalent]

Hey everyone, sorry to bump, but I need to ask if you guys think my hard drive is borked or if it is just the XP CD? Is it most likely that this is a hard drive issue?

Thanks again for the help, KT

 

[wpshooter]

Keith:

Have you tried cleaning the CD-Rom drive ?

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: wpshooter
Keith:

Have you tried cleaning the CD-Rom drive ?

Um, no. Cleaning it how exactly? It is brand new.

 

[wpshooter]

Even if it is new I would still clean it.

Either buy or borrow a CD-laser lens cleaning CD from Walmart, etc.

Because it is new does not mean that it does not necessarily need cleaning or that it might be defective.

After cleaning, I would then get myself a good free hard disk WIPING program, like killdisk, etc. etc. and wipe the hard drive clean and then retry your XP install.

Good luck.

link

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: wpshooter
Even if it is new I would still clean it.

Either buy or borrow a CD-laser lens cleaning CD from Walmart, etc.

Because it is new does not mean that it does not necessarily need cleaning or that it might be defective.

After cleaning, I would then get myself a good free hard disk WIPING program, like killdisk, etc. etc. and wipe the hard drive clean and then retry your XP install.

Good luck.

Ok, sounds like a good idea. What do I have to lose at this point?

I will give that a try tomorrow (no time today) and see how it goes.

Thanks again, KT

 

[wpshooter]

See link above for killdisk.

Also, you might want to check to see if there is a firmware update for that CD-Rom drive ?

 

[MegaVovaN]

Nobody is mentioning Live CDs... either make yourself a [basic] Windows live CD (you can use http://www.ubcd4win.com/ to make it even easier/faster) or get Knoppix/Ubuntu live CD/DVD and check hard drive with that.

 

[KeithTalent]

Ok guys, on a whim I e-mailed pretty much my entire OP from this thread to tech support at NCIX.com (where I bought the drive) and I had an RMA # within about a 1/2 hour. So I am going to head over there today and return the drive and I should have a replacement tonight.

If the new drive does not solve the problem I will give those other things a try.

Thanks for all of the help and suggestions! I will post how things turn out.

Cheers, KT.

 

[KeithTalent]

Bump with an update.

 

[Swampster]

Go into your motherboard manual and reference the memory installation instructions and specs.

I had this problem, and what it ended up being was that if I was using more than one stick of single-sided memory it had to be in specific slots. Your exact problem may be slightly different, but what you describe really does sound like a hardware configuration problem, and not a component failure.