NTLDR Missing

[abhong]

Folks, just put together the following

Asus A8N-Premium
AMD X2 4400+
2GB PC-3200
36GB WD Raptors

all fine but when i try to install Win XP, i get an error message

NTLDR Missing
Press Ctrl Alt Del to reboot...

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Cook1]

Change your boot order in your BIOS.

 

[abhong]

Tried so it boots from CD... same story.

 

[kmrivers]

boot from the xp cd. let it get to the screen where you decide what to do(welcome to the setup, i think). it is something like this:

This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Press R to start the console. It will ask which windows install you want to login to. I imagine there is only one, so choose 1:, if you set a password on the admin it will ask that now. once in the console run these commands:

fixmbr
fixboot

I think fixboot will fix it. I am not sure though, so do both. They won't hurt anything. That should fix it. Good luck.

 

[abhong]

But the problem is that i get this message even before booting from CD.

I've tried booting with another Win XP CD and still the same.

Here's an idea, give me your thoughts...
i have spare HDD that is set up on similar hardware, X2 4800 on A8N32-SLI... not much stuff in it. can i transfer HDD and still expect to run ok?

i think maybe my bios on the A8N is old/outdated...

 

[abhong]

Anyone???

 

[kmrivers]

can you boot to the xp cd?

 

[abhong]

No, i get the message even before booting from CD.

 

[snoturtle]

are all options in the bios set to boot from cd?

usually a first second and third boot order
try setting all to cd

is the drive your trying to install on new?

 

[abhong]

All bios setting has been set to boot from CD.
the drive has been a secondary HDD from my other system, using it here.
has no info, hardly used...

has no OS, this is first time installing OS on this drive.

new board,
new Win XP SP2 OEM
new build altogether...

 

[snoturtle]

If you remove the hard drive from the box will it boot to cd than?

 

[AMCRambler]

You don't have a floppy in the drive do you? Silly but it could be trying to boot from one.

 

[abhong]

DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK...
is the error message i get when i boot w/o HDD
all bios boot is set to CD.

 

[abhong]

AMCRambler, no floppy installed, the bios does not recognize that there is a floppy.

 

[AMCRambler]

Sounds like it's not liking that cdrom that you are trying to boot from, assuming you've got your boot order set correctly in the bios. Couple things I can think of, disk is a burned copy and your cdrom is having trouble reading that particular medium, the disk is damaged or the drive is going bad/not being recognized by the bios correctly.
Looks like you have another pc available to you, see if you can boot from the disk on that one to make sure the disk is good. If it boots, your problem is probably with the cdrom in the other machine. You can try swapping it.

PS: Before swapping make sure your cabling is all in tight and jumpers are set correctly on the cdrom and try booting from it one more time, just to be sure it's not a cabling issue.

 

[robtk3]

Can you boot from another cd? Win98 or knoppix? Maybe the cd drive is mucking things up? Also, is the hd fat32? Have a look at this..

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314057

 

[goobernoodles]

Or, it could be like my girlfriend's computer, and after the mandatory reboot following the installation process, the cd drive decided to literally SHATTER the cd. lol

Thats probably not it however, as I still like to blame aliens, or the President.

 

[abhong]

AMCRambler,
tried a diff DVD Rom that works, no luck.

robtk3
the cd rom drive works... did look at the link. was hoping to get this resolved without getting a floopy in there and doing much of this manual crap...
guess looking for that "easy" button.

goobernoodles,
thankfully, my cdrom is not eating up my disks...
unfortunately, i dont think Dick took a shotgun at this...

 

[robtk3]

Originally posted by: goobernoodles
the cd drive decided to literally SHATTER the cd. lol

I've seen that on mythbusters. The cd design hasn't changed in 20 years but the drives went from 1x back then to 50x+ now.
Anyway back on topic. I agree with AMCRambler, check cables, jumpers...

 

[sillious]

If the installation CD is copied maybe it's not bootable anymore. In that installation CD you have files to make boot floopies (need 6 I think), but since your floppy isn't being recognized you can create a boot CD through Nero (if you run Nero). I never did, but maybe you can copy all your installation files on to the working computer then use a software that can copy those files while making that CD a bootable one. Again, I only am familiar with Nero.

* for situation like this, a floppy drive is very handy *

If you could somehow get to DOS prompt, try copying the NTLDR file from your working computer's root directory to the installed computer's root.

 

[robtk3]

 

[pdo]

in BIOS does it detect your cdrom and HD correctly?

 

[robtk3]

guess looking for that "easy" button.

Easy is no fun! If it were easy, we wouldn't have anything to do! lol
I think I threw in an old floppy just to get past this little headache and did away with it right afterwards.

 

[abhong]

you are right silious... i just didn't want to install a FDD because i have to strip another system... all dusty and all...

will try with floppy and see what happens.

thanks

 

[OSX]

Originally posted by: sillious

If the installation CD is copied maybe it's not bootable anymore. In that installation CD you have files to make boot floopies (need 6 I think), but since your floppy isn't being recognized you can create a boot CD through Nero (if you run Nero). I never did, but maybe you can copy all your installation files on to the working computer then use a software that can copy those files while making that CD a bootable one. Again, I only am familiar with Nero.

* for situation like this, a floppy drive is very handy *

If you could somehow get to DOS prompt, try copying the NTLDR file from your working computer's root directory to the installed computer's root.

There's just the whole problem of needing several hundred floppies to put XP on.