NTLDR is missing

[Peter Parker]

I am installing a brandnew EIDE hard drive (to a P-II 233Mhz MMX from 1997),
Western Digital 250GB, 8MB Cache, WDCaviar. I formated with the enclosed
CDROM but I was unable to boot it from a bootable WindowXP Pro CDROM (yes, I
tested with other box and it booted), error message:

Verifying DMI Pool Data .....
NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

So I figure it was the BIOS (Award Module BIOS v4.51 PG)


Under STANDARD CMOS SETUP, under 'Hard Disks' I change selected 'Auto' for
'Type', and 'Large' for 'Mode', all other components "SIZE, CYLS, HEAD,
PRECOMP, LANDZ, SECTOR' automatically have '0's as values.

When I reboot from C: drive, I got the following screen:

Co-Processor: Installed Extended Memory: 97280K
CPU Clock: 233Mhz Cache Memory: 512K
Diskette Drive A: 1.44M, 3.5in Display Type : EGA/VGA
Diskette Drive B: None Serial Port(s) : 3F8 2F8
Pri. Master Disk : LRG, UDMA 5, 8455MB Parallel Port(s) : 378
Pri. Slave Disk : None EDO RAM at Row : None
Sec. Master Disk : CDROM, Mode 4 SDRAM DRAM at Row : 0 1 2
Sec. Slave Disk : None

PCI device listing ...
Bus No. Device No. Func No. Vendor ID Device ID
Device Class IRQ
0 7 1 8086
7111 IDE Controller 14
0 7 1 8086
7112 Serial Bus Controller 11
1 1 0 1023
9750 Displat Controller NA


Verifying DMI Pool Data .....

A disk read error occurred
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart
===

I selected 'User' for 'Type', and 'Large' remains for 'Mode', all other
components "SIZE=8452, CYLS=2047, HEAD=128, PRECOMP=65535, LANDZ=16382,
SECTOR=63' automatically set to above values.

When I reboot from C: drive, I got the following screen

Verifying DMI Pool Data .....
NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

Essentially I got this same screens after rebooting when I changed to other
parameters for 'Type' and 'Mode' combination
===
When I boot from a bootalbe floppy created with the enclosed Data Lifeguard
Tools CDROM, I got the error message:
"Cannot load DOS! Any key to retry"
=====
When I boot from a bootalbe floppy 'with diagnostic option' created with the
enclosed Data Lifeguard Tools CDROM, the graphics "Western Digital" showed
up on the screen then I got the error message:
Physical media Errormemory, please wait ...
Command or filename not recognized

Please remove the CD and/or Floppy Diskette
Press any key to reboot your system
=====
When I boot from a MS-DOS startup disk (made from a Windows XP Home box), I
got error msg

Verifying DMI Pool Data .....
Starting ...
The following file is missing or corrupted: COMMAND.COM
Type the name of the Command Interpreter (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM)
A>
===

Please help!

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Make sure that there are no disks in any removable drives when you boot.

NTLDR is missing, why does it happen?

[[This problem may occur if the basic input/output system (BIOS) on your
computer is outdated, or if one or more of the following Windows boot files
are missing or damaged:
* Ntldr
* Ntdetect.com
* Boot.ini ]]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318728

[[Cause:
* Computer is booting from a non-bootable source. I.e. a disk left in the
the floppy or CD drive.
* Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
* Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.
* Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
* Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using
FAT32.
* New hard disk drive being added.
* Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
* Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
* Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable. ]]
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

[[For this problem to occur, all the following conditions must be true:
* The system/startup partition is formatted with the FAT32 file system.
* The computer starts by using INT-13 extensions. (This is a partition
larger than 7.8 GB with a System-ID type of 0C in the partition table).
* Because of the cloning procedure, the Heads (sides) value in the FAT32
BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) does not match the geometry of the physical
drive. ]]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314057


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Harry Ohrn MS MVP]

Your 250 GB hard drive is by far too large to be recognized by the computer
you are attempting to install it on. You are trying to install a 250 GB hard
drive onto a system that was built in 1997. I doubt you can even find a BIOS
update that will help you with this one.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Your 250 GB hard drive is by far too large to be recognized by the
computer you are attempting to install it on. You are trying to
install a 250 GB hard drive onto a system that was built in 1997. I
doubt you can even find a BIOS update that will help you with this
one.

He might be able to find an add-in IDE controller card to support it,
though.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

True.